QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS. 127 B 



strewn broadcast. This procedure is sometimes followed in competi- 

 tions tor the chieftaincy, already referred to. A similar practice is 

 also a method of showing rage or grief. At Masset, Intel)', it became 

 known to a father that a young man had made improper advances to 

 his daughter. The father immediately, in great anger, tore up twenty Faultatoned 

 blankets, which' not only served as an outlet for his feelings, but 

 placed the young man under the necssity of destroying a similar 

 number of blankets; and in this case, not being possessed of sufficient 

 property, those of the young man's totem-clan had to furnish by 

 subscription the requisite number, or leave upon themselves a lasting 

 disgrace. The feelings of the subscribers were not naturally of the 

 kindest toward the young man, but they did not in this case turn him 

 out of the tribe, as they had a right to do after having atoned for his 

 fault. 



Among the Tshimsians an ordinary man confines his potlatch or yak Distribution 

 to those of his own village, while a chief generally, or often, invites TshiuTsians. 

 people from other villages also. The chief may be assisted in giving 

 potlatches by his people. Should he desire help of this kind, he gives 

 a feast with many different dishes, to which all are invited. The next 

 day a drum is beaten for him b} 7 his jester in a peculiar manner, when 

 all who have been at the feast come together with gifts, which are 

 afterwards, with those belonging to the chief himself, given away. 



Dancing ceremonies. 



The dance is closely connected with the potlatch ceremonies, but also 

 takes place in some instances without the occasion of a giving away of 

 property. In most of the dances the Tshimsian language is used in the 

 song, which would appear to indicate that the ceremonial has been 

 borrowed from these people. Notwithstanding the old-time hostility 

 of the Haidas and Tshimsians, the former profess a great liking for the 

 Tshimsian language, and many of them speak it fluently. 



Six kinds of dancing ceremonies are distinguished, and are desig- Sis varieties, 

 nated in the Skidegate dialect by the following names : — (1) Skd-ga, 

 (2) Ska-dul, (3) JKicai-o-guns-o-lung, (4) Ka-ta-ka-gun, (5) Ska-rut, (6) 

 Hi-atl. Of these I have only witnessed 'No. 3, the description of the 

 others being at second-hand from the intelligent Skidegate Indian 

 already more than once referred to. 



1. Skd-ga is performed on occasions of joy, as when friendly Indians Ska-sa. 

 arrive at a village in their canoes, and it is desired to manifest pleasure. 

 A chief performs this dance. He takes his stand in the house at the 

 side of the central fire furthest from the door. He should wear over 

 his shoulders one of the na-%in or Tshimsian blankets, made of fine 

 cedar-bark and the wool of the mountain goat. He wears, besides, the 



