18 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

Frequently the marshals and associated kukustut depute
others to act as their executioners. Sometimes a shaman who
is also a kusiut is asked to slay the offender, or a kusiut in whose
ancestral family a knowledge of means for secret murder has
been handed down for generations may be called upon. The
executioner is told that if he fails he will himself be killed.
Although no Bella Coola would admit that a person so charged
had committed murder by other than magical means, it ap-
pears highly probable that such was the case. It is believed
that long ago the kukusiut were able to kill an offending
uninitiated person by drawing forth his spirit, wrapping it in
undyed cedar-bark and casting it into the fire. The victim
would die within a short time.

The desire to carry out kusiut ceremonials with proper
dignity and ritual not only acts as a strong bond of union
among members of the society in a single village, but between
those in different towns and even in different tribes. Whena
marshal has struck a kusiut, the ceremony, whatever it may
be, is at once stopped. Two kukusiut are sent off to bear the
tidings to the nearest village up the valley, and two more to
the one below. The messengers go beneath the house in which
a dance is taking place and knock on the floor of the back-
room. Someone presently hears them and a kuszut goes out
to investigate. When the envoys have told their tale he
returns, whispers to the singers, and the ceremony concludes
for that night. As soon as the uninitiated, if any are present,
have been ejected, the messengers enter with blankets almost
covering their faces and seat themselves between the fire and
the back-room where the senior members crowd around to
listen. From this village two more kukusiut are despatched
with the news which is thus transmitted with remarkable
speed from end to end of the valley. When next the marshals
are admonishing the kukusiut of their respective villages, they
do not fail to draw attention to the way in which the law has
been upheld. Conversely, if a marshal hears indirectly that
there has been a flaw in the ritual of a neighbouring village,