48 
(7) Poles of Hlengwah, at Kitwanga 
OWNERS 
There are two groups of Larhsail (Raven-Frog phratry) at Kitwanga, 
which seem unrelated to each other. Their leaders are: Hlengwah,^ the 
head-chief, who belongs to the higher of the two clans; and Laelt,® a sub- 
ordinate chief. They respectively stand at the head of a few semi-independ- 
ent families, each of which has a chief and owns a separate house. These 
are: under Hlengwah — Hlengwah’s own household, Arhkawt or Naeqt, 
and Ha’lus; under Lselt — Lselt’s or Tarhtsuh’s own household, Ha’ku, 
T-haku, cr Alla-ist, and two other families. There is also a detached 
Larhsail family — that of Nees’alurh — which settled in Kitwanga only 
about 25 years ago, whose closest relative, Wutarhayaets, still belongs to 
Gitwinlkul. He owns no totem pole. 
The families under Hlengwah at first seemed to be part of a fairly 
homogeneous group, whose origin could be traced back to one source. 
Their foreign relatives were given as the following: Qawm, of Kitsalas, 
and Nees-yaranaet, of Gitsees — both of these among the Tsimsyan, on the 
lower Skeen a; on the upper Skeen a, Wistis and Rarhs-rabarhs, of Gitseg- 
yukla; and Wutarhkwats,of Hagwelget, among the Carriers, on Bulkley river; 
on Nass river, Hai’mas, of Gitrhatin, Ksemrhsan of Gitlarhdamks; among 
the Haidas of Massett, on Queen Charlotte islands, Larh’neets; and at 
Kitamat, on the Tsimsyan-Bellabella frontier, south of the Skeena, Nees- 
kamalse. But on further examination it became clear that they must be 
divided into two strands, according to their origin: one, to which Hlengwah 
himself belongs, is from the familj^ of Qawm, of Kitsalas, and more remotely 
from the Gitsees family of Hai’mas (now Nees-yarancet); the other, that 
of Arhkawt and Nseqt, from the family of Ksemrhsan, now of Gitlarhdamks, 
on the upper Nass. These two groups came together and amalgamated 
not very long ago, possibly on account of distant relationship, then remem- 
bered, or for some political reason, such as mutual help in warfare. 
Hlengwah’s own ancestors are said® to have joined what was to become the 
Kitwanga tribe later than did Arhkawt. 
The closely related families of Hai’mas and Nees’yaranjet in the 
Gitsees tribe of the Tsimsyan, from which those of Qawm of Kitsalas and 
Larahnitz of Kitwanga are derived, are among the most notable of the 
whole Tsimsyan nation. Their traditional history is extensively remem- 
bered; and the accounts of their warfare with the northern tribes of the 
Tlingit show that, if they belonged to the original Gitsees stock, they had 
close affiliations with the TIingits. At one time, not very long ago, they 
spoke Tlingit themselves, and belonged as much to the Tlingit nation as 
to the Tsimsyan. Indeed, according to the chief of the Gilodzar tribe,* 
these people were originally Tlingit (Gidaraneets), who were engaged in 
warfare long ago with the Haidas (Gitraaits) of North island, on the 
Alaskan coast. As a result of their defeat they migrated southeastwards 
and became Tsimsyan. 
‘Hia current name is Jim Larahnitz. 
•£k)metiines kno\vii under an English name: Salomon Harris. 
•Informant Ltelt said; ‘‘The household of Hlengwah came from the family of Qawm. It was not originally 
of Kitwanga. It is not the same as that of Nseqt, but joined it only after it had settled here." 
•Which tribe incorporated most of the former Gitwilksebae tribe. Informant, the late David Swanson, of Port 
Simpson. 
