were offered habitually to the "Great Giver of all Blessings."
As with most primitive people they believed themselves to be
surrounded by an invisible world of spirits between whom and
themselves or the world of nature around them the line of demarca-
tion was very undefined. These spirits could assume human or
animal form at will. Some of them were formidable, such as the
Spirit of the Winds or Sis-i-utl; others kindly, for example the
Black Bear or Cousin Eagle; others, notably the Mythical Raven,
were well intentioned though full of malicious and mischievous
tricks. Myths describe how the gifts of fire, light or water
were brought to a twilight world by "Bringers of Blessings" or
"Culture Heroes,' sometimes known as "Transformers," who in-
structed human beings in the best methods of securing fish,
cooking foods, building shelters and other useful crafts. IG

is said that the fierce Killer Whale kindly suggested the use of
his form as a model for canoes and the Grane drew attention to
the graceful curve of his neck as suitable for the handle of
spoons!

One of these myriad spirits was adopted by each youth as a
life-guardian during the severe tests associated with adolescence
and their appearances in fish, bird or animal form underlay the
ceremonial highly dramatic Secret Society dances and tribal
feasts which by dance, music and song re-enacted ancestral feats
or legendary occurrences, such as tribal combats or the origin of
customs or crests. Performers wore insignia on these occasions
and for the time became temporarily the spirit or ancestor they
represented. But the variations in and details of both religious
and social organizations were so intricate even among tribal sub-
divisions that only a broad outline is possible and generalizations
are rash and misleading.

Outstanding influences were wealth, (measured before the era
of European trade by stores of dried foods, canoes, furs, slaves
and the finest examples of tribal arts), rank and social or
ceremonial standing. These entitled to the use of certain crests,
names, songs, ceremonial dances and the giving of great feasts, or
potlatches, when gifts were distributed to all guests, each re-—
cipient being aware he must reciprocate as much or more in value
than he received or become a defaulter and lose seriously in social
standing. The potlatch custom (long forbidden by Federal Law)
reached its fullest development among the Haida who possibly
adopted it from the Kwakiutl. Its various forms were an integral
part of their social fabric. The ceremony was known, but with
far less elaboration, among the other tribes on the coast but never
assumed prominence with those of the Interior. Nominally every
member of a family, however remote the kinship, cooperated in the
ceremony, pledging their support and assistance in the preparation
and later in the formalities of each intricate detail, which

exes