418 TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY [eth. Ann. 31 



into the sun is called Ya°l, which is supposed to have some reference 

 to the blinding rays of the sun (307). 



A new crest obtained through an adventure was proclaimed at a 

 potlatch. Thus the man who had captured the live abalone bow 

 gave away its wood and claimed the bow as his crest (284) . Only one 

 chief in each generation owns it, and, when assuming it, he gives a 

 great potlatch, at which the story of the crest is told. — The children 

 of the Haida woman who obtained a number of crests after the 

 destruction of the town of Dzl'gwa gave a potlatch ; and the eldest one 

 assumed the cormorant as crest, which his uncle had owned before 

 the beginning of the events told in the story, and the various crests 

 commemorating his mother's adventures (267). — The man and the 

 woman who had received crests from the Grizzly Bear showed them 

 at a great feast (294). — The man who had killed the Wolf prince 

 showed his crests — the cleft-hoof garments, the wolf-tail hat, and the 

 long-ear armor — at a festival (320). — The men who had received 

 crests from Na-gun-a'ks announced them in the same way (290, 291). 

 Crests were worn at potlatches by both host and guests. The 

 guests at Dragging Along Shore's feast are asked to wear each his 

 crest (290). The sea monsters at Down The Useless River's potlatch 

 wear their crests (276). 



Names were proclaimed in the same manner. Ordinarily the name 

 was not proclaimed by members of the clan to which the name be- 

 longed, but by the father or grandfather, who belonged to a distinct 

 clan. Thus the father gives the name in 60, 1.165, N 101; the 

 father's father, a Haida chief, gives names to his son's children from 

 a Tsimshian princess (258); the supernatural being gives names to 

 his son's children (273); a boy receives his name from his mother's 

 father (243) (here it is somewhat ambiguous whether he gives his 

 own name or another name) ; a man gives names to his daughter's 

 children (283). 



On the other hand, in N 164 a boy who gives a potlatch asks his 

 uncle (his wife's father) to distribute the presents and at the same 

 time to proclaim his name. 



If on 234 it is stated that the mother gives noble names to her chil- 

 dren, it may be meant that names belonging to her family were 

 selected . It does not necessarily imply that the bestowal of the names 

 was performed by the mother herself. In 1.83 and N 227 the mother, 

 after the disappearance of her supernatural husband, announces the 

 name Asdi-wa'l as her son's name, which name had been selected for 

 the boy by his father. In 1.111, however, the mother gives a pot- 

 latch, and gives a chief's name to her son. Later on he gives a feast 

 to all the chiefs to make known this name to all the people (1.123). 

 At another place (1.169) the mother, after a hunting exploit of her 

 son, mentions her son's name for the first time, saying, "This is my 



