performances.
Figs. 4 and 5 belong together. They belong to a clan in whose history K˙ōmō’k˙oa plays an important part. K˙ōmō’k˙oa had married a girl, and the adventures of their son are acted in the dance. The young man (Fig. 4) calls the eagle (Fig. 5) and asks him to carry him all over the world. The eagle complies with his requests, and on returning the young man tells his experiences, how he had visited all countries and peoples and found them not to be real men, but half human, half animal. This latter idea is widely spread among the inhabitants of the Northwest Coast.
The next figure (6) is the mythical Masmasalā’niq.… The special mask represented here is used in a dance in which Masmasalā’niq appears in his house, at the entrance of which stands his messenger, Atlqulā’tenum, who calls, and announces the arrival of the various dancers, the Thunderbird, the Snēnē’ik˙ (the Tsōnōk˙’oa of the Bilqula), and others. Unfortunately I was unable to obtain this mask. It represents a human face, covered with parallel stripes which run from the upper left side to the lower right side of the face, and are alternately red and blue. He carries a baton painted in the same way.
FIG. 1. Kwakiutl mask representing brother of the raven
FIG. 2. Bella Coola mask of sea monster
FIG. 3. Bella Coola mask of wife of sea monster
FIG. 4. Bella Coola mask of young man
Fig. 7 is probably not used in the Sisau’kh, but belongs to the potlatch. It is a head ornament in the shape of the killer (Delphinus orca). Only the head, the tail, and the fins are represented. I was told that the idea of the headdress is to represent this whale as a canoe, the red horns being the paddles. Although this idea corresponds to some extent to the myths of the neighboring tribes, I doubt the correctness of this explanation. The horns, it will be seen, form a crown similar to the crowns of copper horns and mountain-goat horns used by the Tsimshian and Haida; and I believe our specimen is an imitation of the latter.
FIG. 5. Bella Coola mask of eagle
FIG. 6. Bella Coola mask of mythic being
FIG. 7. Bella Coola headdress in shape of killer whale
Although the last three figures are rather poor specimens of carving and painting, they nevertheless command considerable interest. The round mask (Fig. 8) represents the spirit Anulikū’ts’ai, and is used in the dance opening the Sisau’kh. Three spirits—Atlmoktoai’ts, Nōnōsēkne’n, and Anulikū’ts’ai—are said to live in the woods. Through their help men acquire the art of dancing, and whosoever wishes to become a good dancer invokes Atlmoktoai’ts to help him. It is said that they live in a subterranean lodge dug out by Nonosekne’n. From February until October they stay in this house, but then they leave it and approach the villages. As soon as they, and more especially Anulikū’ts’ai, appear, the dance Sisau’kh begins. Their appearance is the subject of the first mimical performance of the dancing season. A man wearing his mask waits outside the houses, and asks everybody whom he encounters why he does not dance, and through his presence instigates him to dress up and make his appearance at the great dance which is celebrated at night.
Fig. 9 represents the half moon. The mask is used in a dance together with the new and full moons. The mask is worn by a woman, and the being she represents is named Aiahilako.
FIG. 8. Bella Coola spirit mask
FIG. 9. Bella Coola half-moon mask
FIG. 10. Bella Coola mask in shape of a copper
Fig. 10 has the shape of the well-known copper plates which are so highly valued on the Northwest Coast. Its name is Tlā’lia (copper plate). The legend to which this mask refers says that a man went into a distant country to search for a wife. At last he met Tlā’lia, the mistress of the copper plates. He married her, and it was thus that they first came to be known to the Bilqula.
I said above that this dance of the Bilqula corresponds to the Nō’ntlem of the Tlatlasik’ oala. The double mask figured on page 129 of Woldt’s book [Jacobsen 1884] belongs to this dance. In the village Qumta’spē, which is commonly called and spelled Newetti by English traders, I collected a whole set of such masks, representing the “feast of the raven.” This collection has been deposited in the Royal Ethnological Museum at Berlin. The central figure is the raven, to whose face two movable wings are attached. The other figures represent animals which took part in the feast. The first part of the dance represents the raven catching the salmon, which is later on fried. The animals are invited to partake in the meal, and the events of this feast are represented in the dance. It was on that occasion that they received their present form, while before they had been half-human beings.
At the end of the Nō’ntlem season the Tsa’eka begins. During this season the whole tribe is divided into a number of groups, which form secret societies. Among the Kwakiutl I observed seven groups, the principal of which is called the Me’emk˙ oat. To this group belong the Ha’mats’a, the crane, the Ha maa, grizzly bear, and the Nū’tlematl. The first, second, and third of these are the “man-eaters.” The other groups are the following:
2. K˙ōk˙oski’mo, who are formed by the old men.
3. Māa’mq’enok˙ (the killers), who are formed by the young men.
4.
