92 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

without apparent cause. It will be convenient to refer to
L,utulimut as X.

Having first obtained sanction from the marshals, X begins
his preparations. The continuous whistling that in Kimsquit
presages a call to a Cannibal is lacking, but on the morning
when it has been decided that X will start his dance, he dis-
cards his clothing and goes to the house in which a kusiut
ceremony is taking place, and from which the uninitiated have
accordingly been ejected. After droning for an instant, he
suddenly leaps at a man and bites him. The “victim,” warned
of what is to happen, has probably prepared himself by making
a small cut so that his blood can gush forth easily. Then X
rushes from the house, growling ferociously, and biting a
number of kukusiut, either men or women, on arm, neck, or
leg. Several co-members accompany the Cannibal, while the
uninitiated cower within the bedrooms, hoping to be unob-
served. A herald goes continually through the village, calling
out:

“The dreaded one [Péxotia] has bitten three [or whatever
the number may be] people.”

X spends a considerable time rushing around biting people,
the effect being greatly magnified by the outcry of his assis-
tants and the terror of the uninitiated who cringe in fear lest
they should be bitten by this seeming maniac with the strange
power. When weary, X dashes off into the forest to rest; his
followers go with him and sit down in two groups, men in one,
women in the other.

About noon a herald goes to every house calling out,
ipanap, which means, “Hold him down.”

Two or more kukusiut have been sent up the mountain
above the village while the others go to X’s house, from which
the uninitiated were expelled at the first signs of his fury. A
rope, previously prepared, is lashed around X in spite of his
struggles, and tied to pieces of wood on which several kukusiut
sit to increase the weight, but arranged so that X can slip out
of his bonds without the ruse being apparent. As a dog-eating