12 
totem poles, have fallen into desuetude. Most of them are now in our 
keeping.^ They explain how human-like animals or spirits from an unseen 
world once appeared in a vision, thereafter to be depicted in the heraldry. 
They recount the memorable adventures of past generations, the migra- 
tions of war-like ancestors, and the feuds that harried tribal life and often 
brought disaster in their wake. These narratives, varied and well-nigh 
inexhaustible, are the true wealth of the Indian mind and imagination. 
The carvings on the memorials and house-poles illustrate a few of their 
outstanding episodes, thus making them familiar to all in everyday life. 
The mjdhs or ada-orh that explain the origin of the family emblems 
conform on the whole to three or four general patterns or types. A spirit 
or a monster once was “seen” in the course of a supernatural experience, 
usually by the members of one family, who henceforth commemorated 
their experience by depicting it in a new crest, thereafter hereditary.® 
In other like narratives, the monster or spirit was not only “seen,” but 
was killed before being made into a crest. ^ Sometimes the ancestor was 
kidnapped by a spirit or a monster, usually for violation of taboos; but in 
the end he was lii)crated and the captor was killed and converted into an 
emblem.^ Last of all, some of the most significant crests — -those of the 
Sky clan of the Fireweeds — -were pictorial illustrations of ancient family 
myths, whereas others — those of the Nacqt clan — were drawn from recollec- 
tions of war adventures of the fairly recent past.® 
ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE ART OF CARVING TOTEM POLES 
The art of carving poles is not really as ancient as is generally believed.® 
Its growth to its present proportions is largely confined to the nineteenth 
century, that is, after the traders had introduced European tools, the steel 
ax, the adze, and the curved knife, in large numbers among the natives. 
The lack of suitable tools, wealth, and leisure in earlier times precluded 
the existence of elaborate structures. The benefits that accrued from the 
fur trade, besides, stimulated ambitions and rivalries between the leading 
families. Their only desire was to outdo the others in wealth and display 
of prestige. The totem pole became, after 1830, the fashionable way of 
showing one’s power and crests, while commemorating the dead or decorat- 
ing the houses. The size of the pole and the beauty of its imagery published 
abroad the fame of those it represented. 
The native accounts^ of what the earliest carved poles were on the 
Skeena, and an examination of the oldest specimens inevitably lead to the 
conclusion that carved house-front poles and house-corner posts were intro- 
duced first, many years before detached memorial columns to honour the 
dead became the fashion. Several of the houses at Kispayaks, before they 
were burnt down by the Tsimsyan warrior and trader Legyarh,® are said 
•They will form the subject of another monograph. A brief outline only accompanies here the description of 
the polra. 
^Seepage 175. 
®See page 176. 
*.S’ee page 176. 
‘See page 177, 
•Popular misconception in this respect is so fantastic that, for instance, nobody so far seems to have questioned 
the statement on the label attached to the Haida totem-pole standing in Prince Rupert (known as the llliellenpole) 
that it is hundreds of ye-ars old. It is much nearer sixty or seventy, although this pole w-as said by Dr. Newcombe 
to l>e the olde.st, he could get information on, from Queen Charlotte islands. 
n'hese are embodied in myths and are not included in this publication. 
®It is not clear to what generation belonged this Legyarh; he seems to have lived over a hundred years ago, 
evidently after foreign trade had become quite extensive along the west coast. 
