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Boas and Hunt (1897): A Prototype Digital Edition

George Hunt Commentary on Długwala/Walasa’axa

now here is another thing.
you know all the myth People who lived at Qā´lug̩wis^[1] are nearly all anemals and Birds. yet they can speake to Each other and understand Each other.
and after a while. Each one of the anemals and Birds. turn themselves into man
and there Bird and anemals Body went away as anemals and Birds never to Return again.
and now after that these men use for their k!esᵋo^[2] what Ever kind of anemal and Bird they came out of.

now K!wē´k!waxā´weᵋ is the Raven.
and whe[n he] came out of the Raven he sent the Bird Raven away.
and he was a man walking in front of the Village at Qā´lug̩wis. Proudly
and one of the People said gexsᴇmx·ʟäᵋoxda qäᵋnakwᴇlax or looks like a chief he that [is] walking along.
and therefor his ᵋnᴇᵋmemot^[3] is called Gexsᴇm from that time to this Day.
and now all the People that turn into men from Each kind of anemal and Bird[, that] is their k!⁠esᵋo.
and when they Disappeared in the winter Dance they suppose to Be taken away By what Ever kind of anemal his forefather came out of.…
all these k!esᵋo Begens from the myth People at Qā´lug̩wis
and it is used nearly in Every winter Dance from that time go from Father to the Elder son to this Day.
for it is never given away in marriage.

* * *

now I will gave some of the Da[n]ces. of the myth People

#1 ᵋāʟōᵋlēnoxᵘ wolf Dancer. #2 ʟ!ēsᴇla´geᵋlā^[4] mink name is käx·^[5] #3 g̣e´x·osᵋtâla^[6] Deer nōłᴇmała^[7] Dancer #4 Hᴇwā´łᴇlał Dancer the land otter. #5 nᴇnālał grizzly Bear Dancer. #6 Hā´ᵋmaᵋalał Eatter Dancer #7 Dzō´noq!walał. wild women of the wood Dancer
now next come the Birds
#1 kwᴇkwᴇ´nx̣wᴇlał thunder Bird Dancer #2 qāqolo´sᴇlał second size thunder Bird Dancer. g̣wᴇg̣wā´xwᴇlał Raven Dancer is K!wē´k!waxā´weᵋ.^[8] #4 Hōx̣ᵘhōkwalał large hō´x̣ᵘhōkᵘ the cran[e] Dancer. #5 kwᴇkwekwalał. Eagle Dancer.

now all these twelve Defferent Dancers Belong to the myth [people] or nū´x̣ᵘneᵋmes^[9]…
and another thing we Dont see the [Dance] name[s] Hᴇ´mshᴇmts!ᴇs^[10] and tō´x̣ᵋwid^[11] or ᵋnaᵋnaqa⁠´walił^[12] … used by the myth People.
for they did not know any thing about it then…

for they Did not want anything more then [than] the Dances that Really Belong to them from there anemal life.

Editorial Notes

Qā´lug̣wis: ‘Bent Beach,’ a village site where the Kwaguł tribe lived formerly.
k!esᵋo: ‘hereditary prerogative’
ᵋnᴇᵋmemot or ᵋnᴇᵋmema: ‘kin group, clan,’ Boas's “numayma,” here meaning the ᵋnᴇᵋmema of Raven’s descendants.
ʟ!ēsᴇlageᵋla: ‘Born to be the Sun,’ the story name of Mink, who, among the Kwaguł, is cast as the younger brother of Raven.
Käx·: the winter-dance name of Mink.
G̣e´x·osᵋtâla: ‘Hung Up [off the ground],’ the name of Deer in stories.
Nōłᴇmał: ‘Fool Dancer.’
K!wē´k!wa´xā´weᵋ: ‘Great Deviser,’ the story name of Raven.
nū´x̣ᵘneᵋmes (pl. of nū´yᴇᵋmis): ‘myth people’ or ‘History People,’ the animal characters of the earliest stories.
Tō´x̣ᵋwid: ‘to step forward,’ or War Dance.
ᵋNaᵋnaqa´walił: ‘Sunrise Dance.'

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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]
Annotation 8.8 | Text (478.5) According to Hunt’s Commentary, the Długwala was one of the twelve dances that originated in the earliest period of history, before the permanent separation of humans and animals (APS.A.W3, 1931: 4969-4970; AFig. 8.8.1). In one place, he states that it was this dance, rather than the ’Walasa’ax̱a, that the Wolves were performing when Raven, Mink, and their relatives disrupted the proceedings, events leading to the establishment of fully human society (see Ann. 8.3 [on pg. 477]). Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw groups performed additional wolf dances with distinct origins and histories (ibid: 5414, 5602). Some of these were connected to the Nunła̱m, a ceremonial separate from the Winter Ceremonial (T’sit’seḵa) in which the ‘Walasa’ax̱a and Długwala are performed (see pp. 416, 500, 592, 621).

Editorial Notes

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