WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES 139

After a short interval, she is answered by the singer in the
lower, western, rear corner of the house as follows:
Sagankotsdnitwawit ittasnitsman-aatdja Skapalpalxdlosdus
Let there come to earth | the voice of Snitsman-a | to revive
diyatikaixim-iisutdai
the one who has so injured himself.

The general meaning of this song is obvious, although there
are several obscure expressions which serve to increase the
wonder and fear of the uninitiated. Silence follows the singing,
then whistling is heard and a herald announces that one of the
puppet-patrons inserted into X has left him and gone to the
region above. Similar whistling announces the departure of
others at intervals. When several have done SO, it is time for
the first to return. A thud, made by a hidden accomplice,
is heard on the roof and whistling breaks out afresh. Some-
times the puppet-patron returns to X, but more often to its
invoker, and the transference previously enacted is repeated
over the body of the dancer who continues to lie as if lifeless.
Now and then the uninitiated are invited forward to look at
him and they notice that the gaping wound is slowly closing,
an €asy matter to arrange in the dim light of the house. At
intervals the puppet-patrons go and return from the land
above, and the proceedings are sometimes enlivened by the
owners telling a herald, who in turn informs the audience, what
the puppet-patron saw on its journey aloft. Usually each goes
and returns four times in the course of the night. Each of the
women selected to sing the mourning songs performs once,
standing in a corner of the house and waving a wand wound
with alternate bands of dyed and undyed cedar-bark. So the
long night passes. Towards dawn continuous whistling is
heard. This is made by several men with a whistle apiece;
each begins to blow as soon as the breath of his partner is
nearly exhausted. It is known to be the voice of Snitsmén-a.
In Kimsquit, but not in Bella Coola, this is the signal for the
entry of the giant toad. Carpenters have made a wooden
figure of the amphibian and by means of concealed strings it is