45 
FUNCTION 
The pole of Hanging-frogs or Frogs-hanging-down (Spcerem-ranaa^o) 
was erected less than forty years ago/ in commemoration of Lselt. Trhap- 
hapii caused its erection.® 
The second monument, Pole-whereon-climb-the-frogs ( Randeptcehl- 
ranaa^o ) was erected in memory of Tarhtsuh, of the family of Lselt, about 
twenty or twenty-five years ago.^ Lselt and Geebum’andaw, of the same 
family, were responsible for it. The guests at the erection of the pole 
were representatives of ten villages of the Skeena and the Nass. Among 
other presents distributed w^ere twenty bales of blankets of ten blankets 
each. Lselt wanted to adopt his own son as his successor, on that occasion.* 
But his relatives (on the mother’s side) would not give their assent, and 
the plan fell through. 
CARVERS 
Trhap-hapu’s father belonged to the family of Gitrhawn — of the 
Eagle phratry, of Kitsalas. He, for that reason, requested Gitrhawn to 
carve the Hanging-frogs pole.^ Gitrhawn undertook the work with the 
assistance of ’Nees-warhayse and ’Nees’adaai, both of the family of Lselt, 
who had resided at Kitsalas for many years. The carving here is not of 
the best, although the representation of the small frogs hanging was quite 
effective before crude commercial paint spoiled them through restoration. 
The second pole, AVhereon-cHmb-the-Frogs, is, on the whole, one of 
the crudest carvings in Kitwanga, though it is elaborate and not devoid 
of good qualities, especially in its upper part. It is the work of Kwawdzee- 
barh, one of Laelt’s nephew's, of the family of Haqu (in the Larhsail phratry, 
at Kitw'anga). 
(6) Poles of Ha’ku and T-haku, at Kitwanga 
OWTMERS 
Both Ha’ku and T-haku are® closely related to Lselt, the chief of the 
Frog-w'oman CNeegyamks ) clan, of the Larhsail phratry at Kitw'anga. 
They are called “his nephews.” Their separate households originated 
through a subdivision of Lselt ’s family, when growing numbers made it 
necessary. Their crests and inherited privileges are practically identical, 
their semi-independence being too recent to have given rise to a marked 
differentiation. 
now an old man, had this pole erected at the time when his uncle Laelt died, and he assumed his name and 
rank. 
’Lffilt (Salomon Harris) claimed that he had himself been responsible for its erection, to commemorate his 
uncle Ltelt, four years after his death. 
•This happened shortly after the death of Tarhtsuh, and after Lalt had married Ksarhgyaw, a young woman 
of HrleemlarhK’s family (Wolf phratry), of Kispayaks. 
•Relationship and the inheritance of clan badges and affiliations are exclusively matrilinear, that is, on the 
mother’s side. 
•Lselt added, “There was no artist at that time among the Gitksan who could carve poles (he means in the 
eligible families paternally related to him), and Gitrhawn was the best.” 
•T-haku 's household sometimes appears under the name of Alla-ist or of Kwawdzebarh, as a leader. John 
Fowler is the present Ha’ku; and Paul Benson — "r-haku. 
