boas] TSIMSHIAN SOCIETY 483 



The Gitslala/sEr have two (owns: 



1. G'i-lax-ts!a'ks, on the north side of the river. 



2. Git-xtsla/xl, on the south side of the river. 



Fur a long tune all the Tsimshian proper assembled hi whiter at 

 MaxlE-qxa'Ia (MetJakahtla), where each group inhabited its own 

 village site. During the fishing-season they lived in their separate 

 towns on Skeena River and on the coast. It seems probable that 

 at an earlier tune the Tsimshian lived on the upper course of Skeena 

 River. According to then own belief, they lived then in the village 

 T'.Em-lax-a'm- 



Like the two sides of the Tlingit and Haida, each of the four 

 exogaraic groups of the Tsimshian is not a homogeneous unit, but is 

 composed of a number of subdivisions, each of which has its own 

 traditions and its own prerogatives. The Eagle group, Ganha'da 

 group, and GispawadwE'da group, have each three divisions; the 

 Wolf group has no subdivisions. These divisions and then principal 

 crests, so far as ascertained, are as follows: 



1. Eagle group. Lax-skl'°k. 



(a) Gun-hu'°t, "runaways" (from Alaska). 



(b) Crit-lax-wl-yl'a (from the upper course of Skeena 



River) . 



(c) G-its!6'x (halibut crest; from Bellabella [GidEsdzQ' ?]). 



2. Wolf group. Lax-k - ebo (from the Tahltan). 



3. Ganha'da. 



(a) Ganha'da (raven crest; from inland?). 



(b) Tsunadate (starfish crest; from Alaska?). 



(c) Lax-se'°la, "on the ocean" (bullhead crest; from Cape 



Fox). 



4. G"ispawadwE'da. 



(a) G'it lEm-lax-ii'm (grizzly-bear crest ; from T !Em-lax-a'm). 



(b) G-it-na-gun-a'ks (killer-whale crest; from China Hat 



[CridEsdzu']). 



(c) G'it-ksE-dza, (fireweed, Epilobium; descendants of Gau'o). 

 Mr. Tate has given me the following information in regard to the 



groups to which the Tsimshian villages belonged: 

 G'ispawadwE'da (Bear group I. 



Crests: Grizzly bear, killer whale, Lag - adil(?). 

 Git-qxa'la. 

 G inax'ang-I'°k (3). 1 

 G-inada'°xs (9). 

 Crests: drizzly bear, fireweed, mountain sheep. 

 Gdd-wul-g-a'dz (7). 

 Gi-lu-dza'r (S). 



1 The numbers here given are those of the Tsimshian villages enumerated on p. 482. The Git-qxa'la 



• lo not belong to the Tsimshian proper. The oilier villages without number are extinct. 



