boas] TSIMSHIAN SOCIETY 527 



those prevailing among: the Tsimshian. A family bearing a certain 

 name, characterized as a section of an exogamic group, and owning 

 certain crests, occurs in several villages. The family is therefore a 

 division of the exogamic group that intercrosses the division of the 

 tribe into village communities. Groups like the Gun-hu'°t, Lax- 

 se'°la, etc. (see p. 483), correspond to the Haida families, while the 

 villages (see p. 482) correspond to the village communities. From 

 the Tsimshian we have also some definite information showing how 

 new villages have sprung up. Thus the Eagle chief is said to have 

 subdivided his tribe because the village became too large. The 

 Raven families of Ilaimas of the G'it-dzl'°s founded the village 

 WutslEn-a'luk because they had quarreled with all the rest of the 

 people (see p. 360), but not all the G-it-dzi'°s followed him (see 

 pp. 360, 366). There is no information available showing in what 

 villages the divisions of the tribe, like the Gun-hu'°t, which were 

 mentioned on p. 483, reside; but it is implied that some are found 

 in several towns. 



The peculiarities of the Tsimshian system are due primarily to fhe 

 small number of recognized villages and of distinct famdies and to 

 the strict division of the whole people into a few tribal groups. The 

 Haida, particularly the Haida Ravens, dwell on the common descent 

 of all the members of each side, which is accounted for in mythological 

 history. In their actual modern conditions the Haida families are 

 independent units. Among the Tsimshian proper (that is, among 

 the villages of lower Skeena River) the exogamic group represented a 

 much more highly developed political unit. The head chief of each 

 of the four groups possessed all the prerogatives of the whole group 

 and was its highest representative. Among the Haida his functions 

 did not extend beyond that part of the family represented in the 

 village community. 



Owing to the greater independence of the Haida families, each has 

 its own set of crests. Among these a few are common to many of 

 them. The majority occurs oidy once or twice as the property of a 

 certain family. According to the available information, isolated 

 crests are not prominent among the Tsimshian. It seems rather that 

 two or three subdivisions of an exogamic group ma} have slightly dif- 

 ferent crests, and that an individual belonging to one of the subgroups 

 is free to acquire by a potlatch the right to use any of the crests i 

 his subgroup except the highest ones, that are reserved for the chief. 

 Owing to the small number of the subgroups and the similarity of 

 their crests, there are only a few crests that are not common property 

 of the whole exogamic group. 



Among the Tlingit the number of crests belonging to each family is 

 small. 1 



