196 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

They dispute in this manner concerning the capture of
every kind of salmon and even about the berries. Anolikwo-
tsaix keeps up a running stream of comments to the uninitiated.

“Listen to the stupid Kamdtatk?. That is what they did
when they went with Winwina. They spent most of their time
sleeping, and the rest of it arguing. Don’t you be such silly
fools as they are. Watch what you are doing, and you may be
fortunate enough to see me in the woods and become a kusiut.”

As soon as the uninitiated have watched these beings for a
time, they are expelled and the ritual ends in the usual manner.

In conclusion, a word may be said regarding the attitude
of the Bella Coola to Winwina and his canoe. Like all other
supernatural manifestations it is capable of bringing good or
evil to the beholder. An ancestor of every Winwina dancer
must have seen it and obtained it as patron, but it is a dan-
gerous visitor none the less. Sometimes, at night, a hunter
encamped on one of the fiords hears a grunting sound accom-
panied by short paddle strokes; if he calls out “‘yao!’’ loudly,
no harm will come to him, but if he omits to do so he will soon
die. One informant affirmed that within his lifetime a party
of Kimsquit hunters were waiting for high tide when they
heard the grunting. They failed to hail the craft and pre-
sently a sound reached them as if a number of paddles had
been placed in the water to check the course of a canoe; in fact,
the ripples splashed on the shore at their feet. In a few years
they were all dead.

THE DANCE OF MOTHER-NATURE

One of the most interesting of the Bella Coola dances is
that portraying Nunuoska, who is virtually Mother-Nature,
giving birth to the flowers and trees in the spring. The follow-.
ing account is of the manner in which Kadén-i, a Kimsquit
man, performed the rite. The ritual appears to be identical
in Bella Coola, so only one account need be given, and the
performer may be spoken of as X.

This dance can take place at any time during the ceremonial