202 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



[Vol. IV. 



colours, the severity of the black- and white of the rubrics being- 

 repugnant to the native taste which sees in such works no monuments- 

 of grief or sorrow, but rather affectionate tributes to the memory of the 

 dead which it behooves one to make as showy as possible. This explains 

 why some of them are so absurdly large, sometimes graves, even of 

 children, being covered with "monuments" affecting the shape, and 

 almost the dimensions, of rectangular cart-sheds. 



To the above let us add the wooden totem crest ornamenting twO' 

 native houses and we will have the sum total of all the carvings now to 

 be seen throughout the whole territory of the TsiiKoh'tin, the Carriers 

 and the Tse'kehne. Of these sculptures, the first only (fig. i88j can. 



Fig. 1 88. 



boast a few scores of years. It represents a raven standing over the 

 head of some marine animal — possibly the orca. The reason of this in- 

 congruous coupling may probably be seen in the fact that the inhabitants 

 of the place wherein the totems are to be found are of mixed parentage, 

 as they have considerably intermarried with their western neighbours, the 

 Bilqula. The last carving (fig. 189) is quite modern. The owl thereby 

 represented has been carved out of a balsam poplar tree [^Populus 

 balsamifera) and adorns the front gable end of a fishing shanty at the 

 outlet of Lake Stuart. 



References to the totems and gentes of the Western Denes have been 

 frequent in the course of this monograph, and, especially in view of what: 

 remains to be said in the latter part of this chapter, some more detailed 

 information concerning them may be found acceptable. 



