43 
ORIGIN 
The list of crests used on the two totem poles of Lielt is one of the 
longest on record. But these emblems are not all the property, or at 
least the exclusive property, of Lselt and his family — as we shall see pre- 
sently. 
The origin of the Frogs as variously represented here is explained in 
the myth of the ancestress ’Neegyamks.^ ’Neegyamks, the daughter of 
chief Negwa’on, is the “grandmother” of Lselt and other members of the 
'Neegyamks (Frog-woman) clan. Several chiefs had courted her without 
success. One night, while she slept in the maidens’ compartment at the 
rear of the house, she disappeared; and the frogs were heard, as every day, 
croaking in the lake above the village of Antegwalae, on the Nass, where 
Negwa’on and his family lived. Her relatives thought that one of her 
suitors had kidnapped her. For two years they could not find her. The 
people, one day, beheld two Frogs in Negwa’on ’s doorway; one of them 
carried the other on its back. They were apparently trying to speak, 
one saying, “Tsewit,” and the other “Qaderh.” This was later to be their 
names. And they led the people on to the lake. Negwa’on invited the 
neighbouring tribes, Gitlarhdamks and Gitwinksilk, to come and help in 
draining the lake. When the lake was drained, the people beheld a huge 
number of small frogs taking to flight; then the Mying-frogs flew by. 
A Gitwinlkul man, Sedawqt — of the family of Wutarhaysets^ — caught 
a Flying-frog that had wings and looked like a moth. When the lake was 
nearly dry, a house-front painting was seen floating; and the young woman, 
’Neegyamks, sat upon it. One of her brothers speared the house-front, 
and captured it. The people then saw that ’Neegyamks had frogs all over 
her body — on her knees, the back of her hands, her breasts, her eyebrows. 
Many small frogs were painted on the house-front. Since then the Frogs 
have been the special crest of this clan.® ’Neegyamks said, after she had 
been rescued from the lake, 'T am not fit to come among the people again. 
You had better kill me. Put me away, but keep my children.” After they 
complied with her request, they saw a huge cane, the Pole-whereon-climb- 
frogs ( Randeptcshl-ranaa^o ) rising from the lake bottom. At its base was 
a human -like being; a number of small frogs climbed along the shaft; 
and a large Frog sat at the top. They decided to use the same figures on 
their own pole. Between the ribs of the large Frog, the Frog-chief, the 
heads of people were to be seen. They killed this Frog and adopted it as 
their principal crest. After ’Neegyamks had died they heard from the 
lake bottom a song, which they have since retained as a dirge. This sum- 
mary will explain the mythic origin of the several Frog crests of Laelt and 
his clan: the Hanging-frogs, Ribs-of-the-Frog, Person-of-the-lake, Frogs- 
of-the-doorway (or frogs-jammed-up).'* Real-frog-chief, and Pole-whereon- 
climb frogs. 
The emblems of Copper-smell (’Is^owq) and Person-of-the-doorway 
(GycBdem-^ran-ptaw' ), were acquired in the same way and at the same 
time as Frog-woman, in the lake near Antegwalse, on the Nass. A few 
*T1bc myth, of which this is a brief summary, was recorded from Lselt of Kitwanga, as also from others, in other 
tribes. 
sOf the Larhaail phratry. 
•Lselt expressed it in this incomplete way: "It is the exclusive crest of the household of L»lt.” 
•See The Poles of Harhu, of Kispayaks, p. 77, 
84028— 4i 
