WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES ig ¢/

Several Bella Coola were questioned concerning the Can-
nibal spirit which Boas has described for the Kwakiutl. Some
had never heard of such a creature, others had vague knowl-
edge concerning it, and two men were able to give it a name.
The one called it Baxbaxqwandlociwa, the other Baxbaxquwaiwa.
All informants agreed that this creature was not a part of the
Cannibal rites of Bella Coola and one man suggested that the
cannibalistic incubus rendered it unnecessary. The Bella
Coola believe that this Cannibal spirit is used in Bella Bella.
During 1923 there came to Bella Coola an old Kimsquit Indian
who had left his home many years ago and had since been
living at Smith Inlet(?). With him came his son, a grown
man, who had inherited from his mother a Kwakiutl Cannibal
prerogative which he displayed in the winter of 1 923-4. After
the dancer had, theoretically, returned from the regions above,
a large masked figure representing Baxbadxqwaiwa entered
through the front-door. As the singers beat time, it hopped
to and fro, up and down, with snapping beak. The Bella
Coola were intensely interested, and one had only to listen to
their remarks when wondering what it might be, to be con-
vinced that the Cannibal spirit is a strange concept to them.
The most frequent hypothesis was that it was a haohao, since
the masked figure did resemble this supernatural bird. The
Bella Coola greatly admired the dance, and were by no means
ashamed to confess their inferiority as dancers to the Kwakiutl.
After the disappearance of the masked figure, the singers sang
the Cannibal’s song and he danced in normal fashion, which
was commented upon as another difference in custom.

THE SCRATCH DANCE

Only less awe-inspiring than the Cannibal dance is the
Scratch dance. Those kukusiut who have this prerogative are
able to scratch the bodies of their fellows, so that long, bloody
weals result. The privileges and restrictions of Scratchers
are closely akin to those of Cannibals, as the following
points show:

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