26 
MUSEUM BULLETIN NO. 19. 
Two types of name illustrated in this material are of particu- 
lar interest. The first is comprised by names like ni' H c kt't'kc 
“father of fec't'kc" noxc ha' fa t'k u “mother of Woodpecker," 
nHse-'ts qa ' 1 “grandmother of qa’ 1 .” The second element in 
such names is generally the name of a slave, while the first 
element (father, mother, [grandfather], or grandmother) in- 
dicates not the relation of kin but that of ownership. The names 
are purely traditional and do not, of course, necessarily imply 
that the bearer has or had a slave of the indicated name. That 
an ancestor may have had a slave of that name, thus accounting 
for the origin of the full name, is naturally another matter. 
Of still greater interest are the names that refer to crests. 
The chief point to note with regard to these is that such names 
refer not to a crest of the clan or phratry to which they belong, 
but to a crest of one of the other three phratries. Thus, several 
Wolf phratry names refer to the eagle, the main crest of the 
Eagle phratry (e.g. “Eagle-flaps-his-wings-slowly,” “Eagle-re- 
mains-on-a -tree-unable- to-fly,” “Eagle's-head-droops-as-he-rests 
on-a-tree,” “Eagle-flies-away-without-salmon”); to the hump- 
backed whale, also an Eagle crest (e.g. “Whale-spouts”); to 
the beaver, an Eagle crest (e.g. “ Beaver 's-tail-lying-on- the- 
ground”); and to the bullhead , 1 a qana'da crest (e.g. “Big-belly- 
of-white 2 -bullhead”). Conversely, several Eagle phratry names 
refer to the wolf, the main crest of the Wolf phratry (e.g. “He- 
throws-behind-corpse-of-wolf , ’ ’ “ Wolf-stands-looking-on-bank- 
and-starts-back, ’ ' “ Wolves-stand-whining-on-bank-of-ri ver, ’ ’ 
“Wolf-pack-comes-together-and-howls”) ; or to the grizzly- 
bear, a Wolf (or possibly fcispo’ u dwrdd) crest (e.g. “Grizzly- 
bear’s foot”). Some of the qana'da names also refer to the wolf 
(e.g. 1 ‘Two-wol ves-go- together, ’ ’ ‘ ‘ Wolf-wal ks-along- the-beach” ) . 
It is important to note that the strict linguistic analysis of the 
name does not in every case make the reference to the crest animal 
'The bullhead does not occur in my list of Nass River crests. I learn from Mr. C. M. 
Barbeau, who has recently made an exhaustive study of the social organization of the Tsimshian 
proper, that the bullhead is a qanha'da crest. 
*1 do not know whether mdc of this name is to be translated “white” or “red.” It means 
properly “red," but it seems to be regularly translated "white" in crest names, e.g. vide wa‘* 
"white deer," md“c hdt’ “white marten," mdc ’ o' 1 “white bear.” Mr. Barbeau’s testimony is 
corroborative of this curious fact, for he finds mes-'o'l translated as “white bear,” in spite of 
Boas’ rendering of this term as "red bear.” 
