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Boas and Hunt (1897): A Prototype Digital Edition

Annotation 8.3 | Text (477.15)

The ’Walasa’ax̱a figures in two of the most important charter narratives of the Kwagu’ł at Fort Rupert. The first of these is the story of Mink and the Wolves, which tells how Raven, Mink, and their relatives stole the Winter Ceremonial from the Wolves (see Ann. X.X [to pp. 538-539]). These events led to the acquisition by human beings of the ceremonial, and to the permanent separation of humans from animals. The 1897 version of the narrative does not name the dance the Wolves are performing in the story, but in a later telling, Hunt wrote that the chief of the Wolves is showing his “great dance, the ᵋwā´lasᵋaxaa´kᵘ (’Walasa’ax̱a)” (CUL 11, 1926:3323-3382, published in Boas 1930, I:57; II:57).

The second narrative is the story of U’maxt’alatłe’, the ancestor of the Giga̱lg̱a̱m ’na̱’mima (see Ann. X.X [to pp. 382-389]). In one episode of the story, U’maxt’alatłe’ travels to the mainland and marries the daughter of Ḵawadiliḵala, an ancestor of another ’na̱’mima who had transformed himself from a wolf into a human being. From his marriage U’maxt’alatłe’ receives the ’Walasa’ax̱a and its forty songs. He builds his dance house near Fort Rupert and Ḵawadiliḵala teaches U’maxt’alatłe’ how to show the dance (APS.A.W3, 1931:4863).

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’Walasa’ax̱a/Dlugwala section (1897.477-78) 75 Original 1897 text and figs/plates (from uncorrected OCR, with original footnotes): plain 2022-03-01T21:44:34+00:00
[ Page 477 ]
The Wolf.
1. I go to the seat of the chief of the wolves. Yihihi ahahi.
2. I am taken to the middle of the rear of the house of the wolves. Yihihi ahahi.
3. Thus I obtained all the supernatural powers of the wolves. Yihihi ahahi.
Wolf Song, ʟa´ʟasiqoala.
1. I come barking on the beach. I make the noise of distributions of blankets, for you will be as great as your ancestor, the first one of all the chiefs.
2. Wonderful are the words of our chief, the wolf. It is said: We shall assemble with our children, asking him to give blankets, to give blankets to each tribe, even to all the tribes of the world. Yihēi.
3. Let us try to pacify our chief, else he will swing his death bringer and cut short our lives, and we shall fall before the chief of the wolves. Yihēi.
Wālas’axa´. ^[1]
The Wālas’axa´ is a peculiar wolf’s dance. It belongs to the legend of Ō’maxt’ā⁠´laʟē (see p. 382), who obtained it by marrying the daughter of Qāwatiliqala. The Wālas’axa´ is danced in the following way: All the men of the tribe dress in blankets and headdresses representing the wolf. They hide behind a curtain which stretches across the rear of the house, and when the singers open their song, come forth from the right-hand entrance of the curtain. There two criers are stationed, who hold staffs and announce their arrival. As soon as a dancer appears, he turns and proceeds on a march around the fire. The fists are held forward, the thumbs erect (Plate 36).
Plate 36: The Walas’axa’ [original caption]
George Hunt Correction to Plate 36
wāᵋlā´sāxāᵋākw [’Walasax̱a’akw] Big come Down wolf Dance. this Dance should have one Hundred wolf masks and one songs

(APS.A.W3, 1920:1911)
When the dancers arrive in front of the door, they turn once and then proceed around the fire, disappearing again behind the curtain, at the left-hand side. When all have disappeared, two more circuits are made in the same manner. In the fourth circuit they stop when all have come out. They squat down on hands and feet, imitating the motions of wolves. They rest on their toes and knuckles and turn their heads to the right and to the left.

In fig. 140 (p. 493) and in Plate 37 a number of the masks used in the Wālas’axa´ are shown. Some of these claim particular interest, as they [ Page 478 ] were collected on Cook’s expedition, and show that no change of the type of these masks has taken place during the last century. The teeth of the mask (Plate 37) are made of dentalia, and the trail is carefully worked of cedar bark.

Fig. 140. Wolf Masks for the Walas’axa´.
Royal Ethnographical Museum, Berlin. Collected by Captain Cook and A. Jacobsen. [original caption]
George Hunt Correction to Figure 140
x·esēᵋwē sā ʟo´gwāᵋlā [xisiwisa Długwala] showing teeth on forhead of the good magiec Bringer. or wolf Dance. these mask Don't Belong to ᵋwālāsaxāᵋākw [’Walasa’ax̱a]. they Belong to those who Dance two or four in one time. in the winter Dance

(APS.A.W3, 1920:1912)
Plate 37. Wolf Mask. a. Side view. b. View from below.
British Museum. Collected by Captain Cook. [Original caption]
George Hunt Correction to Plate 37
x·ēᵋsēᵋwē [xisiwi’] showing teeth on forhead wolf mask

(APS.A.W3, 1920:1912)
The ʟō´koala.
There is still another wolf dance, which is derived from traditions of the initiation of men by the wolves. The tradition underlying this dance is that of Mink and the wolves. The sons of the chief of the wolves were preparing to be initiated. Mink found and killed them and thus obtained their names and places. He came back wearing the wolf’s scalp as a head mask. Three times he danced around the fire, covering his face and his head with his blanket. Then the fourth time he uncovered it and thus showed that he had killed the wolves. All the animals tried to kill him, but were unable to do so. I shall give the full legend later on. Mink, whose quē⁠´qutsa name is K·ēx·, thus obtained the wolf’s name, Nūn, as a member of the seal society, and also the wolf’s ʟō´koala or supernatural power. This tradition belongs to the clan La´alaxsᴇnt’aiō, and K·ēx· and Nūn are the two names of the ʟō´koala dancer. When he appears as quē´qutsa, he wears the frontlet (x·isī´waē) representing the wolf, nūnqᴇmʟ or ʟō´koalaqᴇmʟ (fig. 140, p. 493).

George Hunt Commentary
Boas’s Original Footnotes
1. The great one from above. [Return to text]

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Tsax̱is (Fort Rupert)