. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. G51 the middle of wbicb objects a human hair is tied. If this object strikes the oflemler, he will fiill sick. Blood is believed to collect 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 burnt immediately at the close of each dancing sea- s
. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. THE KWAKIUTL INDIANS. G51 the middle of wbicb objects a human hair is tied. If this object strikes the oflemler, he will fiill sick. Blood is believed to collect 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 burnt immediately at the close of each dancing sea- son. Novices must wear a necklace of red cedar bark over their blankets for a whole year. The masks used in the dances repre- sent mythical personages, and the dances are pantomimic re]>resentations of myths. Among others, the thunder bird and his servant, ALxula'tEuum (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 carries a staff with red and blue spiral lines), appear in the dances. Prominent masks are also Xc/mtsioa and his brothers and his sisters; Masmasahl'nix and his fel- lows, the raven and the nusxe'mta, and many others.^ THE TSIMSHIAN, NtSQA', HAIDA, AND TLTNGIT. The tribes of this group learned the ceremo nial avowedly from the Hc'iltsuq. Although 1 have not witnessed any x)art of their ceremo- nials, the descriptions which I received bring out with sufficient clearness its similarities to the winter ceremonial of the Kwakiutl. The ceremonials seem to be almost identical among all these tribes. It is most complete among the southwestern Tsimshian tribes, particularly theG'itxa'La, but has been adopted by all the tribes of the coast. It is said that it reached the Uaida not more than a hundred years ago. I will tell here what I learned from the Msqa'. They have six societies, which rank in the following order: The sEmhalai't, mciLa', loLE'm, Olala', nanesta/t, honaua''L, the last being
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