WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES 81

telling them of his adventures, and presently they begin to
sing the song, as if they had just learnt the theme from X.
Frequently the deception is increased by X first learning the
song and repeating it to the singers in a voice sufficiently loud
forthe uninitiated to hear. The theme of this, and every other
song used for Cannibals, is of the land above and the dangers
which X has survived. The singers add new facts and infor-
mation to vary the monotony, but the subjects usually de-
scribed are:

The flat land above with its many trails and the river that
fows through it.

The gale constantly raging there which has blown the hair
from X’s head and the dirt from his body.

The trail across a yawning chasm over which his super-
natural strength enabled him toleap. Ifa Cannibal dies when
in concealment, the kukusiut bury the corpse secretly and tell
the uninitiated that his power failed him on the other side of
the abyss so that he was unable to return.

Aiqunidm under his various names.

How his patron helped him to escape the diskam, “They
of the Huge Jaws,” evil beings who tried to kill X by sucking
him into their gaping mouths.

The tide-flats which are found at the edge of the flat
land above.

The kindly being Sinunukalatim, who gave him the neces-
sary power to recross the chasm. The uninitiated believe that
unless a Cannibal meets this being he will be unable to return.

No one song for any Cannibal contains references to all
these beings and events, but it is on these that the singers
draw for their themes, always altering and adding to produce
a fine effect.

On this occasion X does not dance,‘® and the uninitiated
are soon expelled. As the kukusiut are eating, one marshal
after another praises X for what he has done, and gives the
most solemn warnings to all as to the necessity of completing
Seen tere Se LS ee ee COmpictms

*sThere is difference of opinion on this point.