ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 599 
esses Se ee 
ae toe st =e ef se || 
sane [ere eo e- ey) o_o o—p—3- cam 
ye ya yé ya ye a ho 6 tle tcei-tu-tlé yé &€ ye _ ye. 
@ 
The song is repeated ad infinitum; in the repetitions quarters are beaten. 
- 
The dancer jumps at the end of each quarter from one leg to the other. 
At each jump he lifts one hand and extends the other downward and 
backward. 
I append here a few omens and crrrent beliefs. If there is an 
irritation in the right side of the nose so that one must sneeze, something 
good is said of one ; if in the left, something bad is said. If one chokes 
oneself in drinking, the thing one happens to think of will not come true. 
If one wants to become a great hunter one must not eat of the first game 
one gets. The first salmon of the season are split on both sides of the 
_ backbone, which is then taken out. The head must not be cut off, but 
remains attached to the backbone. While the head and backbone are 
thrown into the water, the rest of the fish must be roasted without being 
cut to pieces. No fresh venison or other meat must be eaten after the 
salmon begin to run, as else they would stop running for a number ot 
days. The first salmon of the season must not be sold. Salmon are 
_ always dried in the houses. 
Tur TLOKOALA. 
Among the customs of the Nootka their winter dances have always 
attracted the greatest attention of travellers who came into contact with 
this people. Good descriptions of the customs connected with these 
festivals have been given by Sproat, Swan, Jewitt, and Knipping. The 
meaning of the festivals has, however, remained obscure. This is in part 
due to the fact that the custom has been borrowed from the Kwakiutl. 
The name Tlokoala itself, which is a Kwakiutl word, proves its foreign 
origin. The Tlokoala of the Kwakiutl will be described in the next 
chapter. Suffice it to say here that the Tlokoala of the Nootka corre- 
sponds to the Walas’aqa’ or wolf’s dance of the Kwakiutl. It has, how- 
ever, certain other features embodied in it; for instance, the ceremonies 
of the Ma/trm dance. The Tlokoala are a secret society, who celebrate 
their festivals in winter only. They have a chief who is called 
Yak'syak:stéitk-. Anyone who wishes to join the Tlokoala can do so, 
or the society may invite a man to become a member. Then the friends 
of the person who is to become a member make a collection in his behalf, 
and turn over the property collected to the chief of the Tlokoala, who 
distributes it during a great feast among the members. Those who are 
not Tlokoala are called Wicta’k-yi, ¢.e., not being shamans. The Tlokoala 
is believed to have been instituted by the wolves, the tradition being that 
a chief’s son was taken away by the wolves, who tried to kill him, but, 
being unsuccessful in their attempts, became his friends and taught him 
the Tlokoala. They ordered him to teach his people the ceremonies on 
his return home. Then they carried the young man back to his village. 
They also asked him to leave some red cedar-bark for their Tlokoala 
behind, whenever he moved from one place to another ; a custom to which 
the Nootka tribes still adhere. Every new member of the Tlokoala must 
be initiated by the wolves. At night a pack of wolves—that is, Indians 
dressed in wolf-skins and wearing wolf-masks—make their appearance, 
