WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES 179

representing a man whose mouth is open and whose face js
wrinkled in a grin spreading from ear to ear. They go around
the fire laughing and playing, rolling on the floor and indulging
in all kinds of antics, with constant fits of laughter, so deep
that it seems to come from their stomachs. Only one or two
men in the community can make the hoarse sound required,
and they are always asked to appear as comedians. They are
entitled to make witticisms, often of an obscene nature, at the
expense of any of the spectators, and the kukusiut always join
in laughter at the victim. Sometimes the singers beat out a
short tune and the performers dance clumsily, to the amuse.
ment of all. When they have withdrawn, the announcer ex.
plains that these two spend their time in the land above playing
and jesting. If the preliminaries are long delayed, the clowns
may be sent out to keep the audience amused while waiting for
the more important beings.

The Hermaphrodite next emerges. Aspreviously described,
he dances around the fire, singing in a peculiar nasal twang,
intermediate between the voice of a man and a woman.
Few men can do this satisfactorily. When the Hermaphrodite
has disappeared, the announcer explains that he always remains
outside the house in the land above where he plays with a
number of women who stay there, and over whom he is lord.
His face is that of a woman, his voice that of a woman, but he
has masculine characteristics as well.

Then comes Sxaiaxwax, clad in a blanket of evergreen
boughs and wearing as ugly a mask as the maker can devise.
The pattern varies according to the skill and originality of the
carpenter; a common design is that of a snout_like mouth,
somewhat resembling a pig with eyes askew. Swaiaxwax can-
not speak, but he dances around the fire spitting, blowing, and
making inarticulate sounds in his throat. When he has gone,
the announcer explains that Sxaiaxwax isa very evil being who
spends all his time trying to seduce girls, especially those who
play with the Hermaphrodite outside Nusquilxwaista. With
them he never succeeds, but sometimes he comes to this earth