434 THE TLINGIT INDIANS Ietii. ann. 26 



The larger pole in fifj^ure 110 was put up at Wrangell by Katishan's 

 brother. At the top of this is Nils-cA'ki-ye} (Raven-at-the-head-of- 

 Nass-river), the hig-hest being in Tlingit mythology, with Raven (Yel)on 

 his breast. Below is another being, LAkitcinA', wearing a hat and the 

 red snapper coat with whicli he used to murder his children, under- 

 neath the frog, emblem of the KiksA'di, and at the bottom the thunder 

 bird (xcl), which stands for Lqlaya'k!, IJAkitcinA"s son. The smaller 

 post in this figure was copied from a dancing cane, which came fi'om 

 the llaida(see p. 417), and is very highly valued. From above down 

 the figures are: eagle holding two coppers, gonaqAde't holding a 

 copper, frog, sand-hill crane (dul), frog, gonaqAde't. Another 

 AYrangell pole, carved to represent an eagle liolding .strings of fish 

 on a rope, illustrates the story of Man-that-dried-fish-for-the-eagle 

 (Tcak!-(|lr''di-At-q!Aii-qa) told by Katishan. 



Figure 111 illustrates the storj- of Black-skin or Kaha'sli. The hero 

 is represented in the act of tearing a sea lion in two." 



The chiefs' hats so often shown upon poles appear sometimes to be 

 more important than those wearing them, the latter being slaves or 

 figures introduced merely to carry the hats. 



POTLATC^HES 



Superficially the Tlingit potlatch resembled that of the Haida, but 

 with the former only one motive underlay the custom, regard for 

 and respect for the dead, and there was but one kind of potlatch in 

 consequence. The putting up of a house or pole, and the secret society 

 performances, feasts, and distributions of |)roperty which accompanied 

 it,* were all undertaken for the sake of the dead members of a man's 

 clan, and to them every blanket that was given away and a great deal 

 of food that was put into the fire were supposed to go. It was believed, 

 as indicated in the last section, that the soids o£ the dead were actually 

 present and feasted and rejoiced witii th(> living, receiving spirit food 

 and spirit clothing along with tlie reception of their material counter- 

 parts by men on earth. Whenever a blanket was given away a dead 

 person had to be named, and he received a blanket in the spirit world; 

 whenever a little food was put into the fire and a dead man's name pro- 

 nounced, a great deal of the same kind of food was received by him. 



Among the Haida, on the other hand, the social idea quite over- 

 balanced the religious. When a man took the nlace of his dead uncle 

 or brother he was indeed obliged to givi^ a feast and make a distribu- 

 tion of property to those of the opposite phratry, and the latter ai-ted 

 as undertakers; but this potlatch was of very much less importance 

 than the great ]H)tlatch which a chief made to his own phratry, which 

 was purely social in purpose and intended onlj' to increase his reputa- 



n AU the stories referred to in this paper (ire to be published later in the form of a bulletin, 

 b According to Katishan, however, piercings for labrets were made at another time. 



