TOTEM POLES BAEBEAU 569 



to 30 years old when the Haidas became converts to Christianity and 

 in consequence gave up their customs, cut down their poles, and sold 

 them to white people about the year 1890 or afterwards. It is a 

 common saying, however inaccurate it may be, that the fine row of 

 poles in one of their best-known towns had risen from the proceeds 

 of an inglorious type of barter in Victoria. There is no evidence of 

 mortuary poles among the Haidas antedating 1840 or 1850, though a 

 few earlier and transitional ones may have served to introduce the 

 fashion. 



The probabilities are that totem poles proper originated among 

 the Nisrae or northern Tsimsyan of the Nass River. It is evident, 

 from traditional recollections, that the custom of thus commemorat- 

 ing the dead is not very ancient among them; yet it certainly ante- 

 dated that of the Gitksan or the Tsimsyan. It is far more likely 

 that the Haidas and the Tlingit imitated them than the reverse. 

 The estuary of the Nass was the most important thoroughfare of 

 Indian life in all the northern parts. Eulachan fishing in the neigh- 

 borhood of what is now called Fishery Bay near Gitrhateen, the 

 largest Nisrae center, was a dominant feature in native life. The 

 grease from the eulachan, or candlefish, was a fairly universal and 

 indispensable staple along the coast. For the purpose of securing 

 their supply of it the Haidas, the Tlingit, the Tsimsyan, and the 

 Gitksan traveled over the sea or the inland trails every spring and 

 camped in several temporary villages of their own from Red Bluffs 

 eastwards on the lower Nass, side by side, for weeks at a time. Dur- 

 ing these yearly seasons exchanges of all kinds — barter, social ameni- 

 ties, or feuds — were quite normal. As a result, cultural features of 

 the local hosts — whether they w^ere willing hosts or not is an open 

 question — were constantly under the observation of the strangers 

 and were often a cause for envy or aggression. It is doubtful, on 

 the other hand, whether the Tsimsyan ever traveled to the Queen 

 Charlotte Islands or the Tlingit country unless to make a raid or 

 an occasional visit to relatives. 



It is agreed among specialists that the Nass River carvers were 

 on the whole the best in the country. Their art reached the highest 

 point of development ever attained on the northwest coast. And 

 their totem poles — more than 20 of which can still be observed in 

 their original location — are the best and among the tallest seen any- 

 where. The Haida poles are stilted, conventional, and offer little 

 variety in comparison. It is noteworthy, besides, that the Tlingit 

 poles resemble in character those of the Nass River. And the Nisrae 

 assert that a number of totem poles at Tongas (Cape Fox), the 

 southernmost of the Tlingit villages, Avere the w^ork of their carvers 

 within the memory of the passing generation. 



