WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES 253

directions. Then the joyful owner was able to draw back her
crystal and the sick woman at once recovered.

Another prerogative of the same nature is /subi#ta. As the
kukusiut are gathering and before the main ceremonial of the
evening, the man or woman with this prerogative can display
it if he so desires. He stands up, stamps, then bends down
and begins to beat with a stick on the floor; the singers, who
know what is to take place, quickly join in. This serves to
concentrate the performer’s power, consisting of the ability to
scratch the external genital organs. The sticks continue to
sound as the performer moves about the house, acting in
accordance with his right, and at the same time rolling his eyes
and licking his lips. Choosing either man or woman as he
desires, he calls out his name, and the person addressed must
come forward to take his hands. The power is thus trans-
mitted and the one so chosen begins to scratch, with the same
accompaniment of rolling eyes and licking lips.

“Tt is sweet,” he cries.

The power is then returned to the owner, who later passes
it to another victim, until the marshals decide it is time to
proceed to the main rites of the evening. The use of this pre-
rogative is a source of never-ending amusement to the kukusiut.
The only explanation given of this somewhat peculiar ability

is that it is practised by the supernatural beings in the land
above. Like every other Ausiut rite, it can be performed only
by a person who owns a name in which it is embodied.

Sio°msta, the third of these prerogatives, is to imitate the
action of holding sexual intercourse. Like the last, its use is
limited to the house in which a dance is taking place, and can
be carried out only while the audience is waiting for the main
ceremony. The performer, man or woman, stands up witha
rope pressed close across his stomach, held with hands clenched
at the hips. It is said that in this position nothing can pass
behind him. The singers and other kukusiut begin to beat
time to concentrate the actor’s power as he stamps around in
a crouching posture, crying hoip and shaking his hips. Pre-