during the winter months that the Secret Societies of the
Haida, Tsimsyan, Kwakiutl and, to a lesser degree, the
Nootka tribe, devoted themselves to the performance of these
ceremonial dances which varied in their importance.

Of these societies the Kwakiutl possessed the largest num-
ber, each dance being graded in rank according to its ac-
cepted origin. During these performances the members of
the society to which the dance belonged were also seated

in strict accordance with rank. The Kwakiutl considered
themselves to be under the influence of supernatural beings
and ancestral spirits during the winter when it was cus-
tomary to abandon the tribal social grouping habitual in
the summer season.

Masks appear to have been rarely used by tribes of the
Interior with the exception of the Lillooet, who are stated to
have kept certain old men employed in mask-making, remunerating
them well for their skill. These were clan masks, usually re-
presenting an ancestor or some important incident in the wearer's
life, hence they do not fall into the same category as the cere-
monial masks of the Coast tribes.

The caution may be advisable that the significance of many
of these tribal masks is lost. The greater the expert, the more
restraint he exercises in assigning names to certain representa-
tions.

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