WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES 51

pole and starts his journey downstream.

Now that X has received his call, the ceremonial continues
for four days more, in a manner typical of kusiut dances. Only
variations from the pattern about to be described will be given
in later dance rituals.

X spends the rest of this day on which the call has come
to him, the twenty-fourth of the whole rite, within his house.
In the evening a herald summons the kukusiut, this being the
night of ésuxtémem. In Stux the call used is:

Skinap Stucxao, “Cure, ye Stux people,” because it is
believed that a call almost kills a Stuux person. This is prob-
ably true for the people of the other villages of the upper
valley, but elsewhere this cry is used only when a novice receives
his first call. In the lower valley and at Kimsquit the cry is:

Snuxexetdimut kukusiaot, “Bring light, ye kukusiut.”

Care is always taken to use the right expression with refer-
ence to the locality of the dancer’s repository, irrespective of
where he may happen to be living.

All the kukusiut are expected to attend, in fact, they are
glad to do so, but attendance is compulsory for novices only.
When all have assembled, one of the leading singers takes
command. The coming of his call is supposed to have made
X light-headed, and he must be cured by a frenzied beating of
sticks four times repeated. During this X himself remains
quiescent. The singers now group themselves into a close
circle to compose a song describing the supernatural beings
seen by X during the day. As a rule, each man has one or
more tunes in his mind which he hums to his associates as he
softly beats time. Then another does the same, and this is
repeated until unanimity of opinion is reached concerning the
most suitable. The leader of the choir fits the proper words
to this, assisted by his comrades and perhaps by X himself, or
someone well acquainted with his prerogative. As soon as
the singers have finished their work they widen their circle and
sing the song loudly so that it can be heard and learnt by all,

*This song, like the ones used earlier, is sometimes prepared in advance.