Se ee 376 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS [This account was obtained from a descendant of Tsé-kmai and Ogmikimx who emphatically vouched for its accuracy. Some of the incidents have doubtless been exaggerated, but there is probably a basis of truth, though the passivity of the Nusgalst people is difficult to explain. The killing is said to have taken place about seventy years before 1922, so tolerably accurate traditions of it are not impossible. No punishment was meted out to the Nusgalst kukusiut since the ritual error, the passing of uninitiated outside the house where a ceremony was taking place, was committed by strangers, not by inhabi- tants of the town itself. A WAR BETWEEN THE PEOPLE OF BELLA BELLA AND RIVERS INLET The tribes of the central coast, Bella Coola, Bella Bella, and Rivers Inlet, were frequently engaged with enemies to north or south, but there was seldom serious bloodshed between one another. The following account, however, describes a conflict between the Bella Bella and Rivers Inlet people in which the Bella Coola were not embroiled. Two favourite foods of the Rivers Inlet people are sockeye salmon which have become soft after spawning, and wild currants, eaten without grease. Their neighbours, the Bella Bella, consider both these articles of diet to be disgusting, although they are fond of raw mussels which the Rivers Inlet people regard as filthy. As already described, it was not uncommon at potlatches of the tribes of the outer coast for the hosts to hold up their guests to ridicule. On one occasion the Bella Bella did so with reference to what they considered the objectionable food of their guests. A masked dancer, representing a stranger, entered the house and the host enquired whence he came. “Are you from Fort Rupert?” he asked. “NO: 2 “From Bella Bella?” No.7 The dancer pointed to the south as if to indicate the next question. “Are you from Rivers Inlet?” “SYesu! “What do you eat there?” Instead of answering verbally, the dancer drew from beneath his cape