76 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

society have recovered from the shock of X’s disappearance.
Thenceforth the kusiut dances continue night after night, but
the Cannibal remains hidden. Sometimes he is carried to a
dance, concealed within a drum; more often he remains within
the back-room of his own house or hides in some lonely part of
the mountains. Throughout this period he eats little or
nothing, and formerly used to devour a brew of roots that
produced emaciation. The length of concealment depends
entirely on X. If he desires to impress the uninitiated with the
dangers which he has survived, he remains hidden for a long
time; consequently, the period varies from a week to two
months or even more. On every occasion that a marshal
addresses the kukusiut he warns them to watch for X’s return,
and garbled accounts of this reach the uninitiated.

When X’s relatives and the marshals have decided that
the Cannibal has been long enough absent, they make arrange-
ments for him to reappear. The time selected is always the
night of a mebusam, and after the departure of the uninitiated
on the preceding evening the marshals discuss arrangements
with the kukusiut and allot tasks to various individuals. Sev-
eral kukusiut shave X’s head, except a small patch above the
forehead, to support the story which he will tell of the high
winds prevailing in the land above, which blew the hair from
his head.**

After the dismissal of the uninitiated on the following night
of nebusam, the kukusiut make their final arrangements. When
they judge from the passage of the stars or the state of the tide
that dawn is at hand, several members of the society climb to
the roof of the previously selected house. First they sound a
whistle, then thump on the roof with their feet, and call out:

Xwa-, xwa-, xwa-: this is a cry used by Cannibals returned
from above which is supposed to indicate a longing for meat.

The kukusiut sleeping within, knowing that their house has
been selected, are ready as soon as they are awakened. The

One old man mentioned that in his youth this was done with a sharpened
piece of iron; he was unable to state what was used in earlier times.