Kwakiutl we-, Nootka wi-, wik' "not"; Kwakiutl ge, Nootka qe“ “a long time"; Kwakiutl nEm-, Nootka nup- "one"; Kwakiutl gwē"thus," Nootka qwi- "to be or do thus"; Kwakiutl sō-, Nootka sō"you"; Kwakiutl ëk !-, Nootka itc!- "above." Thus Dr Boas' first announcement in 1890 of the close relationship between Kwakiutl and Nootka has been confirmed in every way by new evidence.

II. THE NOOTKA WOLF RITUAL

The Nootka of Barkley Sound have two important public rituals, a doctoring ceremony known as tsla'yeq' or ts!āts!a'yeqc and a wolf ritual held in winter known as Lōkwa'na'. The former ceremony is not known to the more northern Nootka tribes and seems to have been borrowed from the Coast Salish of eastern Vancouver Island; the latter has been profoundly influenced by the winter ceremonial of the Kwakiutl: the Nootka names seem to be derived from Kwakiutl tslē'qa or ts!e'ts!aeqa "winter ceremonial" and Lo'gwala "wolf dance." A long origin legend of the Lōkwa'na' was secured which localizes that ceremony in the country of the Yulû'illatн" (Ucluelet), one of the tribes of Barkley Sound; it tells of a young man who went among the wolves in order to obtain from their chief the magic war-club with which to deal death to his enemies and who, having witnessed the Lōkwa'na' among the wolves, introduced it into his tribe on his return. A wolf ritual is always given in connection with some sort of potlatch, and those invited to the latter are not supposed to know that a Lōkwā'na' is about to take place. The man who runs and pays all the expenses of the Lōkwa'na' is generally the father or other close relative of one of those to be initiated into the tenets of the wolf ritual, though others not related to him are, as a rule, also to be initiated. The wolf ritual may be briefly described as a dramatic performance representing the capture of the novices by the wolves, their recapture from the wolves, the exorcism of wolf spirits that they bring back with them, and the performances of dances that the novices are supposed to have been taught by the wolves. The exact details of the course of the ritual differ according to the tribe and family traditions of the Lōkwa'napʻ or giver of the Lōkwa'na'.

At some point in the potlatching and feasting of the first evening the lights are suddenly put out and four wolves are dimly seen scampering about and whistling furiously. The particular color or decoration of these wolves depends on the topa'ti' or inherited privilege of the Lōkwa'nap'. At the same time there is a terrible uproar on the part of the people, who simulate fear, and all the singing of gift songs and other forms of merriment cease. From now on all pretend to be in constant fear of the wolves, and those not yet initiated or not to be initiated at that Lōkwā'na' are told that genuine wolves have invaded the village. When light is restored, the wolves have disappeared and with them certain of the novices. After a while the four wolves again appear and, when order is again restored, the rest of the novices are found to have disappeared. Pretended efforts are made to find these, curses are hurled against the wolves, and a trap is set to capture them; the right to give this trap is a topa'ti' of a particular family. During the night and at various times during the three days following wolves are heard to howl and whistle and, from time to time, are seen along the edge of the woods at some distance from the village. The number of wolves used in the ritual for this purpose differs again according to the topa'ti' of the Lōkwa'nap', some families claiming the right to use fifty or even sixty wolves. Only a certain number of men in the tribe have the inherited right to "play wolf," though, as in the case of practically all inherited privileges, the actual performance of the topa'ti' may be deputed, with payment for vicarious service, to others not so entitled. Each line of descent that transmits the privilege of playing wolf is characterized by its special topā'ti' of wolf decoration in black and white and has its secret medicines for painting the face black and for warding off evil consequences of the curses of the people. The manner in which the wolves move about, the order in which they come out of the woods, the direction in which they turn, and the number of times they appear are all rigidly determined; the howls of the wolves also are conventional in character and are not intended accurately to reproduce real wolf howls. Three distinct types of whistle are employed by the wolves, the sounds made by which may be respec

tively described as resembling a squeak, a quacking noise, and the sound of a bugle; they are all constructed of two pieces of slightly hollowed out wood which tightly fit together and are wrapped with wild-cherry bark. Four of the wolves are messengers, each bearing his special name, and scamper about somewhat apart from and more hurriedly than the rest; one of the wolves is abnormally large and is supposed to be the pack-wolf; a sixth is lame and howls hihō for long stretches of time, the assumption of this last rôle being the topā'ti' of a particular family.

