136 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

“I will get my puppet-patron.”’

A whistle sounds, the kukuszut women drone and the un-
‘nitiated see one of the puppet figurines move across the back
of the house, though they do not see the concealed ropes by
which this is managed. The figure disappears as if it had
entered its owner who goes to X and makes the motion of
passing something into him. The other dnuyex do likewise.
Sometimes the dramatic effect is increased by sending a kustut
to the roof to strike one of the boards as if the puppet had
landed from above with a thump; or the owner may come in
from the back-room, walking backwards and drawing his
puppet after him by means of a string matching the floor in
colour and fastened to his foot. Another device is to have the
puppets suspended from the roof by means of similar cords,
‘nvisible in the darkness. The owner of one of these takes it
‘n his arms and revolves sunwise on himself as he moves to X,
and at the same time conceals the figurine beneath his
blanket. The last puppet is always the giant toad, the most
potent of all.

When X has thus been strengthened for the perils which he
is to undergo, a number of the uninitiated are invited to come
forward to see him. As they step forth, one of the senior kuku-
siut kneads with his fingers against the back of the neck of each
to strengthen his spirit so that it will not be drawn from him
with fatal results. The uninitiated come forward, see X, with-
out realizing that they are really gazing on two individuals,
and shudder at a knife which is lying near. This was always
of copper or obsidian in the old days.

The actual cutter is one of the uninitiated, though efforts
are made to have as operator a son or other near relative of a
prominent kusiut so that he may easily be initiated into the
society if anything should go amiss. One informant, who was
called upon to act when about fifteen years of age, vividly
recalled the experience in the following manner:

He was sitting with ten or twelve lads of his own age, each
of whom was asked by a marshal: