852 REPOUT— 1889. 



sea and covering them with stones. The ^atlo'ltq, who also practise the 

 Ha'raats'a dances, make artificial corpses by sewing dried halibut to the 

 bones of a skeleton and covering its skull with a scalp. 



The new Hil'mats'a is not allowed to have intercourse with anybody, 

 but must stay for a whole year in his rooms. He must not work until 

 the end of the following dancing season. The Ha'mats'a must use a 

 kettle, spoon, and dish of his own for four months after the dancing 

 season is at an end ; then these are thrown away and he is allowed to eat 

 with the other people. During the time of the winter dance a pole, called 

 hd'mspiq, is erected in the house where the Ha'mats'a lives. It is covered 

 with red cedar bark, and made so that it can turn round. 



Another secret society is; called Ma'raak"'a (from mak'qa', to throw). 

 The initiation is exactly like that of the Ha'mats'a. The man or woman 

 who is to become Ma'mak''a disappears in the woods and stays for several 

 months with Ma'mak"'a, the genius of this group, who gives him a magic' 

 staff and a small mask. The staff is made of a wooden tube and a stick 

 that fits into it, the whole being covered with cloth. In dancing the 

 Ma'mak''a carries this staff between the palms of his hands, which he holds 

 pressed against each other, moving his arms up and down like a swim- 

 mer. Then he opens his hands, separating the palms, and his staff is seen 

 to grow and to decrease in size. When the time has come for the new 

 Ma'mak''a to return from the woods, the inhabitants of the village go in 

 search of him. They sit down in a square formed by a rope, and sing four 

 new songs. Then the new Ma'mak-'a appears, adorned with hemlock 

 branches. While the Ha'mats'a is given ten companions, the Maraak-'a 

 has none. The same night he dances for the first time. If he does not 

 like one of the songs, he shakes his staff, and immediately the spectators 

 cover their heads with their blankets. Then he whirls his staff, which 

 strikes one of the spectators, who at once begins to bleed profusely. Then 

 Ma'mak"'a is reconciled by a new song, and he pulls out his staff from the 

 stricken man's body. He must pay the latter two blankets for this per- 

 formance, which, of course, is agreed upon beforehand. 



This may suffice as a description of the secret societies. The dance of 

 the Ma'mak''a shows the idea of the natives regarding the origin of 

 sickness. It is the universal notion of an object having entered the body 

 of the sick man ; by its removal he is restored to health. The Ma'mak"'a 

 and the ordinary medicine man have the power of finding such objects 

 and of removing them by means of sucking or pulling them out with 

 carved instruments, by the help of the noise of rattles and incantations. 

 Among the objects thrown into the body to cause sickness, quartz is con- 

 sidered one of the most dangerous. Sickness is also produced by the 

 soul leaving the body. The shaman is able to find it and to restore it. 

 Besides the Ma'mak''a., the descendants of Haialikyawe and those initiated 

 in his mysteries are considered the most powerful medicine men. Magic 

 power can also be acquired by a visit to the fabulous mountain Ts'ilky- 

 umpae, the feather mountain, un which the magic eagle-down and the 

 quartz which enables the possessor to fly are found. 



The Tsimshian have four secret societies, which have evidently been 

 borrowed from the Kwakiatl — the Olala or Wihalait, ISTd'ntlem, 

 Me'itla, and SEmhalait. The words Olala, No' ntlem (=mad), and Meitla 

 have been borrowed from the Kwakiutl. Wihalait means the great dance ; 

 SEmhalait, the ordinary dance. The Olala corresponds to the Ha'mats'a 

 of the Kwakiutl ; the No'ntlem to the Nutlmatl. The Olala is (or rather 



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