ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 837 



women. At the end of this fasting they are. covered with mats and held 

 over a fire. It is believed that by this ceremony her children are made to 

 be healthy ; if it were omitted they would die, even if they grow up to be 

 a few years old. The girl is not allowed to look at fi-esh salmon and 

 olachen for a whole year, and has to abstain from eating it. Her head is 

 always covered with a small mat, and she must not look at men. She 

 must not lie down, but always sit, propped up between boxes and mats. 

 Her mother's clan give a great feast and many presents to her father's 

 clan. At this feast her ears are perforated, and she is given ear-orna- 

 ments. When a chief's daughter reaches maturity she is given a jade 

 pebble, which she must bite until her teeth are completely worn down in 

 the middle. When the festival was held slaves were often given away or 

 killed. 



I will mention in this place that women when drinking for the first 

 time after marriage must turn their cup four times in the same direction 

 in which the sun is moving, and drink very little only. The perforation 

 of the ears is repeated at later occasions, and every time a new hole is 

 made a new festival is celebrated. 



After a death has occurred, the relatives of the deceased have their 

 hair cut short and their faces blackened. They cover their heads with 

 ragged and soiled mats, and go four times around the body singing 

 mourning songs. They must speak but little, confining themselves to 

 answering questions, as it is believed that they would else become 

 chatterboxes. Until the body is buried they must fast, eating only a very 

 little at night. Women of the gentes to which the deceased did not 

 belong act as wailers, and are paid for their work, the whole gens of the 

 deceased contributing to the payment. In wailing the women must 

 keep their eyes closed. The gens to which the deceased person's father 

 belongs must bury him. The body lies in state for a number of days. 

 It is washed immediately after death, placed upright and painted with 

 the crest of the gens of the dead person. His dancing ornaments and 

 weapons are placed by his side. Then the body is put into a box which 

 is tied up with lines made of elk-skins. These are furnished by the gens 

 of the deceased, and kept as a payment by the other gens. The bodies, 

 except those of shamans, are burnt. The box is placed on the funeral 

 pile, the lines of elk- skin are taken off and kept by the father's gens. A 

 hole is cut into the bottom of the box and the pile is lighted. Before all 

 is burnt the heart is taken out of the body and buried. It is believed 

 that if it were burnt, all relations of the deceased would die. The father's 

 gens, besides receiving the lines, is paid with marmot-skins and blankets. 

 The nearest relations mourn for a whole year. Some time after the 

 burial a memorial post is erected and a memorial festival celebrated. If 

 many members of one family die in quick succession, the survivors lay 

 their fourth fingers on the edge of the box in which the corpse is deposited 

 and cut off the first joint 'to cut off the deaths' (gyidig-'ots). The 

 bodies of shamans are buried in caves or in the woods. These customs 

 are common to the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsirashian. 



Bilqula. — Among the Bilqnla I noted the following customs : They 

 have professional midwives to assist the woman, who is delivered in a 

 small house built for this purpose. The child is washed in warm water. 

 The mother must remain for ten days in her room. Father and mother 

 are not allowed to go near the river for a year, else the salmon would 

 take offence. 



