282 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

prerogative, he was debarred from seclusion in the back-room and consequent
initiation as a sisaok. The exact relationship between warriors and members of
the stsaok society is obscure.

(6) Laxaiyao-k‘ is a Kitkatla name from the north. The first owner moved to
Kitlobe where he married, and the designation was transmitted to his descendants.
One of the latter migrated to Kimsquit, where the name has since been handed
down from generation to generation though its original source has not been for-
gotten.

(c) Recorded as song VII D 36, National Museum of Canada; singer, Jim Pollard.
This song is said to have been used about 1870.

(d) Vocative form.

(e) Thatis: I double my importance. This kind of expression is popular among
chiefs.

(f) Qowi is one of the ancestral names of Raven, the dancer’s crest. In thus
addressing the bird, he called attention to his ancestral history.

(g) The home of the first Laxaiyao-k* was near a point where dead whales often
drifted ashore. The dancer likens himself to a whale on which people will dine.

(4) Such repetition is not uncommon. The dancer implies that his wealth will
be divided in a manner similar to the cutting up of a whale’s carcass.

() A promontory owned by the first Laxaiyao-k‘.

(j) That is: I summon people [to a feast.]

(&) An invitation not to be taken too literally.

Xe-tta Soncs

The tunes of xe-¢7a songs are believed to have been handed
down, unaltered, for many generations. The words, too, are
frequently ancient although the singers sometimes make slight
changes so that they will be more suitable for the chief in whose
honour they are being sung. Owing to the decline of cere-
monials in which they were used, few xe-t#a songs are now
remembered.

Xe-tia Song Used by Sinuxett of Kimsquit(a)

A Alinaxwao | Atlxwai aipdai

See!

dénuitimik
a man stands in the bow(4)

Di stéltaiimxdai

The chief

Come!

di yalxotsai aikdai
of those who travelled everywhere.

[worDLeEss cHorus|

aiyatétximattatsdax
whence I came(d);

da’ indnuskxiisdax
my pattern(c),

B Ataiqwatsixxaosts
He did so,