WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES 147

a mask representing a man and carries a stick with which he
beats on the floor as he cries out:

“Come, ye supernatural ones. The most famous kusiut of
all [Thunder] is about to dance.”

Thunder. The mask representing this creature is large and
of fearsome appearance with hooked beak and overhanging
forehead; it is always carried by a man of powerful physique
(see Plate 9). A box has been placed beside the enclosure so
that, when Thunder first appears, standing upon it, his ap-
parent size is increased. He bends to and fro, and up and
down, in an amazing fashion, blowing through his clenched
teeth, while 4no°likwoisaix informs the uninitiated who he is,
and expatiates on his powers. After twisting and turning for
several minutes, Thunder leaps to the floor of the house, and
as he does so there sounds a peal of thunder. The uninitiated
do not know that this is caused by a number of kukusiut rolling
stones to and fro in large wooden boxes within the enclosures
at the back. Then he starts to dance sunwise around the fire,
bending down and up, shaking himself and stamping violently,
his amazing gyrations being constantly accompanied by the
reverberation of rolling stones. Escorted by several kukusiut
he circles the fire, and after a final stamping and twisting, dis-
appears into the enclosure. In a few minutes he appears
again, and repeats his dance. Since no one man is strong
enough to carry out this athletic performance twice in succes-
sion, the mask has been transferred to another Rusiut within
the enclosure, but of course the uninitiated are unaware of
this. Thunder always comes out four times in all, on each
occasion dancing once around the fire. Sometimes four dif-
ferent men perform; sometimes the one who danced first has
recovered sufficiently to be able to repeat on the fourth round.
The usual explanations by 4noVikwoisaix add zest to the rite.
On this occasion the customary dance of Thunder with a fire
tattle was omitted.

SxnxnesGxs. Twelve of these beings appear together, dis-
guised behind masks representing young girls. They are the