WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES 101

described for Kimsquit are the lack of the cannibalistic incubus
and the presence of the sqiots. It must be emphasized that
these are differences of individual prerogative alone; many
Kimsquit Cannibals perform with sqiots, many Bella Coola
with incubus.

Although every effort was used to obtain not only the
general principles of the rite, but also confirmation of details,
it must be remembered that many of these were omitted at
the performances observed, so that reliance had to be placed
upon the accounts of participants. It is probable that errors
of omission have been committed in consequence; these may
account for some of the discrepancies, but the most potent
factors are undoubtedly lack of uniformity in individual pre-
rogatives, and failure to enforce absolute rigidity in ritual.
The two accounts just given by no means illustrate all the
variations possible in this dance; others will become evident
in descriptions of the rites of Cannibals other than those who
can bite the living.

The following is an account of the ritual of a Dog-eating
Cannibal, Olxan-i, of Sunxd. Long, long ago one of the ances.
tors of this man saw a pack of wolves devouring some dogs.
In some mysterious way, which even the Bella Coola do not
profess to be able to understand, the power of a wolf entered
the beholder so that he was impelled to eat dogs. He was then
carried away to the mysterious land above where he saw and
was assisted by several supernatural beings. The first Olxén-i
was able to transmit to one of his relatives his ability to eat
dogs, and the prerogative has since been carried out by his
descendants. Should the holder of the name fail to tell his
destined heir the details of the experiences which are to be
embodied in his songs, his successor can obtain these from the
singers who, of course, are familiar with the themes used on
Previous occasions. The repository of the name, Olxdn-1, is
beneath a huge boulder not far from some carved rocks behind
the village of Sunx2 (see Plate 6). It is said that many years
ago some reckless uninitiated placed poles as levers beneath