ON THE ETHNOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 401 



The functions of the SQEld'm among the Pila'tlq do not differ materially 

 from those of the members of his class elsewhere. The seu'wa interprets 

 dreams and understands the mysteries of omens and portents generally. 

 The semvP'l is a witch or sorcerer. Members of either sex may fill this 

 oflBlce. These individuals are said to use a mystic language of their own. 

 They are paid for their services by gifts of blankets. They are employed 

 to injure an enemy, to hold converse with the dead and with ghosts 

 (poplakwe'tsa). Their methods of working were thus described to me. 

 When a seuwc'l wishes to injtire someone, he (or she) takes some water 

 at sundown and washes his hands with it, repeating at the same time the 

 name of the person to be harmed. This poor individual will then fall into 

 fits, and black spots will appear on his body. If the feeling of animosity 

 against the victim be very great, he will probably drown or hang himself. 

 Another course is for the seuv.'e'l. to secure some garment or other 

 belonging of the person to be attacked and to utter mystic words over 

 it. The seuwe'l were commonly employed by the relatives of a deceased 

 pei'son to hold converse with the gliosts of the dead, and to bid them go away 

 and never come back and trouble the survivors again. They wei'e present 

 also at the ceremonial bathing of the relatives and friends of the deceased 

 on the fourth day after burial, and when the mourners were bathing they 

 would go through their ceremonies, such as washing their hands and 

 blowing water from their mouths. They did this to drive away the sick- 

 ness of the deceased from the village and to send the ghost of the dead 

 to some unfriendly settlement to cause the death of their enemies there. 



The seutue'l is by no means an institution of the past among the 

 Pila'tlq, notwithstanding the influence of the priests. The seniue'l still 

 flourishes, and is not infrequently employed at the present time. My 

 informants told me that the services of the seuwe'l are invariably em- 

 ployed to protect any of them when brought before a police court for some 

 misdemeanour or other ; and to harm the policeman who arrested the 

 person and the magistrate who sentenced him. It is clear from this they 

 yet thoroughly believe in the powei's and influence of their seuivc'l. 



Salmon Myth. 



Very long time ago there* were no salmon in the river except the 

 * steel- head ' (keu'q).' So one day 8'kElau' said to the people, ' Let us leave 

 this country and go for a trip down the river.' Tse'uk't (woodpecker), 

 Tsc'kel (bird not identified), and S'mdtq ('bull-head ' fish) agreed, and the 

 four started off together. They went down the river, and in course of time 

 came to a village. It was night. ' Said S'kElau' : ' Look at the smoke : it 

 has all the colours of the rainbow. This is where the Salmon people live. 

 Now I am going to steal the chief's Ijaby and carry him ofi", and then we 

 shall get lots of salmon.' So lie presently crept towards the settlement, 

 taking Kwd'tel (mouse) - with him. S'kElau' threw himself down in the 

 pathway on his back and feigned to be dead. Kwd'tel made his way to 

 the canoes and gnawed holes in them, and also knawed the paddles in such 

 a manner that a slight strain upon them would cause them to break in 

 two. Besides the Salmon people a Kaia'tlla (snail) dwelt in this village. 



' The heu'q is not a true salmon, but a species of trout, Salmo Gairdncri. 

 - After the manner of Indian myths the mouse here appears from nowhere, and 

 after its task is completed disappears in like manner. 



1902. u D 



