ON THE KTHXOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 411 



thoughts.' I obtained one of their s'emi'n or prayers in the original 

 Kwa'ntlEn, which was used during times of earthquake or eclipse. It is as 

 follows : — ' O siii'm Cwai'EtsEn so'qmis-t5Q, nEtcIma' Es-me se'so i tE-na' 

 tE'niEH 1 NE-stl6 kwEns I tE-na' Es-ya'es-etl tE'mEii.' Translated into 

 English it runs thus : ' O supreme Father, have-pity-on-me. Wherefore 

 hast-thou-brought me here on this earth ? I desire to live here on this 

 earth (which) thou hast made for me.' 



Of the Feasts of First-Fruits, the Kwa'ntlEn, according to my inform- 

 ants, observed only the Feast of Salmon. This was celebrated after the 

 salmon had been running three days. A salmon would then be caught, 

 and brought reverently on the arms of the fisherman (who must not touch 

 the fish with his hands), and given to the slii'm, who then uttered a s'e'min 

 over it, after which it was cooked and a mor.sel of it given to each 

 member of the tribe. The ceremony throughout was conducted much as 

 described by me in my Report on the Lower N'tluka'pamucj. 



Dances. 



Besides the I'eligious dances, in which all tlie people joined, there were 

 the social, totemic or su'Iia, and shamanistic dances. These were divided 

 into two classes, each called by a special distinguishing term, viz., smP'tla 

 and skwaic'liH. The former were the ' dream ' or su'lla dances, the latter 

 the common social and religious dances. Of the sme'tla - dances the 

 Kwa'ntlEn had apparently a great number. I secured the names and 

 some account of some eight of these. They ai-e as follows : — 



1. Sltvd'nok, or 'war dance.' — This was exclusively a warriors' dance. 

 It was of slow and stately movement, and was always performed on the 

 eve of a fight. Sometimes it appears to have been performed during the 

 winter festivities as well, the winter season being pre-eminently the period 

 of dancing and social gatherings of all kinds. 



2. Slu'tlnuk. — The characteristic feature of this dance was the burn- 

 ing of food and grease in the fire by the performei'. He also scattered 

 much down over the fire. I could not learn the significance of these acts. 

 The movements of the dance were rapid. 



3. Skyi'ktuEtl.- — ^This was similar to the last, only the movements of the 

 dancer were in this case slow and solemn. Notwithstanding this the 

 dancer always steamed and sweated in a copious manner. 



4. Snu'kuumEtl. — This was par excellence a ' sweat ' dance. It was 

 likewise of slow and gentle movement. The owner of this dance had 

 seen his ' familiar,' the snu' kivlm^tl, sweating in his dance in his dream ; 

 hence he himself always sweated prodigiously whenever he performed his 

 su'lla dance. He must dance with a soft and gentle tread ; for if lie 

 struck the ground hai'd it was believed he would soon die. 



5. Tlacuke'lEm — ' cold ' dance. — Whenever the owner of the su'lla 

 of this name performed his dance he shivered violently with cold. His 

 ' familiar,' TlacukelEm, a kind of ice- bird, was supposed to have had his 



' This savours suspiciously of later lloman teaching, though it may be genuinely 

 Kwa'ntlEn or HalkomG'lEn in its origin and practice. 



_ '■' Dr. F. Boas makes this term a borrowed one, and regards it as of Kwakiutl 

 origin. It is so universal among the river tribes that I am disposed to think that 

 view needs reconsideration. As far as its form goes it is as truly Salish as 

 Kwakiutl, indeed more so, having here the prefixed .«, which copvcrts the verb into a 

 verbal noun— a characteristie strikingly Salish. 



