I 



ON THE NOUTUrWESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 841 



•with a few blankets, whicli are handed to them by the chiefs of their 

 gens. Then the groom's gens is invited to partake in a great feast. 

 After these ceremonies are ended, the yoang man and his gens return to 

 the boat, and stay for a few hours on the water. Meanwhile the bride is 

 intrusted to the care of the highest chief of her gens, who takes her by 

 the hand, carrying a rattle elaborately carved, of mountain-goat horn, in 

 the other. Besides this, he carries a mat for the bride to sit on. Then 

 the highest chief of the other gens takes her from the hands of the 

 former, and leads her into the boat. The presents given by the parents 

 of the young man are restored, later on, in the same proportion by the 

 bride's parents. 



While these formal ceremonies are always observed when both parties 

 are of high rank, in other cases, if both parents are of the same rank, the 

 marriage is sometimes celebrated only by a feast and by a payment of 

 the value of about forty blankets to the bride's parents by those of the 

 groom. These are also restored later on. 



If the families are of different social standing, the whole gens of those 

 parents who are of higher rank may go to the young couple and recover 

 the husband or wife, as the case may be. This is considered a divorce. 

 Or the chiefs of the offended gens summon a council, and the case is 

 settled by a payment of blankets. 



The following funeral customs are practised by the Snanaimuq. The 

 face of the deceased is painted with red and black paint. The corpse is 

 put in a box, which is placed on four posts about five feet above the 

 ground. In rare instances only the boxes are fastened in the tops of 

 trees, which are made inaccessible by cutting off the lower branches. 

 Members of a gens are placed near each other, near relatives sometimes 

 in a small house, in which the boxes are enclosed. A chief's body is put 

 in a carved box, and the front posts supporting his coffin are carved. 

 His mask is placed between these posts. The graves of great warriors 

 are marked by a statue representing a warrior with a war-club. There is 

 nothing to distinguish a shaman's grave from that of an ordinary man. 

 The mourners must move very slowly. They arc not allowed to come 

 near the water and eat the heads of salmon. They must cook and eat 

 alone, and not use the fire and the dishes which other people use. Every 

 morning they go down to the beach and wail for the dead. After the 

 death of a young child, the parents cut off their hair, but there is no 

 other ceremony. 



After the death of husband or wife, the survivor must paint his legs 

 and his blanket I'ed. For three or four days he must not eat anything. 

 Then three men or women give him some food, and henceforth he is 

 allowed to eat. Twice every day he must take a bath, in which he or 

 she is assisted by two men or women. At the end of the mourning 

 period the red blanket is given to an old man, who deposits it in the 

 woods. 



At the death of the chief the whole tribe mourns. Four days after 

 the death occurred the whole tribe assembles, and all take a bath, which 

 concludes the mourning. 



Kutonaqa. — I have not obtained any information regarding customs 

 referring to birth. 



When a girl reaches maturity she must inform her mother and 

 grandmother, who lead her to a lonely place, or the woods, and provide 

 her with food for about twenty days. When this food is at an end, she 



