RELIGION 75

concerning the danger of near approach to this creature:

Kwilais was a man of mixed lineage, Kimsquit and Pa-s, near
Newitte. With several companions he was gathering berries when he
stepped into a hole and felt numerous tiny creatures crawling over his
legs. Looking down, he saw that they were small snakes, that had just
been hatched from a Mother of Snakes. He fled, terrified, pursued by
the reptiles, which he managed to keep off to some extent by brushing
behind him a branch of spiny swamp gooseberry, a known deterrent.
When he had out-distanced the snakes he called his companions, told
them of his adventure, and returned home. There he repeated the tale.
Though Kwilais did not know it, many of the snakes had succeeded in
entering his stomach. Presently he began to swell; his body became
larger and larger until he was in danger of bursting. The reptiles within
were breeding rapidly. Luckily, one of his fellow villagers knew the
proper remedy. A raised bed was made for the sufferer about five feet
from the ground where Kwi/ais stretched himself on a number of thorny
branches, while his friends built a fire of devil’s club and swamp goose-
berry twigs so that he was fumigated in the smoke. Then, to give
greater potency, they cast on the flames soiled clothing and pounded
cedar-bark pads stained with menstrual blood; even this was of no avail,
so finally a woman squeezed out into a vessel some of her menstrual blood
which Kwilais drank. This killed the snakes. The patient began to
vomit, emitting a mass of wriggling serpents, and at once began to
grow thinner, soon regaining his normal condition. Had he not been
able to eject the reptiles, he would have died.

Kwilais was not the only one to have this unpleasant
experience. Many others have suffered in the same way, but
in no case has anyone been able to feel the snakes at the actual
place or time of entry.

The beliefs of the Bella Coola concerning the power pos-
sessed by animals are clearly shown by their attitude with
regard to killing them. Man is immortal, so are animals.
Aiquntim decreed that beasts and birds should serve as food
for mankind, but it is only their clothing, their worthless
“blanket of flesh,” as the Bella Coola express it, which they
give to hunters. In the autumn leaves appear to die, but
every spring they are reborn. Similarly, when an animal is

1X ixmanods, see vol. I, p. 94.