58 ) REPORT—1890.

brother) by the Gatlo'ltq of Comox, Qa'is by the Sk-q6’mic and Qiils by
all other tribes. The Lku‘figun pray to him, and expect that he will
again descend from heaven at some future time and again wander all over
the earth, punishing the bad. Their dances are said to be performed to
please him. Although it seems probable that there exists some connection
between Qiils and the sun, I have found no clear evidence showing this to be
the case. Itis said that Qiils made the sun and the moon. The Snanai’muaQ,
who are closely related to the Lku’figen, and whose customs are very much
the same as those of the Lku’figrn, worship the sun and pray to him.
Traces of sun-worship may be found among the Lku’figEn in the custom of
young girls and boys avoiding to eat until the sun is high up in the
sky, in the si/dua offering her prayers towards sunrise, and in the regula-
tion that novices and menstruating girls must go homeward in a direction
following the course of the sun.

Animism underlies the religious ideas of the Lku’figmn, as well as
those of all other North American Indians. Animals are endowed with
superhuman powers, and inanimate objects are considered animate. Trees —
are considered transformed men. The creaking of the limbs is their
voice. Animals, as well as the spirits of inanimate objects, but princi-
pally the former, can become the genii of men, who thus acquire super-
natural powers. A peculiar conception is what is called stld'lzk-am.
This is as well the protective genius of a man, as a supernatural being
whose power is directed against aman. Therefore 1t seems to express
the relation of man to supernatural powers. Certain occupations or
actions are forbidden to mourners, parents of new-born children, men-
struating women, shamans, novices of secret societies, and dancers
because certain objects are stla/lzk:am against them. The door and the
earth, as being stla/lzk'am, were mentioned in a foregoing paragraph.
In dreams the soul leaves the body and wanders all over the world. The
soul after death retains human shape and becomes a ghost. Shamans
are able to see ghosts. Their touch causes sickness. They make those
who have not regarded the regulations regarding food and work mad.
Their touch paralyses man. When one feels afraid, being alone in the
woods or in the dark, it is a sign that a ghost is near. They know who
is going to die, and approach the villages early in the evening to take the
soul of the dying person away. In order to drive the ghosts away the
people cry g, y/ beat the walls of the houses with sticks, and burn Pewce-
danum leiocarpum, Nutt., to drive them off. Some people believe indivi-
dually that the soul of a man may be born again iv his grandchild.

There are two classes of conjurers or shamans, the higher order being
that of the seunii/am, the lower that of the s?’dua, The si/6ua is generally
a woman. It seems that her art is not acquired by intercourse with
spirits, but it is taught. The principal function of the si/dua is that of
appeasing hostile powers. It is believed that certain objects are hostile
to man, or to man in certain conditions; for instance, to mourners, to
menstruating women, to shamans, dancers, and novices of secret societies.
These hostile powers may be appeased by the si’dua bespeaking them in
a sacred language. The words of this language are handed down from
one si/dua to the other, and heavy payments are exacted for instruction.
There is not one si/oua left among the Lku’igrn, and my endeavours to
learn any of the words of this language were consequently vain. The
same means are used for endowing men or parts of the body, weapons, &c.
with special power. This is called ‘to give a name to an object’ (for

-