WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES 251

in the land above and come to their owners only on special
occasions, there are four of similar type considered to remain
constantly within the possessor’s body from the time of his
admission, with respect to the name with which the right is
associated. One of these, the use of crystals for initiation
purposes, has already been described. The others are nixo}-
Gxta, tsubitia, and sio°msta, all untranslatable terms.

One use to which the first of these prerogatives is put is to
encourage the kukusiut to hasten to the house in which a cere-
mony is taking place. Delay is part and parcel of all dances,
but particularly on ésuxtamem and nustutalsap the kukusiut are
often very slow in arriving. In sucha case the dancer himself,
one of his friends, or a marshal, may ask the owner of a nixo-
baxta prerogative to perform. It will be convenient to refer
to this kusiut, who may be man or woman, as X.

The uninitiated have been told that X carries in his
right knee a rock crystal which he can thrust into anyone
through the anus. The kukusiut do not share the belief, but
they have acted for so long as if they did, that it is probable
that they almost place credence in it themselves. When X
performs, he leaves the dancer’s home and goes in a crouching
attitude, yelling fiercely, to the lowest house of the village.
As he enters, the uninitiated flee to the bed-rooms, but peer
curiously and fearfully through the cracks. X rushes to and
fro, still crouching, while the kukusiut appear to be trying to
avoid him, but at last he seizes either a man or a woman. In
spite of his victim’s well-simulated struggles, X makes the
motion of thrusting something into him, whereupon the person
cries out as if in pain and pretends to be nauseated. Away
rushes X, enters the next dwelling, and does the same. This
is repeated in every house in the village. As they go to the
house in which the ceremony is taking place, the victims pre-
tend to be suffering from a stomach-ache, caused by the foreign
substance within them, and this pretence is maintained after
their arrival. After some delay, X takes a stick and beats
furiously four or five times withit, while the singers accompany