WINTER CEREMONIAL DANCES 17

elaborate kusiut ritual which failed;

Namutsta, meaning unknown;

“The One who Guards the Ritual by Gripping with his Teeth’;

“The Terrifier’’ ;

“The Dog-Toothed One.”

When a kusiut acts contrary to the interests of the society the marshals gather in the sacred meeting-place of the village, with other senior kukusiut. There is no definite order respec- ting who shall, or shall not, be summoned. The matter is discussed until unanimity of opinion is reached, although a marshal, particularly if he is also a rich and influential chief, is the guiding spirit. In Nusgulxwaista the supernatural being Sikitikinum kills any supernatural kusiut who errs, so in this world it is always said that a verdict of death has been given by this being. Several of those at the meeting are sent out to lure the victim who, brought before the group, is told that he is to die. He is seized, thrown on his back, and a pole laid across his neck; two men sit on each end until the man is dead.? Sometimes less drastic punishments are meted out. About 1880, when the influence of the white man had become evident on the coast, a dancer who had been, theoretically, disembowelled and was supposed to remain for months within his house to recover from the operation, insisted on fleeing to Kimsquit to a woman with whom he was in love. When he returned to Bella Coola a meeting was held to decide whether or not he should be killed. Fear of the white men prevented summary punishment, but the marshals insisted that the offender submit himself to periodic scratching on the stomach with a nail so that it would appear to the uninitiated that he was suffering from a deep wound. The offender was thankful

to escape thus lightly. 2

*Occasionally the relative of a condemned person saves him by saying that he must not be killed. This means that the speaker is willing to die as a substitute; he is executed in due course, but the mechanism by which the diffusion of infor- mation is stopped is not clear.