266 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

he lapsed into silence, knowing that the odds were too great for him.
The Cannibal realized that if this powerful man could be initiated into
their society he would be a source of strength, so he said:

“You are now an initiate of mine.”

Xunxumlaix understood that this meant he was to be initiated into
the Rusiut society. He agreed, but asked to be permitted to complete
the a’alk dance which he was performing that evening, and to get beating
sticks for which he had gone to the forest. The kukuszut were only too
willing to grant this dispensation in their joy at having a valuable
recruit.

On his return to the village, Xunxumlaix told his fellow a’alk that he
was going to be a usiut and they were greatly grieved at loss of their
leader. That night they gave the dance which had been started and
composed a song of which the theme was the way in which their rivals
had fallen until their heads were upside down. The kukusiut, mocked
in this way, feared that this was a prelude to further trouble with the
a’alk, but Xunxumlaix duly carried out his promise and was enrolled as
a kusiut. Bereft of their leader, many of his disconsolate associates were
admitted as kukusiut, and ever since that time there has been relatively
little friction between the two societies. In due course the Cannibal
gave his dance with a song describing how he had met a strange creature
over whom he had prevailed; this was, of course, the uninitiated Xum-
ximlaix. ;

To these two is attributed the origin of the practice of
shoving to decide priority of invitation giving. It is said that
both Xumxumlaix and the Cannibal once wished to invite the
people to a ceremony on the same evening and agreed to shove
against each other to decide which should have preference.
Xunxumlaix prevailed, and the Cannibal duly postponed his
dance and went with his associates to the winner’s house.

As before stated, stories of this kind dealing with the al-
leged history of the society are of slight value. As far as they
go, they agree with other evidence pointing to the gradual
growth of the kusiut society from a band of elders endowed |
with supernatural power to a society with enormous prestige,
dominating the life of the community and entirely over-
shadowing the a’a/k who seem once to have been their rivals.