42 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

the top. He concluded that this must be the home of the
woman. Before the door of her house, wherever it may be,
there are miniature totem-poles which open their painted
mouths and speak in the voice of the animal or bird portrayed.
The writer did not hear that her home was in the land above
Nusmat-a, as Boas (p. 28) states. At the present time knowl-
edge of Kdamai-ts is so scanty that failure to confirm the
previous observation is not surprising.

One or two passing remarks of elderly informants imply
that Kémai-ts may once have been more important to Bella
Coola belief than she is now. One old man, already in his
dotage, stated that long ago the dead used to dwell in her
house. Another declared that long ago prayers were addressed
to her, which is never done now. The word kdémai-ts is com-
monly used by the Bella Coola in a manner difficult to trans-
late. It serves as equivalent for “please” or “thank you,” but
has an underlying significance of a supernatural benison or
appeal. It is not a word to be used in casual conversation;
it is reserved for important occasions or times of emotional
stress. The comparative unimportance of Kamai-ts probably
rests on the fact that she belongs merely to the realm of ancient
history and has no sociological significance, even as the patron
of a kusiut dancer.

Another supernatural being so far removed from this world
that he enters but little into the lives of the Bella Coola, is
Sninia. He is the male being whom 4/guntim sent down from
above in the beginning of time to hold the earth in position,
and who has since performed this duty. He lives among the
ice of the far north, and has not been seen by mortals for many
generations. He holds a rope fastened to the earth; when he
is afraid that it has slipped slightly he takes a new grip and
pulls the rope taut, pressing the world against the soles of his
feet as he sits with legs extended, as a man would do to hold
tight a kicking salmon. It is the tightening of the rope which
causes an earthquake. If Sninia should lose his grip entirely
the earth would capsize. He is patron for several kusiut