WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES 85

X, now almost sane, rushes around the house, shouting
xwa-, xwa-, xwa-, while his call sounds loudly, as the whistle
is pressed firmly beneath his armpit or against his stomach,
tied under a belt. Often the kukusiut slip a rope over his
shoulders to prevent him escaping again. Finally, he rushes
from the house and all the kukusiut crowd close about him on
the sidewalk without. As many as possible press upwards
against his body with their hands, while they shout, ye -- ,
trying to expel the call upwards. On the fourth repetition it
is supposed to have been driven forth, and in answer to the
tumultuous shout of the kukusiut, there is heard the sound of a
whistle from above. The uninitiated do not know that a
kusiut has been dispatched with one to a mountain peak for
this purpose.

The kukusiut now return to X’s house for a meal. The first
dish of food is placed before X himself, while one of the mar-
shals addresses him and the audience in the following strain:

Yaxmaodjinaou, sitixwa-ks! Ataits di paxotia!

Greetings, comrades! Hail to the dreaded one [the Cannibal]!5°

Wai, paxotiao™ Nuxim. Nugpienixis*duduqu.

More, dreaded one, Nuxim.2 Eat to repletion.

There is no ritual significance attached to any particular
words; marshals use their own discretion as to what they say,
but the above may be considered a fair example of the kind of
remarks addressed to a Cannibal at his first meal. After X
has started eating, the other kukusiut commence and the mar-
shals deliver their usual admonitions, praising X for what he
has done and urging others to emulate his example. Then pre-
sents are distributed to those who have been bitten. It is
considered that a Cannibal compliments a man by taking a
piece of his flesh, and that he is under obligations to the one
bitten for the latter having allowed him to exercise his preroga-

**Péxot?a means “The Dreaded One” or “‘The Fearless One.” X is so called
on account of the uncanny cannibalistic incubus that has taken possession of him.

“This is the vocative form of the word.

“Nuxim was the name of the performing Cannibal on the occasion that this
speech was recorded.