June 24, 1887.J 



scisjsrcu. 



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ward, the human face in the centre looking back- 

 ward. It is the crest of one of the gentes of the 

 Kwakiutl, who paint it on their house-fronts. The 

 beam which supports the heavy rafters of their 

 houses is carved so as to represent the 'Sisiutl,' 

 as it is called by the Kwakiutl ; and the drums, 



Eskimo harpoon. — The ethnological collection 

 of Mr. A. Sturgis, on exhibition in the American 

 museum of natural history in New York, contains 

 a fine specimen of an Eskimo harpoon-head from 

 Greenland, which we figure here by the kind per- 

 mission of Mr. Sturgis. There are very few speci- 



FiGS. 3 and 4. — Knife and dancing-implement, eepresenting the Sisiutl. 

 (From Jacotosen's 'Nordwestkiiste Amerikas.') 



chairs, and dancing-implements of the gens have 

 it for their ornament. A beam of this kind is in 

 the museum at Ottawa, Ont. We have seen a 

 mask of this style in the museum of Berlin. Two 

 knives of the same description, which are used in 

 certain dances, are shown in figs. 3 and 4. Fig. 

 2 is used in the dances of several tribes, the 

 dancer having a blanket tied round his loins, the 

 upper part of his body being naked. He wears a 

 head-ring and neck-ring of hemlock branches, and 

 has the carved image of the Sisiutl tied to his 

 stomach. Fig. 1 is a remarkable chair, i-epresent- 

 ing the Sisiutl. It will be seen from our figure 

 that here the central figure is winged, and that 

 two additional legs appear on both sides. This is 

 because the owner's father belongs to the raven 

 gens, while his mother belonged to the Sisiutl 

 gens. Therefore both crests are embodied in the 

 design, which is very cliaracteristic. It is en- 

 graved from a sketch made on the spot. 



The traditions referring to the Sisiutl are very 

 numerous. One of the most remarkable is that 

 Qaniqilaq, the son of God, descended from heaven 

 and met the Sisiutl. He killed it, skinned it, and 

 took out its eyes. The latter he used as stones for 

 his sling, the former as a belt, and both served 

 him to accomplish many exploits. 



Other tribes of the same region tell of the same 

 being, but they believe that it lives somewhere at 

 the bottom of the sea. They tell of a man who 

 killed it, and thus acquired supernatural qualities. 

 Among the Qauitchin this tradition is of great 

 importance. They say that the first man of their 

 race encountered the serpent and killed it. Who- 

 ever obtains a bone of the serpent becomes a 

 formidable sorcerer, as the sight of it kills whom- 

 soever sees it. The same is told of the Hah^ktoak 

 of the Makah, but the latter has a different shape, 

 being single-headed. 



mens of this kind in the ethnological collections 

 of America and Europe, the flint head being now- 

 adays replaced by iron. The present implement 



ESKIMO HARPOON-HEAD. (From A. Sturgis's collection.) 



is of sj)ecial interest, as it shows the same form as 

 those from the west coast of Davis Strait, and the 

 way in which the Eskimo used to fasten the stone 



