WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES 49

every abode. The song on this occasion, the third for X,
describes what Nodkxnum is doing on his journey, as if X were
relating what he saw. The dukusiut return to X2s house for
another meal and the admonishments of a marshal.

For four days more X retires from sight. On the morning
of the fifth day he once more calls:

Yupalx.

Exactly the same procedure is carried out, the theme of
this fourth song being of how Nodkxnum can be seen rounding
a third promontory.

X remains in concealment for four days more, then cries
out again. This time the song describes how Nodkxnum has
rounded the fourth and last promontory and how the super-
natural beings above have sighted him. This is the fifth song
used for X. As on the previous occasions, he conceals himself
on the platform after making a tour of the village.

On the morning of the fifth day later, X cries out that
Noadkxnim is at the mouth of the river where he has tied his
craft to the stakes of a salmon-trap. The belief of the Bella
Coola is that he approaches up an underwater fiord, into which
flows an underwater river provided with a salmon-trap; X
alone can see these phenomena. The herald goes from house
to house repeating the announcement. The kukusiut, too,
visit each, singing the song while X dances. He and the singers
always decide beforehand on his actual statement, so that the
words of the song will be in agreement, as if the singers had
composed it on the spot. Once again X retires from sight.

Five days later he arouses the household with his loud
shouting:

“Nodakxnum is in the river itself. He has reached the home
of the Resident; Imimdtinaix is mooring his craft. Dakdakén-
mem and Atatlmktnum are greeting him.”

The herald repeats this news throughout the village. The
uninitiated know in general terms who these supernatural
beings are. The Resident lives under the water at the mouth
of the river; his function is to see that the stream and the