80 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

is writhing so violently that it appears as if it would be only a
few moments before he breaks loose and runs amuck. Closely
guarded by a band of kukusiut, the second Cannibal is now
taken to every house of the village. He seems to be striving to
enter, and to be restrained by the kukusiut. All the time he
growls and calls out:

Is eas: :

The call of xwa can be used only by a Cannibal who has
returned from the realms above. X meanwhile remains in his
own house, to which the substitute is finally brought and the
cannibalistic incubus returned by the call of ye---- four
times repeated.

It was impossible to learn the details of a rite that occurs
during the afternoon of this day. The singers have composed
two songs for X, one describing his adventufes in the land
aloft, and the other the return of the incubus which made him
a flesh-eating brute. It appears probable that during the
afternoon the kukusiut assemble in X’s house to learn these
songs. It might be added that the ritual of a Cannibal dance
differs widely from that of most kusiut ceremonies, since there
is no gotiim and no nebusam; the uninitiated believe that the
whole affair is so serious that they are not surprised at ritual-
istic eccentricities.

In the evening the kukusiut are first summoned to X’s
house, and later the uninitiated. X is sitting close to the
singers, with a number of kukusiut grouped around him in case
he should become frenzied. The singers first sing over the
song describing the return of the Cannibal power, with the
kukusiut joining in softly. The chorus of every Cannibal song
consists of the words:

Hamdamat, hamamai, ham’, ham’.

It is said that this same refrain is used in all Cannibal songs
by the Bella Bella and Fort Rupert people; the Bella Coola,
ignorant of the meaning of the words, affirm that they have
none.

X now talks in a low tone of voice to the singers, as if