RELIGION 101

below. These are termed tally posts.”” Each remained up-

right as long as the individual to whom it referred was alive,
but fell at his death. Since that time, whenever A/guntim
lends to a mortal sininits, the undefined power that causes
life, his supernatural artisans erect in the land above a tally
post for the new-born infant, marked with the bird or animal
used by an ancestor. As long as this remains upright and
straight, firmly fixed to the ground, its owner continues to be
strong and prosperous, and has success in all his undertakings;
if it becomes loose, or is crooked, he ceases to succeed. Pros-
perity does not depend upon the activities of an individual,
but upon his supernatural possessions, spirit, tally post, and a
third to be described later. If the tally post tilts far from the
perpendicular, its owner becomes ill, and can be cured only by
straightening it. In some cases A?guntdém is kind enough to
do this if placated by prayer and ceremonial chastity (I, p. 110),
and in olden days, shamans were occasionally able to penetrate
to the land above for this purpose. Even when a post was
reached, they were sometimes unable to set it upright, though
they could always estimate the length of a man’s life from its
angle of inclination. In one of the kustut dances, the per-
former pretends to have the ability to go aloft and the unini-
tiated are deceived by the erection of a tall ladder up which
he climbs and disappears (II, p. 202). On his return, he re-
ports the condition of the tally posts of various people. This
performance serves to remind both members of the society and
uninitiated of the existence of these supernatural elements,
and of the dependence of individuals on them for success in
life. In spite of this ritual, actual knowledge of the powers
and functions of tally posts has been derived only from the
first Bella Coola who, created in the land above, were ac-
quainted with the mysteries of life and transmitted such lore
to their descendants. One old man expressed the opinion

°Ovatinusta. One of the names of Nusmét-a, Nusqwatinaista, refers to these,
meaning, “The Place of the Tally Posts.” Qwattnusta and gwatftinta are closely
associated ; sometimes the latter is pronounced kwaffinta, although this may be
an error in recording.