ON THE ETHNOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 409 



Originally the Kwa'ntlEn were endogamous. They would not sully 

 their ' royal blood ' by marrying among the neighbouring tribes, whom 

 they regarded as inferior to themselves. This is a fact of importance in 

 the consideration of the social customs and institutions of the tribe. I 

 was unable to discover anything like a developed totemic system among 

 them. As among the Tcil'Qe'uk, it was customary for everyone to seek 

 personal su'lla. They had both personal and family crests, the most im- 

 portant of which was the sqoi'aqi already described. The owners of this 

 crest or totem, or those entitled to its privileges and the use of its strange 

 emblems, were much-envied people. One or more members of this totem 

 were hired by wealthy people on special festive and ceremonial occasions 

 to be present and lend their powerful and propitious influence to the 

 event, as many, sometimes, as 300 of them being present at the name- 

 giving feast of a chief's son. According to my informants, among the 

 Kwa'ntlEn the sqoi'aqi was not a secret society. Its membership was 

 recruited and augmented by marriage only. It will be remembered that 

 the crest or emblems were tirst obtained by a woman, and by her marriage, 

 and the marriages of her descendants, spread among the river tribes. 

 Most tribes on the river contained one or more individuals entitled to 

 use the sqoi'aqi emblems. AVhen we consider for a moment the social 

 importance the possession of a crest or family totem, such as the sqoi'aqi, 

 gave to its owners, we can well understand how personal and family crests 

 develop sooner or later into gentile totems. Had the social organisation 

 of the HalkOme'lEm tribes not been inteiTupted in its development by the 

 advent of the whites, it is more than probable that in a few generations 

 it would have reached a fully developed totemic system of its own ; and 

 that, too, without extraneous aid or suggestion. The sqoi'aqi had its 

 origin, some generations ago, among an up-river tribe whose members 

 probably were entiiely ignorant of the social organisation of the northern 

 coast tribes, with their totemic systems and secret societies. It would 

 appear to be the natural outcome of primitive organisations where the 

 fetish has passed into the su'lla, and these, again, have given rise to the 

 personal and family crest, or totem, as among the river tribes. Among 

 all the tribes of this region the desire for social distinction is the predomi- 

 nating impulse of their lives ; and as personal su'lia and other totemic 

 emblems of striking character or appearance bestow social importance 

 upon their owners, it is but natural to expect to see these totemic emblems 

 and crests spread and increase. The tendency to do so is inherent in such 

 social bodies. The social privileges and distinctions accorded to the owner 

 of a potent and striking totem like the sqoi'aqi by his fellow-tribesmen 

 would assuredly create a desire on the part of those who did not possess 

 or share in the privileges of such crest to possess similar ones for them- 

 selves ; and this desire would lead the bolder, and more imaginative, 

 to acquire similar crests or totems for themselves. The origin of the 

 sqoi'aqi itself is an instance of this. The wholesale acquisition of su'lia 

 or crests of this kind was restrained and held in check only by that fear 

 and dread of the ' mysteries ' entertained by the majority of Indians. Out 

 of this restraining fear and from this selfsame desire grew the secret 

 societies of the coast Salish and Kwakiutl tribes, where, by the payment 

 of large initiation fees and the performance of certain esotei'ic ceremonies, 

 the man of social aspirations could obtain admittance into and a share of 

 the social privileges of such societies. Dr. Boas has shown that in some 

 tribes 3, man's social position and distinction depended entirely upon hig 



