WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES 229

This ceremony is an example of the great diversity in kusiut
dances. Instead of the usual patron in the land above, the
slave woman is considered to be definitely located on this
earth, at a spot near Stu. Moreover, the call comes through
her actual appearance. The writer would have liked to learn
further details of the dance, but they were unobtainable.

THE DANCE OF THE OTTER

Since every Bella Coola has, at the present time, some sort
of kusiut dance, it would have been possible to collect the
details of a large number. Only the main outlines of the
dances which follow were obtained, but it is hoped that the
complexity of those already described will suffice to explain
the scope of the kusiut society. In some cases the details were
omitted to save time, in other cases the informant was ignorant
of them. The latter reason is responsible for the sketchiness
of the Otter dance.

This ritual is the prerogative of a Snuisli kusiut, Xwodjen-i,
“The Crash,” a name which refers to the din when the first
Sonx * collapsed in the beginning of time. Presumably one
of Xwodjen-i’s ancestors was present at the fall and chose the
name in consequence. The dancer’s patron is the land otter,
but the connection between this animal and the name has been
forgotten, as the father of the performer frankly admitted. He
suggested that probably one of his ancestors remembered
having seen an ottet before coming to this world, and chose it
as patron for a dance which he instituted with respect to the
name Xwodjen-i. It will be convenient to refer to the dancer
as X.

X can perform at any convenient period during the cere-
monial season. When the call comes, the ritual of the first
three days follows normally, except that the songs used
are supposed to have been unaltered. Before nebusam the
carpenters prepare a dummy otter, using a skin stretched over
a wooden framework. A long rope is fastened to this and
the figure thrown into the water so that it sways to and fro

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