WINTER CEREMONIAL DAN CES 163

nustutalsap and has part of that day as well as all of gothim and
nebusam to complete his task. On the evening of nusiutélsap,
the kukusiut are summoned as usual to practise X’s two songs.
The ritual on this night as well as on the following, gothm,
appears to be of the usual Ausiut type although one informant
stated that complete silence reigns in order to spread the
fiction among the uninitiated in the neighbouring houses that
X is waiting quietly to commune with the supernatural beings,
and that consequently the customary dancing is omitted.
This is probably a modern deviation from the traditional
usage.

On the night of xebusam a herald summons the kukusiut to
X’s house with the cry:

Tcalats denai nexinkomi dekusiutai
Come to the little kusiut dance.

This is merely a rhetorical remark since the dance is really
one of major import. They enter, and are at once given a
small meal.*! Then the cry is raised for the uninitiated. When
they are seated, X appears from the back-room, carrying before
him the fungus, held by the shorter end of rope projecting
above, while the longer is coiled up behind it out of sight. The
kukusiut begin to beat time furiously as X slowly circles the
fire. Then, solemnly and carefully, he sets the fungus on the
floor where, to the wonder of the uninitiated, it disappears
from sight as though it had sunk into the planks. This is, in
fact, the case, since the carpenters have prepared a small hole
in the floor through which it disappears, leaving only the cord
lying on the surface. Any four kukusiut men are called for-
ward to support X and stand, two on either side of him. The
dancer bends down, picks up the string easily with one hand
and draws up the fungus into sight, taking care not to raise it
high enough to expose the longer end of the rope passing
through the hole. He lowers his burden and the fungus dis-
appears from sight. X whispers to one of his four assistants
and the latter calls out, as if just prompted:

“This may be also a modern innovation.