102 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

that tally posts have mentality, and suggested that it might
be these which attend the gathering of the supernatural beings
at the winter solstice instead of an element from the human
body itself.

One elderly Bella Coola, of philosophical temperament,
described gwatinusta in terms far removed from the accounts
of tally posts. According to him, every individual receives
this supernatural possession at birth, and it remains with him,
in close association with his body, throughout life. It stays
in front of his face, invisible, yet having substance, and con-
stantly shaking from side to side. If a man fails to receive a
present at a potlatch, it is because his gwatinusta has ceased
tomove. When stationary it is not transparent, and not only
hides its owner from the donor’s sight, but acts as a barrier to
his thoughts. The same man stated that this element can
leave the body, can be seen by shamans, and that it is the one
which ascends at the winter solstice to Nusmdt-a. At death it
is believed to accompany the spirit and the life to the land
above.

There seems no reason to doubt that the concept of tally
posts is an ancient belief. Nor does the application of the
term gwatinusta to another immaterial possession of quite
another type destroy this probability. It must be remem-
bered that within the last eighty years the Bella Coola have
suffered not only from the tremendous upheaval caused by
the coming of the white man, but have been reduced to a
mere fraction of their former numerical strength by various
epidemics. These factors have led to the partial forgetting
of ancient beliefs, with consequent confusion. It is probable
that the use of the same term for the tally post, intimately
connected with an individual’s life although situated in the
land above, and for an invisible and intangible possession
which goes in front of him, is due to this recent decay of
ancient convictions. If this be true, it merely means that
in former times the Bella Coola had yet another supernatural
element to govern and influence their lives.