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(d) Spruce boughs 3 or 4 feet long thrown on the ice meant “ Make haste. Some-
thing is wrong.”

(e) Three sticks planted in line close together meant that the party in front had gone
ahead a few miles. If the sticks were planted far apart, a foot or more, it meant
that the party was at least a day’s journey ahead.

(f) A bundle of grass, or a rag, tied to a stick meant “ starving.”

\ (g) Hair tied to a stick (today a little cross) meant “some one has died.”

PLAtTe XIII

APL ae

75942 Sekani drum, birch-bark basket, and snow-shoes.

Life in a Sekani camp, however, was not all hardship. The people
had dances and amusements similar to those of other Indians. None of
the early explorers has described the ancient manner of dancing, which
has long since been forgotten. We know, however, that the only musical
instrument was the tambourine, a parchment of caribou skin stretched
tautly over a circular wooden hoop and beaten with a thin stick, usually
split at one end. It differed from the Carrier and Gitksan instrument in

26665—5