ON THE NOKTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANAEA. 417 



out by the strong breeze blowing in the higher regions. He is qnite 

 naked, and bites everyone -whom he can lay hold of. If he cannot catch 

 anyone he will bite his own arm. It is believed that he has lost his sonl, 

 which fled from the body when the spirit came to him. Therefore the 

 shamans must try for four days to recapture his soul. The night after 

 they have recovered it the Elaqo'tla dances clothed in a bear-skin and 

 wearing a large headring, heavy bracelets and anklets, all made of red 

 and white cedar-bark. Some Elaqo'tla do not bite people, but merely 

 devour raw salmon, or tear dogs to pieces and devour them. Those who 

 bite people will also eat corpses. The Elaqo'tla has to observe a number 

 of regulations. For four years after his initiation he must not gamble. 

 He must stay away from his wife for one year, but this period is being 

 reduced to one month. For two or three months he must not leave his 

 house. 



The O'lEq (= the laugher) and the Da'tia (= the thrower) do not go 

 into the woods to be initiated, but both must fast three days before their 

 first dance. The O'lEq ' makes fun of everything ' and scratches people 

 with his nails. The Da'tia carries stones and sticks, and breaks household 

 goods and canoes. If he has destroyed some object during the day he 

 pays for it at night when he dances. The OlEq and the Da'tia must stay 

 for one month, after they have danced, in their houses. 



If a person transgresses the laws of the Kii'siut, for instance when the 

 Elaqo'tla gambles, or when a man performs a dance to which he has no 

 right, also when a person derides the ceremonies or makes a mistake in 

 dancing, his punishment is death. The chiefs assemble in council and the 

 offender is called before the court. After his offence has been proved he 

 is asked whether he is willing to suff'er the penalty of death. If he is not 

 willing, and one of his relatives is found willing to take the penalty on 

 himself, the guilty party is spared, and the substitute is killed in his stead. 

 The execution of the judgment is entrusted to the shaman, who bewitches 

 the condemned person by throwing disease into him, or by poisoning him 

 in some other (supernatural ?) way. The object thrown by the shaman 

 is a shell, bone, or finger-nail, around the middle of which objects a human 

 hair is tied. If this object strikes the off'ender he will fall sick. Blood 

 collects in his stomach, and if it so happens that he vomits this blood, and 

 with it the disease-producing object, he will recover, and is not molested 

 any further. The masks (not the whistles and other ornaments) used in 

 the Ku'siut are bui'nt immediately at the close of each dancing season. 

 Novices must wear a necklet of red cedar-bark over their blankets for a 

 whole year. The masks used in the dances represent mythical personages, 

 and the dances are pantomimic representations of myths. Among others 

 the thunder-bird and his servant Atlqula'tEnum, who wears a mask with, 

 red and blue stripes over the whole face from the right-hand upper side 

 to the left-hand lower side, and a staff" with red and blue spiral lines, 

 appear in the dances. Prominent masks are also Qe'mtsioa and his 

 brothers and his sister (see p. 412), Masmasala'niq and his fellows, the 

 raven and the Nusqe'mta, and many others. 



Customs eegaeding Bietft, PnBERTy, Marriage, and Death. 



When the time of delivery approaches, the woman leaves the house 

 and resorts to a small hut built for the purpose. She is assisted by pro- 

 1891. E E 



