RELIGION 95

years ago a chief, when hunting, sat down to rest. While he
sat a slide plunged down the mountain-side and swept away
the ground where he would have been if he had not stopped.
The Bella Coola know that such a fortunate escape is no acci-
dent, as foolish white men believe, but is the result of an active
spirit. Sometimes it can convey only symbolic hints of what
is to happen. An old Kimsquit man told how his lower eye-
lids once became sore and his stomach began to heave. This
occurs with sobbing, so he knew that ill-fortune was before
him and was not surprised at the death of his son. A thought-
ful person pays great attention to indications such as these,
knowing that his spirit is always striving to pierce the future
and obtain information for him, however indefinite. The im-
portance of the supernatural to the Bella Coola can be judged
from the fact that they attribute every action and thought to
an element of this nature.

Mentality, sik, though caused by the spirit, is somewhat
vaguely regarded as a separate entity. It comprises two parts,
one constantly urging to good deeds, particularly to activity in
ritual matters, the other to evil. No one knows the appearance,
if any, of human mentality. Some of the thoughtful older men
hazard the opinion that every tree has mentality, whereas _
others say that it has a spirit. In former times especially, as
one was falling, the cutters could occasionally see a dark object
somewhat resembling an otter flash away and disappear. Not
until then was the tree actually dead. Even the old people do
not profess to know anything definite about mentality, which
is important only as an attribute of the spirit. In indefinite
association with it, too, is breath, siminits, provided by 4+
guntaém for everyone at birth. The word signifies more than
the material act of breathing, it denotes the actual physical
state of being alive, a condition “lent” by 4#/guntam to mortals.
The connection of these two elements with the spirit is un-
equivocal, though their exact relationship is indefinite.

If the spirit moves far from its proper position at the back
of the neck, the owner falls ill; if it leaves him, his condition