260 THE BELLA COOLA INDIANS

figures are really beings from another world. The explan- ation lies in the profound belief of all Bella Coola in the near presence of the supernatural; consequently, a supernatural explanation is the one normally given for all unusual inci- dents. The dances themselves are filled with strange mani- festations, particularly the weird whistling concerning the origin of which the uninitiated have no idea. Once convinced by this means of the presence of unknown powers, it is easy for them to believe that the masked figures are visitors from the other world. Nor was their belief in former days shaken by certain representations which were palpably false, such as that of the sun. No one could believe that the disk which moved across the back of the house was the sun itself; but on the other hand it seemed marvellous to the uninitiated, igno- rant of the means used to portray it. To the white man there seems a fundamental difference between a supernatural being and the representation of a strange object made to move by unseen means, but to the Bella Coola both belong to another realm, and are accordingly akin. Moreover, there were occa- sions when the uninitiated must have seen the shifting or actual falling of a mask, for example, during the fight with wasps. But here again the deep belief of the non-members came to the help of the kukusiut, who told their guests that this was caused by the coming of a call to the actor, and what might easily have become doubt and suspicion was thus changed to respect.

The writer laboured under two tremendous difficulties in collecting information about kusiut matters; the present dances are mere shadows of what they formerly were, and there are no more uninitiated. His presence and quest for information served to stimulate interest and led to a partial revival of the old rites, but the bulk of his material was obtained from infor- — mants rather than from actual observation. It is a universal characteristic of mankind to idealize accounts of former prac- tices, so it is not only possible, but probable, that the foregoing descriptions are more perfect than many of the rites to which