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258 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

tively that such is not the case among the Bella Coola. At
the present time both drunkenness and vice are rampant, but
neither of these practices is apparent on the nights when dances
are taking place. The writer was present at many kusiut
dances, in each case attended by practically every resident,
and during them he saw only two drunken men. With regard
to these, the sentiment of the influential members of the society
was one of regret that the marshals could no longer exercise
their prerogatives and punish the offenders. As several Bella
Coola expressed it:

“Our dances are sacred and ceremonial, a drunken man
spoils them.”

As a rule they do not regard drunkenness as a serious vice,
if a vice at all, hence this attitude was illuminating. It is more
difficult to speak with certainty about morality; no breaches
of it could have occurred at the ceremonies witnessed, nor was
there any evidence that the excitement led to any licentious
actions. On the whole, the dances are desirable since they
provide a source of tremendous interest and importance. Vice
flourishes with lassitude and boredom; anything that stimu-
lates the people reduces it, and when the Bella Coola are en-
gaged in ceremonial rites, the sentiment of the seniors of the
community is strongly opposed to anything that interferes
with the solemnity of the occasion.

There is no reason to suppose that these factors were not
present in former times, more potent than now when belief in
the supernatural powers of the kukusiut has passed away. The
whole question of sexual morality at kusiut dances was investi-
gated with considerable care.

One point emphasized by all Bella Coola was that no kusiut
was allowed .to have relations with an uninitiated person,
whether his wife or not, during the period that his face was
blackened and he was wearing a ceremonial collar. The reason
for this prohibition seems to have been one not of morality,
but of the necessity for preserving the dignity and secrecy of
the kusiut society. An offender was punished by being struck