64 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

THE DANCE OF Wil-a

Although potlatches and kusiut dances cannot take place
simultaneously in the same house, and although the former are
supposedly completed before the beginning of the ceremonial
season, they often overlap the lengthy preliminaries of the
Nodkxnum dance. In such cases, when visiting the houses of
the village, the kukusiut are careful to pass by the one in which
the potlatch is going on. It often happens that foreign guests
are still present when Nodkxnum ascends the river and their
host wishes to provide entertainment for them in the shape of
a spectacular kusiut display. This is possible if a kuszut with
a wil-a prerogative is willing to have a call come to him. It
is probable that in every village there is at least one kuszut with
this prerogative; in Tcumot? the owner is a certain Lukwala,*®
in Kimsquit a woman named Nunuxemlaix. An ancestor of the
former received his designation at the direct wish of 4fguntém
as leader of the supernatural kukusiut. It is unnecessary to
describe the ritual in detail in both places, although certain
differences must be mentioned. It will be convenient to refer
to the dancer as X. He has ten patrons, the nine brothers
Xemxemialotta, Xemcua, Omqomkilka, Aimalotla, Aiamkilka,
Qomcua, Qwlaxwoa, Kwlilias Nuskampta, Aimék*, and their
sister THitcaéplitin.a.*1 These supernatural beings remain in
Nusmdat.a except when summoned below by X, or when
Ttitcaplitén.a appears for her own purposes as already de-
scribed.

If X accedes to the request of the donor of the potlatch
and is willing to summon his patrons from above, one or other
of them interviews the marshals, and if these acquiesce, the rite
can proceed. In Bella Coola X asks the help of four kukusiut
who are termed his ‘‘Path Clearers’’; no special prerogative is
required to perform this service. For four days X lies on the
floor of his house, near the door to the back-room, while his

3°The rite has not been carried out in Bella Coola since the death of the former
owner about 1912; the name has passed to his brother’s son’s son.
*1Boas (p. 33) gives the same list of beings although in slightly different order.