During the four days that the novices are absent they are supposed to be the captives of the wolves; in reality they are, or rather were, kept at a house in the woods which is tabooed to the uninitiated. The wolves, when not "on duty," dress as ordinarily and return to the village to mingle with the rest, by whom they are not supposed to be recognized as the impersonators of the wolves. At certain times the chief of the tribe exercises his jealously guarded topa'ti' of singing a special ts!î'qa' song intended to call out the wolves and have them bring the novices to view; ts!î'qa' songs are a class of songs of solemn chant-like character accompanied, during the Lōkwa'na', by rapid rattling, at other times by rapid drumming. After the singing of this song the wolves appear and also the novices are seen to come out in a prescribed order at the edge of the woods; they wear hemlock branch ornaments and wave hemlock boughs in their hands. Whenever the wolves are heard howling or are seen, many of the people sing ts!î'qa' songs referring to the Lōkwā'na'; these differ for different lines of descent, and, as each person rattles and sings his own ts!î'qa' regardless of all others, the resulting din can be easily imagined.

On the afternoon of the third day of the ritual some men set off in canoes across the river with the ostensible purpose of seizing the novices from the wolves. This ceremony is known as matskwie' L "to go in order to get the remains (i. e., torn clothing) of what has been bitten (and carried off in the mouths of the wolves, i. e., of the novices.)" The novices themselves are known as meat "those who have been bitten (and carried off in the mouths of the wolves)," the Nootka metaphor of the "biting and carrying off by the wolves"

of the novices corresponding to the Kwakiutl one of their "disappearance." The canoemen return baffled; they have skirmished with the wolves at the edge of the water but have found it impossible to wrest their captives from them. On the afternoon of the fourth day takes place a ceremony known as 'mākwai"нa “to try to get what is held in the mouths (of the wolves)." It is a fairly elaborate out-of-doors performance, consisting of frequent singing of ts!î'qa' songs, of the appearance at various times of the wolves and novices, of the "acting crazy" (qeqe'cap'qa') of various groups of men and women, and of the steady approach of the row of people towards the wolves while singing a ritualistic song intended to please the latter. Several times men are sent out to lie in wait for the wolves and to shoot at them at their approach (Fē"eL), attempts are also made to trap the wolves (qamiz), but all to no effect. Finally, as many men are deputed with ropes as there are novices; they advance towards the wolves and, on the last appearance of the novices, they lasso these and succeed in fighting off the wolves. The lassoing

of the novices, it should be added, is a topā'ti'. All now return with the novices, who are led by the ropes and who are continually whistling with whistles concealed in their mouths, to the house. The whistling noise is supposed to be produced by the wolf spirits that have entered the bodies of the novices. These spirits are known as Héina'-cognate with or borrowed from Kwakiutl xwela, and are represented by pieces of quartz or, nowadays glass. The novices are taken to the back of the house, still whistling; they are now called qaHákwił "dead in the house." The greater part of the evening is taken up by a peculiar ts!î'qa' ceremony. A certain number of men and women, who have inherited this topā'ti', arise and sing simultaneously each his or her own ts!î'qa' song, accompanying themselves with rattles; at the same time another man, who is also exercising a topā'ti', drums loudly and rapidly; this singing, rattling, and drumming, across the terrific din of which may be constantly heard the clamorous whistling of the novices, lasts several hours. The purpose of the ceremony seems to be to appease the wolf-inspired novices.

Before noon of the following day two important ceremonies are

performed. The first of these is the tcliн"wasap" "driving of ghosts (i. e., wolf spirits) out of the house" and is practically a form of exorcism. It is the most sacred part, at any rate the part most strictly tabooed to the uninitiated, of the whole wolf ritual and after its completion the wolves as such cease to play a part. Two men, whose topā'ti' the office is, blacken the faces of all the people, who sit in the rear and at the sides of the house and who have been provided with beating sticks. Two other men, who do so in virtue of their topā'ti', have themselves dressed up in bear skins and erect headdresses of branches and hold rattles in their hands. The actual exorcism consists in the singing of ritualistic songs and uttering of certain noises and yells, in accompaniment to which the people beat time in various rhythms, while the exorcists perform four peculiar counter-clockwise dances, at the same time accompanying themselves with rattling. As a result of this exorcism the Héina' of the novices leave their bodies and fly into the hands of the exorcists; at the same time the whistling of the novices ceases entirely. All, except the novices, who are still in the rear of the house, now proceed to the water's edge. The exorcists alternately dip their clasped hands down to the water and raise them above their heads, the Héina' jutting out in the form of quartz or glass. At the fourth raising of the hands the Héina' are supposed to return to their original owners, the wolves, who at that identical movement howl a single time. The novices are thus exorcised, but their blood has been contaminated by the presence of the Héi na'; hence a purification ceremony known as k!wixa" "sucking" is now performed, the term "sucking (out the bad blood)" being merely a metaphor. Certain men, quite or nearly naked, proceed to bathe in the wintercold water of the river; they have blood streaming down from their mouths and each is held by means of a rope by another man who follows the former wherever he goes. The bathers stay in the water as long as they can endure the cold; then they are carried back by others into the house, being supposed to have become frozen stiff; they are revived by the utterance of formulaic yells.

On the evening of this day and of the three days following the novices, assisted by others, dance a series of dances known as