WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES 171

fully taking note of the answers. Sometimes they make their
task easier by choosing, provisionally, three replies; if anyone
should guess one of these it is immediately changed, because
the correct solution must be given only in accordance with the
wishes of the marshals. After a circuit of the settlement, X
returns to the enclosure in his house where, unknown to the
uninitiated, his dance-apron is hung on a peg and he lies down
to sleep. One of his faithful remembrancers keeps pulling a
string which causes the garment to jingle so that non-members,
hearing the noise, imagine that X is still walking to and fro.
At any time during the night an uninitiated person may call
out his guess, his words easily penetrating the stillness. If X
is awake when a good answer is received, he encourages the
speaker by a call of “More! More!” anda more violent jingling
of the apron. If he is asleep and very weary, one of the
helpers responds on his behalf, imitating his voice.

For two days more X remains in the enclosure except when
making a circuit of the village. In the early morning and
early evening he visits every house, accompanied by his escort
of kukusiut, and in each the same ritual is carried out. With
each series of answers the task of the remembrancers becomes
more difficult. Theirs is an arduous and important part of
the rite because it would be a disaster if, when the answer is
finally given, an uninitiated person could say:

“That is what I guessed.”

On the evening of the third day spent by X in the en-
closure, the fourth night after the call, the heralds summon
the kukusiut to his house after he has completed his regular
round of the village. They practise another song for X, his
second, with theme of the land above as in the first case. The
uninitiated are now called in. X circles the fire and, when he
has taken up his position midway behind it, the Aukusiut beat
time furiously and guesses are invited. Though both unini-
tiated and kukusiut use their imaginations to the uttermost,
the result is a failure. When this has been repeated four times,
the uninitiated are told to leave, and a meal is provided for the