SS OS

242 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

success aroused the jealousy of several of the chiefs who caused the death
of the couple by means of sorcery. Six children, five boys and one girl,
the last the youngest of the family, were thus left orphans. No one helped
them and they suffered greatly from lack of proper food and clothing,
besides being forced to bear unreasonable responsibilities and trials.
One spring the six went to the forest to gather hemlock-bark for food.
The eldest boy climbed a tree and threw down pieces of bark which the
little girl helped to pick up; at least her brothers all told her how much
she was helping, a kindly fiction because she was really too young to be
of assistance. One piece of bark blew some little distance away; she ran
to get it, but in a moment came hurrying back in fear, saying that she
had seen a strange man clad in a bear-skin blanket, with dyed cedar-bark
and eagle down in his hair. At first the five brothers did not believe her,
but at length they went to investigate and found the man, as she had
described. He waslying on the ground but sat up when they approached.

“T have seen your poverty,” he said, “‘and how you have been afflicted
through no fault of your own, but solely owing to the jealousy of the evil
Stuix chiefs. It was they who killed your parents, but now I give you
such power that you will be able to retaliate.”

“Your name shall be Nuxim,” he continued as he turned to the eldest
brother. ‘““You shall be a Cannibal. When you dance energetically,
instruct someone to cut your stomach vertically and your vitals will fall
out, trembling. They will return to you at dawn and you will then fully
recover, having frightened the uninitiated.”

“Your name shall be Sonx™* mai,” he told the second boy. “You, like-
wise, will be able to have your stomach cut, but you will not be a Can-
nibal.”

“Your name shall be Nuxem,” he said to the third brother. ‘“‘You will
have the ability to go to the land above to inspect tally posts. You will
be able to foretell the length of a man’s life from the condition of his post,
and to cure the sick by straightening those that are leaning.”

Turning to the fourth brother he continued:

“Your name shall be xem. You are to be a wi/-a dancer, with power
to give food and grease to Omgomkilka and his brothers in the regions
above. On such occasions you will wear a head-dress of branches covered
with eagle down.”

Then he addressed the fifth and youngest lad, saying:

“Your name shall be uxwal-g. You will have a kuszut dance in respect
to that designation, but without special ability.”

Finally the stranger turned to the little girl and said:

“Your name shall be Qwaixosdn-i. When you dance you will be able
to use any one of ten songs and have as patron any supernatural being