92 BRITISH COLUMBIA.

portant action of the tribe, such as a fishing expedition or one for gathering camas
or departure on a war raid. The object of the dance was either to gain the
good-will of the Great Spirit in the undertaking ahead or to render thanks on
their return for the success with which it had been attended.

MusicaL INSTRUMENTS.

Musical instruments were mainly those of percussion; drums in particular, ©
which were made either by stretching deer-skin over a wooden hoop or over a
cylinder of the same substance, often decorated with symbolic designs in red and
black paint. One or two types of reed instruments were made by the Haida
and Kwakiutl, in which waves of sound were produced by the vibration of two
neighbouring parts; and the Kootenay tribe also employed a kind of reed pipe,
instruments of percussion being noticeably absent from this tribe.

Whistles were numerous in form. In length they varied from 1 inch up-
wards. Some consisted of hollowed tubes, made to produce weird sounds repre-
senting mysterious human voices of different pitches or sounds credited to animal
spirits. Examples still exist of “sets? of whistles all served by bellows common
to the set. “These are perforated with holes, which when skilfully manipulated
resembled the tones of an organ. A very elaborate whistle employed in a secret
society dance resembled a corpse with a leather body, the head and limbs being
carved from wood. Whistles were constantly employed to inspire terror in
dramatic dances. (Plate XVIII., Fig. 40.)

Rattles, more or less elaborately carved in high or low relief, in some cases
coloured, were often constructed from a block of wood, split open down the
middle, then hollowed out till it was well-nigh paper-thin, the two sides being
cleverly laced together through a narrow lip left at the edges. A favourite form
represented a bird, the globular body containing a few pebbles, the tail of the
bird forming the handle. (Plate XXXIL., Figs. 32, 33.) ‘They were frequently
made of basket-work by the Interior Salish tribes. Rattles were employed for
many ceremonial purposes. For instance, they would be used as in the famous
“ Ha’mat’sa”’? or Cannibal dance of the Haida, to pacify the novice at the cul-
mination of his adolescent ceremonies, when he returned from the ordeal of initia-
tion by the Cannibal spirit in the recesses of a forest. In his frenzy he would
attack every one he met and tear pieces of flesh from their arms and bodies; then
slaves would rush forward and restore his senses by free use of these rattles.