ON THE ETHNOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 415 



Naming Ceremonies. 



These ceremonies among the Kwa'ntlEn appear to have been made the 

 occasions of general festivity and feasting. Every prominent or wealthy 

 hjan in the tribe would hold a naming feast as soon as his son had reached 

 the walking age, and hire one or more members of the sqoi'aqi totem to 

 be present and assist him to celebrate the event. His neighbours would 

 also take advantage of the occasion to dance and sing their ancestral 

 seuwE'n. In doing this it appears to have been incumbent upon them to 

 make generous distribution of blankets, &c. Not to do this was considered 

 k dishonouring to their ancestors and their su'lia. When all these minor 

 performances were over, the sqoi'aqi would dance with the child to be 

 named, holding him by the hand. If there were several members of the 

 totem present, they would dance round the child in a circle. Only very 

 wealthy persons could hire large numbers of the sqoi'aqi, each having to 

 be paid many blankets for his services. After this dance was over a chief 

 of some friendly tribe, present by special invitation for the purpose, would 

 declare in a loud voice that the child would be known thereafter by such 

 and such a name. These names were always ancestral names, taken from 

 either side of the family. In the case where no sqoi'aqi were hired tlie 

 father of the child to be named would mount upon the roof of the house 

 and conduct the ceremonies there himself. A number of blankets would 

 be stacked at his side. He would first sing his songs and perform his 

 su'lia dance, or those of his ancestors, after which he would call out the 

 names of those he had specially invited, and as they came forward in the 

 order of their social rank, present them with one or more blankets each. 

 When all his chief guests had received their presents he would sivdls the 

 rest among the younger men. A great feast consisting of game and fish 

 would next be indulged in. During the feast one of the elders or a 

 prominent guest would declare the new name of the child, and the rest 

 would express their satisfaction and approval. It was the aspiration of 

 every man to outdo his fellows in the number of his guests invited and 

 the quantity of blankets and other gifts distributed. His social rank was 

 in a great measure determined by his ability to excel in these respects. 

 The more members of the sqoi'aqi he could hire, the larger the number of 

 guests he could invite, and the greater the quantity of Ijlankets and other 

 gifts he could distribute, the higher became his social position in the eyes 

 of his own and neighbouring tribes. 



The mortuary customs of the Kwa'ntlEn do not appear to have differed 

 materially from those described among the Pila'tlq. According to my 

 Kwa'ntlEn informants, the men who handled and prepared the corpse for 

 burial belonged to a special order or class, the office descending from! 

 father to son, much as did that of the paraschites among the ancient- 

 Egyptians. But while these among the Egyptians were despised and 

 abhorred by their fellows, and made to live apart from the rest of the- 

 community, the spolakice' tsa of the HalkomelEm were held in honour and- 

 received substantial honoraria for their services. 



m'GUISTIC. 



The phonology of the Kwa'ntlEn does not differ in any material point from that 

 of the Tcil'Qe'uk. My general remarks on the Tcil'Qe'uk noun apply here also. I 

 collected a few specimens of the incorporative noun, which I append here. The 



