158 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

on the next three nights, since they are identical with those of
other kusiotem ceremonials. For mebusam a masked figure is
prepared, which the uninitiated believe to be X’s supernatural
patron. The box is placed as when the dancer performed, but
the kukusiut, not uninitiated, pour in the water. The latter
can see that liquid is entering, and the kukusiut tell them the
height to which it has risen, but only those who are taking part
can see that the water merely runs out through the opened
trap-door in the floor. When enough has been poured in, the
masked figure enters the box, remains for about fifteen min-
utes, and then reappears. After this performance there fol-
lows the procession of supernatural beings as previously
described.

This concludes the Drowning dance. X obeys restrictions
similar to those required for the other kustotem dances.

The Burning Dance

Still another kusiotem dance prerogative is that of being
burnt to death. The details of ritual are so similar to those
of the Drowning dance that it can be recorded briefly. The
preliminary arrangements are made in the summer as soon as
permission to hold it has been obtained from the marshals. A
large box of the kind used for cooking olachen is constructed
with a hinged flap in the bottom, so that, as with the Drowning
dance, the performer can pass through it and a trap-door in the
floor.

The details of rehearsal, coming of the call, asking what ts
required, the waiting for four days, and the summoning of the
uninitiated in the darkness do not differ from the other kust-
otem ceremonials. When the time comes for the rite itself, one
of the marshals announces that X wants to borrow a box from
so-and-so. The one prepared is brought and placed over the
hidden trap-door. The dancer, strengthened by patron-
puppets, enters, passes through the trap-door to the space
beneath the house, and quickly shoves in a dummy figure.