October 15 , 1915. 
Canada 
Geological Survey 
Museum Bulletin No. 19. 
ANTHROPOLOGICAL SERIES, No. 7. 
A Sketch of the Social Organization of the Nass River Indians. 
By Edward Sapir. 
INTRODUCTION. 
In February, 1915, a deputation of four Nass River Indians 
visited Ottawa on business connected with the Department of 
Indian Affairs. Through the kindness of Mr. D. C. Scott, the 
Deputy Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, their attention 
was drawn to the anthropological work of the Geological Survey 
and to the ethnological exhibits in its museum. Opportunity 
was thus gained, on February 18 and 19, for the writer to secure 
a sketch of some of the outlines of the social organization of the 
Nass River division of the Tsimshian stock, a sketch which is 
confessedly imperfect in many respects, but which may, for the 
present, contribute its share towards the comparative study of 
the problems of West Coast sociology. 
The Indians constituting the deputation were: 
(1.) Chief T. L. Derrick (see frontispiece), living at the 
village of Aiyansh (’ a'ya'nc ). He formerly lived at the village 
of kdlaxta’^mikc, whence he moved to Aiyansh along with most 
of his tribesmen. He is 59 years of age and is the third chief 
by rank of the ktt’anwt'l'kc tribe. His present Indian name is 
$€'xk tu , one of the noble names of the fectwd } na‘%t f ' 1 clan, to 
which Chief Derrick belongs and of which he is head chief. 
