11 
A state of almost incessant warfare resulted from the transgressions 
of the newcomers in a country already settled as were the North West 
Coast and adjacent valleys. This conflict forms the theme of countless 
narratives many of which explain the origin or the acquisition of new 
crests.^ 
The symbols in the heraldry of the Gitksan families, as illustrated on 
their poles, are one and all derived from their habitat and their rich myth- 
ology or folk-lore. An index list is given in a later section, page 158. They 
comprise a total of five hundred and twenty-five figures, nearly all of 
which have been carved. Animals constitute the predominant theme. 
Monsters with animal features, human-like spirits, and semi-historical 
ancestors occupy the second place. Objects, devices, masks, and charms 
come third; last of all, plants and sky phenomena. It is doubtful 
whether the people in whose memories the poles were erected, were ever 
depicted on the poles in the earlier days, though we find four instances 
of this kind — all quite recent. 
The animal emblems most frequently resorted to are quadrupeds and 
birds; fish are less commonly used than on the coast. The Frog is, of all 
the crests, the one that appears the most frequently — sixty-five times or 
more. Next in frequency are the Bear (the Grizzly or the Black Bear), 
the Maivdzeks Eagle, the Raven, the Thunder-bird (a mythological Eagle), 
the Wolf, the Eagle proper, the Owl, the Grouse, the Starfish, the Finback- 
whale, the Halibut, and several others. 
Among the monsters and spirits the most familiar on the poles are 
Split-person, Sharp-nose, Three-beings-across or Skulls, People-of-the- 
Smoke-hole, Whole-person, and Half-way-out, which are represented 
altogether seventy-five times. 
Remote ancestors are depicted twenty-one times, along with nine 
figures of people associated with them in the traditional tales of the past. 
These symbols nearly all belong to one clan, that of the warrior Nseqt, of 
the Frog-Raven phratry. 
The sundry objects, devices, and masks that complete the assortment 
of native crests are: masks or spirit-names, house-front devices, head- 
dresses, canoes, magic weapons, small human-like beings, and many other 
like objects. 
These crests may also be classified according to their mode of acquisi- 
tion by their owners; or, according to their origin as it is explained in myths 
and traditions {See pages 172 to 175). 
Their mode of acquisition was by no means always restricted to in- 
heritance. Sometimes they were obtained by conquest from enemies, 
acquired from other owners through atonement for a crime, or secured 
in compensation for services, or traded, or appropriated at the extinction 
of a family of neighbours or allies. 
The origins of some of these crests were explained in myths ( ada-orh 
or in traditions of pseudo-historical events of the recent past.®. Others 
were just inherited, without any explicit account of their remote origin. 
Colourful legends, formerly recited in tribal festivals and at the erection of 
'These .subjects will be treated in other monographs. 
'Cf. page IV. 5. 
•Cf. page 177. 
84628— 2i 
