562 ANNUAL REPOKT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 31 



midst of a large number of invited guests during elaborate festivals, 

 where liberality was an outstanding feature. The name of the uncle 

 passed on to his nephew, and the erection of a totem pole crowned 

 the event. Groups of related families mustered all available 

 resources to make the feast memorable, as their standing and influ- 

 ence depended exactly on their resources thus advantageously 

 displayed. 



MAKING AND ERECTING A POLE 



The labor of cutting a large red cedar tree, hauling it overland or 

 on the sea for a considerable distance, carving it, and erecting it 

 often took years. The owners required sufficient time to gather 

 their resources and proceeded with expenditures in installments, as 

 it were. A tree was first selected and felled. The allies of the 

 family interested took charge of the work — no relative could accept 

 the stipend. They were fed and paid publicly at the conclusion. A 

 carver was then hired also from among the allies. Should he lack 

 the required skill, it was his privilege to appoint a substitute, over 

 whom he stood ceremonially, assuming the credit of the work for 

 himself. The carving was accomplished as secretly as possible, the 

 figures being selected by the owners from their list of available 

 crests, which often exceeded the fingers of one hand in number. Far 

 more costly was the actual planting of the pole in the ground. A^Hien 

 enough food and wealth were amassed, invitations were sent forth 

 to all the leading families of the neighboring tribes; and the pole 

 was erected in the presence or with the help of the hundreds of 

 people gathered in festivities that were the corner stone of social life 

 until about 40 years ago. 



These carved memorials as a rule face the water front, and the 

 rivers or the ocean were the main highways. They stand apart from 

 one another, in front of the owners' houses, and dot the whole length 

 of the village in an irregular line. In recent years the villages have 

 been moved to new sites, and the poles seem forsaken in the deserted 

 abodes of the past. Trees have grown up around them in several 

 places, and it is difficult to find them — particularly along the Nass. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE ART OF THE TOTEM POLE 



Enough material has been retrieved from oblivion for a detailed 

 history of Tsimsyan plastic art and the making of totem poles. Our 

 study covers over 150 such memorials. The villages of the upper 

 Skeena are the only ones that still retain some of their earlier barbaric 

 features. Kispayaks, Gitsegyukla, and Kitwanga each claim about 

 20 poles. Gitwinlkul now is the most remarkable of all the tribal 

 villages. It stands on the Grease Trail from the Skeena to the Nass, 

 claiming the largest number of poles now standing anywhere in a 



