WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES 255

When all hope has been abandoned, they are summoned and
the relative completes the ceremony, doing only that part of
it left undone by the original recipient of the call. The prin-
ciple is the same as that described when a novice dies, that
someone must finish the rite. This aspect of the kusiut cere-
monial is still preserved tenaciously as the writer found to his
cost. It was proposed that he be formally initiated into the
society, but this was not allowed on the ground that he would
not be present the following winter to complete the rites neces-
sitated by the coming of the call.

Tue Finar Rire

The commencement of the Ausiut season is regulated by
the coming of Nodkxnum, but its conclusion is a matter of
arrangement. By February the number of Aukusiut wishing
to dance has become negligible and the marshals decide to
terminate the ceremonial season. It must be remembered
that an enclosure has been built in every house where an im-
portant kusiut dance has taken place, and that as long as these
are in existence the uninitiated have not been allowed to live
in those houses. The social life of the community has accord-
ingly been profoundly disturbed. Of course several dances
may have taken place in a single dwelling, but even allowing
for that, the fact remains that the uninitiated have been forced
to dwell temporarily in perhaps only one or two houses. The
most obvious mark of the end of the ceremonial season is the
destruction of these enclosures.

A few nights after the last medusam, the heralds summon
the kukusiut to the house in which it took place. They sit
down but the usual droning is omitted. Presently sticks are
distributed and one of the singers takes his place to lead in the
customary frenzied beating. But before he raises his baton,
one of the marshals, or another kusiut with ability in that
respect, steps to the centre of the house and spits noisily in all
directions, his aim being to deluge the house and spectators
with a spray of saliva. Then the singer leads the beating of