WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES 17

elaborate kusiut ritual which failed;

Namutsta, meaning unknown;

“The One who Guards the Ritual by Gripping with his
Teeth’;

“The Terrifier’’ ;

“The Dog-Toothed One.”

When a kusiut acts contrary to the interests of the society
the marshals gather in the sacred meeting-place of the village,
with other senior kukusiut. There is no definite order respec-
ting who shall, or shall not, be summoned. The matter is
discussed until unanimity of opinion is reached, although a
marshal, particularly if he is also a rich and influential chief,
is the guiding spirit. In Nusgulxwaista the supernatural being
Sikitikinum kills any supernatural kusiut who errs, so in this
world it is always said that a verdict of death has been given
by this being. Several of those at the meeting are sent out to
lure the victim who, brought before the group, is told that he
is to die. He is seized, thrown on his back, and a pole laid
across his neck; two men sit on each end until the man is dead.?
Sometimes less drastic punishments are meted out. About
1880, when the influence of the white man had become
evident on the coast, a dancer who had been, theoretically,
disembowelled and was supposed to remain for months within
his house to recover from the operation, insisted on fleeing to
Kimsquit to a woman with whom he was in love. When he
returned to Bella Coola a meeting was held to decide whether
or not he should be killed. Fear of the white men prevented
summary punishment, but the marshals insisted that the
offender submit himself to periodic scratching on the stomach
with a nail so that it would appear to the uninitiated that he
was suffering from a deep wound. The offender was thankful

to escape thus lightly.
2

*Occasionally the relative of a condemned person saves him by saying that he
must not be killed. This means that the speaker is willing to die as a substitute;
he is executed in due course, but the mechanism by which the diffusion of infor-
mation is stopped is not clear.