The Hydas are fond of dancing, and display great ingenuity in devising many grotesque and fanciful costumes for wearing upon such occasions. Every beast, bird and fish almost of which they have any knowledge, is represented in some form--the heads of bear, seal and other animals are worn upon their heads, and also hideous masks, with moving eyes and lips The costly _na-xin_, or blanket, woven from the wool of the mountain goat, is thrown over the shoulder; curiously carved rattles are held in their hands, whistles imitating owls, wild geese, loons, eagles and other animals, are blown, drums are beaten; castanets--small hoops upon which numerous puffin beaks are suspended--shaken, birds' down is scattered until it fills the air and covers the performers, who, with a swinging, slouchy movement, dance for an hour at a time, rattling, whistling, singing and grunting. There are reception dances--_Skaga_ and _Hi-ate_--house-building dances--_Skadul_, the _Kata-ka-gun_ dance when the house is completed, and the _Skarut_ dance, preceding a distribution of property--and also on occasions of tattooing and death. The latter is performed by a single man, naked with the exception of a breech-cloth, wearing a hideous mask on his head. He runs at large through the village, and simulating an infuriated wild beast, seizes dogs, tears them in pieces, and eats the raw flesh. Nearly all these dances have been abandoned at Massett and Skidegate, but most of them are still practiced in those villages not yet reached by the missionaries. * * * * * Totems and Crests. There are five separate totems or crests among these people, established, apparently, to avoid too close blood relationships. These are _Koot_, (eagle), _Kooji_, (wolf), _Kit-si-naka_, (crow), and _Sxa-nu-xa_, (black bear and fin-whale united). The several tribes are supposed to have been originally about equally divided under these different totems. Marriage between those of the same totem is forbidden, and the system is perpetuated by the children adopting the totem or crest of the mother. * * * * * Religion. The Hydas, with the exception of those who have embraced the Christian faith, have no forms of religious worship, and I am informed by Rev. Mr Harrison, missionary at Massett, and probably the best authority upon the subject, that there is no word in their language which signifies the praise or adoration of a Supreme Being. They believe in a Great Spirit, a future life, and in the transmigration of souls. Their God, (Sha-nung-et-lag-e-das), possesses chiefly the attributes of power, and is invoked to help them attain their desires. Their Devil, (Het-gwa-lan-a), corresponds with the devil of common belief, a demon who in various forms brings upon them evil and destruction. * * * * * Morals.