WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES 155

procession of supernatural beings according to X’s choice.
The proceedings terminate in the same way as those described
in the Stomach-Cutting dance.

X must obey the Customary restrictions on his movements
for the rest of the ceremonial season, and also remain in partial
concealment for the summer following. The fiction circulated
is that he is still suffering from the after-effects of decapitation.
He is legally entitled to perform any other kusiotem rite during
the following winter, but it is most unusual for a man to do so
on successive seasons.

The Drowning Dance

In a third kusiotem dance the performer appears to drown.
X carried out this ceremonial] during the third winter after his
decapitation, but as usual it will be convenient to describe the
ritual in the present tense.

During the summer, as for the Beheading dance, he obtains
permission from the marshals. With the latter present, he
then arranges with the singers and the carpenters to compose
songs of the usual Ausiotem type and to preparea mask. Since
X had preserved the mask used at the time of his decapitation,
it Was not necessary to have one made. The intending dancer
borrows from a kusiut friend one of the large boxes used for
boiling olachen and this is taken in secret to some lonely spot
in the forest. The carpenters cut a hole in the bottom and
smear the edges with grease and dirt to conceal the aperture;
skin hinges are fastened to one side of the movable section so
that it can be opened easily and quickly. They also make a
wooden framework the size and shape of X’s body, to which
the portrait-mask is attached to give a realistic representation
of the man himself.

Nothing more can be done until near the winter solstice
when the carpenters cut a hole in the floor of X’s house, imme-
diately behind the fire, and fasten the section removed with
skin hinges to make a trap-door.. Then the carpenters, mar-
shals, singers, and other influential Aukusiut meet some evening