382 ACCULTURATION IN SEVEN AMERICAN INDIAN TRIBES

of prestige. The present incumbents, however, do not take their
office too seriously and are content to let well enough alone.

CHANGES IN RELATIONS WITH THE SUPERNATURAL

The Church is still feared and for that reason a check on pres-
ent attitudes toward Catholicism is difficult. On the basis of
church attendance, and from the statements of one informant
there is reason to believe that the church is no longer in favor.
Attendance at Church is confined for the most part to the women
and younger girls. Very few of the older men, and practically
none of the younger men attend church. On one Christmas Eve,
no one attended the church. Informants claim that once they
were all good Catholics, but now they are falling off. This re-
ligious lapse within a relatively short time might be accounted
for by a number of factors. Amongst the complaints against the
Church are the inconsistency of the priest, skepticism about the
existence of heaven and hell, and what the Carrier considers
extortion of money through fines and collections. Secondly, the
absence of a resident missionary would in itself account for a
falling off of interest in the Church. Yet, it seems, that the weaken-
ing of rank distinctions that in the period of first contact with
the missionaries became associated with church offices, must
also be considered as a contributing factor.

The loss of interest in Catholicism has been accompanied by
a corresponding lapse in aboriginal religious beliefs and prac-
tices. As early as forty or fifty years ago puberty practices were
already on the down grade. Old men questioned about their vi-
sion quests at puberty all replied that for some reason or another
they had not observed the puberty rituals, although everyone else
did. But an incomplete census of old men revealed that prac-
tically none of them had actually sought a guardian spirit. ‘This
might signify either an unaccountable discrepancy between theory
and practice, or more probably, an actual change in religious
practices. The Church may have had a strong effect upon the
elimination of supernaturalistic practices. But again, as with
potlatching, the Church was in no position to enforce its in-
junctions. A more plausible explanation for the decline in re-