102 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

the rock and endeavoured to pry it over, but were driven away
in fear by the sound of the snarling of wolves which came forth
from beneath. It will be convenient to refer to Olxdn-i as X.

After the customary consultation with the marshals, it is
decided that the call shall come to X on the morning after the
nebusam of some other kusiut. Soon after dawn he begins to
growl and stands up naked; the call has come to him. He acts
as if dazed, tries to talk, but the words seem to choke in his
mouth. The uninitiated are expelled from the house and a
herald goes out, crying through the village:

“X has been smitten with the power of eating dog.”

One is killed and handed to X; he pretends to eat, but
actually gives the body to an assistant who disposes of it in
some hidden spot. As X takes the animal, a herald shouts:

““X has eaten a dog.”

During the day he leaves his house at intervals and parades
through the village, accompanied by a crowd of kukustut; his
arms are half-folded as if holding a burden which is supposed
to be a dog. As he does so, the herald goes from house to
house saying:

“The Cannibal has eaten a dog,” and “The Cannibal has
eaten another dog.”’

Late in the afternoon the kukusiut are called to X’s house
in order to tie him up and so prevent his escape to the land
above. A bear-skin robe is thrown over his body, a rope is
bound about him and weighted with sticks, but he frees himself
and disappears from sight while members of the society shout
hoip four times and an accomplice whistles with varying
pitch from a near-by mountain. The uninitiated, listening
from adjacent houses, are filled with awe and wonder.

The Aukusiut gather once more in X’s house where the rope
from which he has escaped is hung on the wall. Marshal after
marshal impresses on them the solemnity of the occasion and

s8In these later accounts of the Cannibal dance, details previously described

are omitted. It is unnecessary, for example, to repeat the manner in which X
breaks from his bonds and the rites entailed thereby.