492 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 39 



North Pacific coast. They were used in most places from Alaska to 

 the Strait of Georgia. Yet hardly any effort was made to explain 

 how they had become the exclusive badges of definite families. They 

 were hereditary and taken for granted. Nor was a Raven or a Wolf 

 god supposed to exist in that country. At best, the Raven was a 

 culture hero of ancient folk tales, quite apart from heraldry. And 

 I wonder whether the Eagle emblem, admittedly recent, is not a mere 

 imitation of the Russian imperial crest. Like that crest, it often 

 appears as a double-headed eagle, and it originated in the country 

 occupied by the Russians, about the time of their occupation. 



Wlien a stereotyped explanation is given of the origin of an 

 emblem, it runs like this: 



A man named Small-Frogs long ago was starving with his family, 

 up the Nass. As he stood at the edge of the lake, a monster emerged 

 from the water — Large-Eyes, with a huge human face. Assisted by 

 his human family, he cut this being in half and succeeded in pulling 

 the upper part of its body out of the water. Later he gave a feast 

 to the people, and adopted Large-Eyes as an emblem. It was repre- 

 sented pictorially with a large human face and a body without legs — 

 just a trunk. 



A story of this kind was of little importance to the people. What 

 mattered was the feast given and the presents distributed to confer 

 prestige upon the emblem which was supposed to illustrate it. With- 

 out this consecration no emblem ever came into existence, for it would 

 have had no status, no social recognition. It would have been an 

 object of ridicule. 



The figures or totems most commonly used, besides the above- 

 mentioned, were those of familiar animals : the Frog, the Beaver, the 

 Mountain Goat, the Shark, the Halibut, the Owl, and the Starfish. 

 A number of other themes, localized, were derived from the fauna, 

 the flora, and the traditions of the country. The Fireweed and the 

 Water Lily were used as crests by at least two clans of the Haida and 

 the Tsimsyan. Such phenomena as the Rainbow, the Stars, the 

 Earthquake, the Glacier, casually appeared in the list of clan and 

 personal badges. Among many odd crests we find the Wliite Man's 

 Dog, the Palisade and the Wagon Road, Captain Vancouver, Russian 

 Priests, and Guardian Angels. 



The totem 'poles: where and hoiv they stood. — There were carved 

 house poles, grave posts, and totem poles proper, detached, that stood 

 in front of the houses, and others that served as house-front 

 entrances. Smaller poles with grave boxes were also found among 

 some of the tribes, mostly in the southern districts. House-front 

 paintings, carved house posts, and graveyard structures were more 

 ancient than detached poles. The detached totem poles as a fashion 

 were fairly recent. 



