26 
to Christianity and in consequence gave up their customs, cut down their 
poles and sold them to white people, about the year 1890 or afterwards. 
It is a common saying, however inaccurate it may be, that the fine row of 
poles in one of their best-known towns, had risen from the proceeds of an 
inglorious type of barter in Victoria.^ There is no evidence of mortuary 
poles among the Haidas antedating 1840 or 1850, though a few earlier and 
transitional ones may have served to introduce the fashion. 
The probabilities are that totem poles proper ultimately originated 
among the Nisrse or northern Tsimsyan of Nass river. From narratives 
recorded among them, it seems that a few mortuary columns were erected 
on the lower Nass at a fairly early date, that is, a few generations ago. 
It is otherwise evident, from traditional recollections, that the custom of 
thus commemorating the dead is not very ancient among them; yet it 
certainly antedated that of the Gitksan or the Tsimsyan. And it is far 
more likely that the Haidas and the Tlingit imitated them than the reverse. 
The estuary of the Nass was the most important thoroughfare of Indian 
life in all the northern parts. Ulaken fishing in the neighbourhood of 
what is now called Fishery bay, near Gitrhatin — the largest Nisrse centre 
— w’as a dominant feature in native life. The grease from the ulaken or 
candle-fish was a fairly universal and indispensable staple along the coast. 
For the purpose of securing their supply of it the Haidas, the Tlingit, the 
Tsimsyan, and the Gitksan travelled over the sea or the inland trails 
every spring and camped in several temporary villages of their own, from 
Red-Bluffs eastwards on the lower Nass, side by side, for weeks at a time. 
During these yearly seasons, exchanges of all kinds, barter, social amenities, 
or feuds were quite normal. As a result, cultural features of the local 
hosts — whether they were willing hosts or not is an open question — were 
constantly under the observation of the strangers and were often a cause 
for envy or aggression. It is doubtful, on the other hand, whether the 
Tsimsyan ever travelled to Queen Charlotte islands or the Tlingit country, 
unless they did it on war raids or isolated visits between relatives. 
It is accepted among specialists that the Nass River carvers were 
on the whole the best in the country. “ Their art reached the highest 
point of development ever attained on the North West Coast. And their 
totem poles — more than twenty of which can still be observed in their 
original location^ — are the best and among the tallest seen anywhere. The 
Haida poles are stilted, conventional, and offer little variety in comparison. 
It is noteworthy, besides, that the Tlingit poles resemble in character 
those of Nass river. And the Nisrje claim that a number of totem poles 
at Tongas (cape Fox),^ the southernmost of the Tlingit villages, was the 
work of their carvers, within the memory of the passing generation. 
In closing, we may draw the attention of the reader to the close simi- 
larities existing between the plastic arts of the North West Coast and 
>Dr. C. F. Newcombeand hia .soa W. A. Newcoinbe, Dr. J. R. Sw.inton, of the Smithsonian Institute, and ray- 
self, have heard independently of each other this statement long familiar among west coast natives. 
*Dr. C. F. Newcombe entertained that opinion, which we share, and he was with Dr. Franz Boas, the best 
versed in the matter of North West Coast art. 
*Photograph3 of several more— now destroyed— confirm this impression. According to Mr. W. A, Newcombe, 
of Victoria, there were still, in 1995, the following number of poles on the Nass: at .\ngyeda 0 , 14 poles: at Gitwink- 
eilk, 12; at Gwunahaw, 3 or 4 poles, all now; at Gitlarfidamlts, 15 poles, all in good condition. The lowest village 
of Gitiks is omitted from this list. 
‘William Beynon, a Tsimsyan interpreter, told us that some of the Tongas poles seem very old. 
