RELIGION 45

One.” An informant, wishing to emphasize the care lavished
on this being, pointed to a photograph from an illustrated
paper of Princess Mary, Viscountess Lascelles, bending over
her infant. He remarked that this was the kind of attention
shown by Xemxemdlotia to his charge.

Of slightly greater importance is the hermaphrodite, Sxunts.
He resides in the land above, and spends most of his time
outside the walls of Nusmd4t-a, acting as guardian to a number
of young girls, the children of various supernatural beings.
On many occasions he has descended to this world and has
been seen by mortals, who recognize him by his peculiar nasal
voice, intermediate between that of aman andawoman. It
is supposed that human hermaphrodites have been affected in
some mysterious way by their supernatural prototype.

Several informants stated that they had heard of herma-
phrodites among other tribes, and thought that such existed
among their own people in early times, but the term is usually
applied, without physiological significance, to two types of
individual supposedly affected by Syxunts. Several cases are
alleged of a male infant changing to a female on being washed
and brought into the house. One of these, a girl about twelve
years of age, was living in Bella Coola in 1923. The
basis for these accounts is certainly error concerning the sex
of a new-born child. The second class consists of those who
desire to perform the work of the opposite sex. For example,
if a boy shows an aptitude for woman’s work, the parents,
realizing that he wants to be a girl, dress and treat him accord-
ingly. One informant knew of a Kimsquit boy, two Bella
Bella, and several Kitimat to whom this had occurred. Hence-
forth they dressed as women, but in due course they took wives
whom they helped in all feminine tasks. Another informant
Knew of two cases of the kind in which the men did not marry
and were believed to have an aversion to women. One instance
is known of a Kitimat woman who, having assumed man’s
costume and occupations, refused either to marry or to have
anything to do with her own sex. Another case is of a Carrier