9 
For that reason the crests of the wife and the husband or the father 
and his children never figured on the same poleb as they belonged to “oppo- 
site” phratries.2 The only exceptions to this rule are the “signatures” 
which three carvers, from the father’s side, introduced in as many poles 
which they had carved at Kitwanga and Gitwinlkul.^ 
The selection of the crests for the poles from among available alter- 
natives, was left to the fancy of the owners; it tended to vary slightly in 
the course of time. There seems to have been no rule governing the order 
or arrangement of the crests along the carved shaft. The most com- 
prehensive and important crest, however, is generally at the top. 
One must grasp the nature of the social organization of the Tsimsyan 
to understand how the crests were distributed among the widely scattered 
tribes of the coast and the interior. A description of it is given on later 
pages {See “Gitksan social organization”).'* Here it is sufficient to say, 
that the tribes are nothing but villages, or casual geographic units, seven 
in all among the Gitksan, comprising a number of families unrelated to 
each other. As they are the result of chance they are apt to dissolve 
into their component parts as soon as the causes for their existence cease 
to exist. The households are the smallest social units within the village or 
tribe; they formerly comprised the inmates of a single house — a few closely 
related couples with their children and grandchildren; they, therefore, 
hold the “fathers” and the “mothers” as well. The families consist of 
a number of “blood” relatives (in the mother-line) as a rule dispersed in 
several households within the same tribe, or even at times outside the tribe. 
Their existence is not primarily dependent upon the idea of location, as 
are the tribes and the households. They are purely a kinship concept. 
The clans are also of like nature; but they are more comprehensive. If 
they are at all important they must embrace a number of families; and 
these, quite as often as not, reside in various tribes that may be part of 
one nation or more. Members of several clans are known to belong to 
two or three of the following nations — the Gitksan, the Carrier, the Nisree, 
the Tsimsyan, the Haida, or the Tlingit. What is fundamental in the 
concept of clan is that their “blood,” their origin, their ancient history, 
their most ancient crests and privileges should be the same. They issued 
from the same remote ancestors. Yet, upon their definite historical 
entity, extraneous elements have occasionally been grafted in the course 
of time. These are not always easily unravelled, as they tend soon after 
their fusion to lose their own original features. Families too weak to 
subsist independently, after defeat in warfare or wastage through disease, 
have often been totally absorbed by other families; their privileges and 
possessions henceforth being merged in a single whole. Of all the social 
groups the most comprehensive are the phratries. They are political 
groups extending throughout the northernmost nations of the North West 
>This applies to all the Tsimsyan nations. It was otherwise among the Haidas. 
>A Tsimsyan informant of Port Simpson answered the question "whether a person could introduce crests other 
than his own on his pole" in this wise: It was not the custom of the Tsimsyan to mix crests; but the Haidas did 
otherwise; they put the crests of the wives and the husbands together. The Tsimsyan, however, had the privilege 
of doing it when they felt so inclined. If a man wanted to show where he came from, he could have his crests 
represented on his pole with those of his father. Although a pole of this kind would cost a great deal to its owner, 
it was not considered important. And it was not regarded as exclusively his own. It merely showed what his 
parentage was on both sides. The name of a pole of this kind was “pole of origin" (Ranem-wilksewalk). This 
opinion was corroborated by James Wright, another Tsimsyan informant. 
*See page 172, Crests, their origins according to their owners. 
‘This subject will form part of another extensive monograph. 
84628—2 
