WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES 261

they refer. Even when full allowance is made for this, the fact
still remains that the kukusiut were able to carry out dances
in which they deceived the uninitiated. Above all, it is clear
that those who were not members of the society had the great-
est respect for the powers of those who were, and although
doubt may have existed concerning the identity of the super-
natural visitors, there was not the slightest concerning the
ability of the kukusiut to have, for example, their stomachs
ripped open. The writer discussed this point with too many
old men and women to have the slightest uncertainty on this
point, and he feels confident that anyone who could have
listened to the account of a reliable old man concerning his
fears when he had “‘killed” a Ausiut in this manner, would have
shared his conviction.

It would be fascinating to discuss at some length the prob-
able history of the kusiut society, but this would entail a com.
parison with the rites of other coastal tribes and belongs to the
realm of comparative ethnology. This monograph deals only
with Bella Coola practices as the writer saw them or heard
them described, so that the history of the society can only be
treated from this angle. It appears certain that the rites have
increased in secrecy. One old marshal with whom the matter
was discussed remembered having heard that long ago masks
were constructed in the presence of the uninitiated. Considered
as an isolated statement this would have little value, but in
conjunction with information derived from Kimsquit it be-
comes of importance. It is true that in Kimsquit the masks
are made in secret, but they are shown to the uninitiated as
masks, and the writer was told of one instance in which
Tiogots, during his round of the village, fell into the water and
remained there all day, to the amusement of non-members who
recognized that he was merely a disguised human being. It is
even said that long ago the manufacture of masks was en-
trusted to influential uninitiated. It is clear that there has
been a tremendous increase in secrecy even at Kimsquit, and
a great deal more at Bella Coola. The writer believes that