132 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

number of puppets is always made. Certain kukusiut, known
as dnuyex, have in connection with their dance prerogative, the
ability to summon and display supernatural objects in the
form of small puppets. These are sometimes patrons,more often
not, and include not only beings having human form, but
snakes, hummingbirds, and other creatures. By calling his
being, an dzuyex receives strength which can be transmitted
to someone else—so the uninitiated believe—by passing it into
the recipient’s body. Non-members are told that X suffers
death from which he is resurrected by his own powers, rein-
torced by those passed into him by other members of the
society through the transference of their puppets. The most
potent “patron-puppet”’ is the giant toad. It is difficult for a
white man to understand how intelligent people, as are many
of the uninitiated, can be deluded into believing that the some-
what rudely carved wooden figures which they see moving
before them are supernatural beings. Emphasis must again
be laid on the awe, mystery, and power of the ceremonies in
the eyes of those who do not understand them, and the very
great skill shown by the carpenters in making use of hidden
strings, trap-doors, and other devices to increase the dramatic
effect. Puppets are guarded very carefully by their owners
and are usually hidden in some cleft of the mountains. A well-
constructed one is used when necessary for many years.

Other preparations must be made for the stomach-cutting.
As in all other kusiut dances, deception is practised and X is
not really disembowelled. Instead, a wooden, or copper, frame
is made to shield his stomach; over this is arranged the skin of
a deer or a dog, cut to cover him from chest to thighs, with even
the navel imitated. This camouflage is held in place by his
breech-cloth and by a strap passing around his chest. He wears
a blanket which conceals most of the fastenings so that the
artifice is not noticeable in the dim light of the house. The
chief difficulty is to find a dog with skin the same colour as X’s.
Many animals are killed, and the fur removed by immersion
in boiling water, but sometimes half the dogs of a village must