December. 1918] 



The Ottawa Naturalist 



103 



it was in great demand, and, even in 1 789, after free 

 distribution of this material by other traders, Captain 

 Gray of the Lady Washington was able to purchase 

 a large number of sea-otter skins at the rate of one 

 chisel each. Already, too, delicate carvmg on horn 

 and bone was found at several localities. 



TOTEMISM AMONGST THE HAIDA. 



Crests. As stated by Swanton (I.e., 107), each 

 Haida family had the right to use a certain number 

 of crests, i.e., figures of animals and certain other 

 objects during a potlatch ; or they might represent 

 them upon their houses or any of their property, 

 and tattoo them upon their bodies. With one or two 

 exceptions the two clans already mentioned, the 

 Raven and the Eagle, use crests which are distinct 

 from one another. Of the two sets of crests the 

 Raven Clan, which is considered to be older than 

 the Eagle Clan, uses the killer-whale universally, 

 and nearly every Eagle family uses the eagle. 



Of the Raven crests the grizzly-bear is next to 

 the killer-whale in frequency of occurrence, with 

 the rainbow and supernatural snag next in order. 

 Swanton records thirty-three Raven crests in all. 



Of the Eagle crests, next to the eagle itself follow 

 the beaver, sculpin, frog, whale and raven in fre- 

 quency. Swanton lists thirty Eagle crests in all. 



Although there are traces which indicate that the 

 personal manitou and the religious ideas of the 

 Haida may have had some part to play in the 



development of their crest system in early days, at 

 present these influences seem to be very weak, and 

 it has now become a kind of heraldry by which an 

 individual may make known his or her rank and 

 position in the social scale. 



Some of the old chiefs say that until of late years 

 totem poles could not be erected by women, but for 

 a long period, only ending with the cessation of the 

 potlatch and the old ceremonial customs, it was not 

 uncommon for the woman's crest to be carved upon 

 her husband's pole and, when her body was placed 

 in a vertical mortuary pole, to have her crest alone 

 in front of her coffin. A fine specimen of this from 

 the Haida village Tanu is in the Museum at 

 victoria, B.C. 



As compared with similar carvings amongst other 

 native stocks in British Columbia, Haida totem poles 

 are, in general, of wider proportions than those of 

 the Nass River and Skeena peoples, Tsimshian, and 

 of more regular lines than those of the Kwakiutl, 

 a people who seem to have a much more grotesque 

 imagination. Of late years the Kwakiutl and the 

 Nootkans of the west coast of Vancouver Island 

 have endeavored to copy the Haida style of carving 

 and examples may now be seen at Nootka itself 

 and at Ehatisett, whilst more numerous specimens 

 have quite recently been erected at Fort Rupert, 

 Gwaestums, Tsatsichnukwomi and Tlaoitsis amongst 

 the Kwakiutl. 



LOCATION OF TOWNS AND VILLAGES IN THE OTTAWA VALLEY. 



By J. Keele, Ottawa. 



(Continued from page 97.) 



The Bonnechere river enters the Ottawa about 12 

 miles above the mouth of the Madawaska, and like 

 the latter has its source in the Algonquin Provincial 

 Park in the Laurentian highland. 



The French Canadians, who were always among 

 the pioneers in lumbering operations, called it the 

 river of "good living" or Bonnechere, probably on 

 account of the good quality and quantity of the pine 

 along its banks, the ease of navigation and the 

 abundance of game and fish. 



The valley of the Bonnechere is one of the most 

 remarkable physical features of the region and unlike 

 the other tributary streams its valley is deeply in- 

 dented far into the Laurentian upland. 



The physical geography of this valley has never 

 been studied in detail by anyone, so that only the 

 most superficial facts concerning it are known. Its 



origin and history are certain to furnish interesting 

 and difficult problems to the future physiographer. 



The valley is quite narrow in the lower part but 

 above the town of Renfrew it opens out in wide 

 plain-like expanses trending in a northwesterly direc- 

 tion. From 35 to 50 miles west of the Ottawa the 

 valley is occupied by two large lakes. Golden lake 

 and Round lake, which are situated directly on the 

 course of the river. The difference in elevation be- 

 tween Round lake and the Ottawa is about 335 feet. 

 This drop is taken up by five chutes or falls, three 

 of which have towns or villages situated on them. 

 Renfrew is on the second chute, Douglas on the 

 third chute, and Eganville on the fifth chute. 



The valley is bounded by escarpments of gigantic 

 rocks, the northern escarpment being comparatively 

 low and broken by smaller tributary and through 



