. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 491. Fig.] 37. MASKS OF WASP DANCER. Height, 61 inches; blue, bhick, red. I\' A, Nos. 4-22 and , Royal EthnographL-al Museui Berlin. Collected by A. .Tai-obseii. Ill some (lances the bead of the dancer is cut off, and the person who cuts it shows a carved human head bearing the expression of death, which he holds by its hair. These heads are as nearly portraits of the dancer as the art of the carver will permit (ti
. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. 491. Fig.] 37. MASKS OF WASP DANCER. Height, 61 inches; blue, bhick, red. I\' A, Nos. 4-22 and , Royal EthnographL-al Museui Berlin. Collected by A. .Tai-obseii. Ill some (lances the bead of the dancer is cut off, and the person who cuts it shows a carved human head bearing the expression of death, which he holds by its hair. These heads are as nearly portraits of the dancer as the art of the carver will permit (tigs. 153,154, pp. 503, 501). Sometimes the t'o'X'uit is burnt. A box which has a double bottom is i)re- pared for this performance. The dancer lies down flat in the rear of the house and tlie box is laid down sideways, so that she may be pushed into it from behind. At the place where she is lying down a pit is dug, in which she hides, while being concealed from the view of the people by the box which stands in front of her. After the pit has been covered again, the box is raised, closed, and thrown into the fire. Before the box is brought in, a skeleton has been put between its two bottoms. ^Vhile the box is burning, the song of the dancer is heard coming from the fire. From the pit in which she hides a speaking tube of kelp is laid under the fioor to the fireplace, and through it she sings. When the fire has died doAvn, the charred bones are found in the ashes. They are col- lected, laid on a new mat, and for four days the people sing oA^er them. The mat is so placed that it lies over the mouth of another speaking tube. Tlie shaman tries to resuscitate her, and after four days a voice is heard coming forth from the bones. Then they are covered with a mat. The woman crawls up from out of a ditch, into which the bones are thrown, while she lies down in their place. She begins to move, and when the mat is removed, she is seen to have returned to life. In many of these dances, afte
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