130 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

nary announcement made to the kukusiut on the night of some
gotivm in the following manner:

As the kukusiut are eating, one of the marshals rises, saying:

“T hear a supernatural one close-at hand; some powerful
being is drawing near.”

The other marshals agree that they too hear its approach
and the kukusiut, always eager for dances, impatiently await
further information. After further suspense, one of the mar-
shals announces that it is coming for X. No mention is made
of which dance is to be performed, and the intimation is wrap-
ped in that veil of secrecy so essential to the kusiut society that
they practise it even among themselves until it becomes habi-
tual. During the night four young kukusiut are sent out to
the mountains near the village carrying small whistles. The
uninitiated, hearing their weird sound, realize that a super-
natural being is in the vicinity. This whistling is repeated
twice during the night.

Sometimes the actual call comes to X on the following
afternoon, but more often after the zebusam in the evening.
When the display, whatever it may be, has taken place, whist-
ling is heard from the mountain slopes. The uninitiated are
at once expelled, ignorant, of course, of the fact that the noise
is made by kukusiut dispatched for the purpose. As they
hurry out they are told that the noise is the droning cry of a
supernatural being, equivalent to the droning done by kusiut
women whenever they are present at a manifestation of the
supernatural. X, who appears to be listening, calls out:

“Please say what you want, I will do it.”

Then he utters a low hoot-like whistle and sits down, while
the women drone. When several minutes have elapsed, X
moves, sunwise, to another part of the house and repeats his
answer to the whistling which is still continuing. This is done
a second and third time, but on the fourth, the call is supposed
to have entered X, who cowers as if something had struck him,
while the women drone more loudly than before. Then sticks
are beaten madly four times and a herald goes to every house