60 
Footprints-in -shallow-water (Tsem’anlusroerhs). They were great hunters 
and rovers of the wilds, as are all the tribes of the same Athapascan origin. 
They spoke Tsetsaut, at least in the course of unknown generations, and 
were engaged in constant feuds with their Athapascan compatriots until 
a fairly recent date, indeed, almost to the present time. After they had 
moved down the river in flight, they settled at Where-people-seek-refuge 
( GiVanyao ), which later became Gitwinlkul. Their clan may, therefore, 
be called the Wild-rice (GiVanrasrh) clan of the Larhsail phratry. 
The other families of the same clan abroad are (or rather were, as 
some of them are now practically extinct) : Krtseewac’, of the Qaldo tribe, 
near the headwaters of the Skeen a; Ksemgunseq and Sqawil, also of the 
Qaldo tribe and Gitemraldo, of Gitenmaks (now Hazelton). Weemen- 
awzek, of the Kisgagas tribe, on the upper Skeena, may also be of the same 
clan, although the claim, in his instance, is not so clearly established. 
The totem poles of Ramlarhyaelk and Lurhawn are treated separately, 
although the crests illustrated on the five poles which they own at Git- 
winlkul are almost identical. 
Ramlarhyselk owns three poles, which still stand in the old village of 
Gitwinlkul next to those of Wutarhayaets, to the north, and of Weerhae 
(of the Wolf phratry), to the south. 
DESCRIPTION 
The first and oldest of the three poles (Plate IX, figure 5; Plate X, 
figure 1) stands slightly in front of the two others and between them; it 
faces south instead of west, towards the Skeena, unlike most of the other 
poles in Gitwinlkul, which face Gitwinlkul river or creek. It now 
leans to the left. Its name is: People-of-the-smoke-hole or Real-people- 
of-the-ladder ( GycBdem-ranalce, or Laderhsemgyet ). Its figures are : seven 
human-like representations of the same family crest of the People-of-the 
smoke-hole or the Real-people-of-the-ladder. The one at the top is slightly 
smaller than the three below it. Immediately above the large figure at 
the bottom of the pole stand three figures of the same description, facing 
side by side three points of the compass. The positions of the limbs, es- 
pecially the hands, differ slightly in most figures. 
The second pole (Plate X, figure 2) stands to the north of the first. 
It is known under the same name. It is also called Sendihl, from the 
name of the chief it commemorates, to distinguish it from the first. Its 
figures are: On-sleeps-the-Raven (Haneelahl-qaq), a small detached figure 
resting at the top of the pole; People-of-the-smoke-hole or Real-people-of- 
the-ladder (Gitksan name as above), represented here by a human being, 
sitting on his heels; the Eagle, under the name of Mawdzeks, with its wings 
drooping in front of its body; another human figure represents People-of- 
the-smoke-hole or People-of-the-ladder; a second Eagle (Mawdzeks); a 
reproduction of the heraldic Boards-of-the-smoke-hole (Habarem-ala)^ that 
‘Mcpst of the present families of the Qaldo tribe originated at Git’anrasrh (Peopleof-the- wild-rice), a village 
located farther up the river, in the Groundhog country. These people in recent years have moved down the river 
to Kispayaks village. 
*The smoke-hole was in the centre of the roof, over the central fireplace. The original boards were "over a 
fathom long.” The figures on them looked down into the house through this smoke-hole, and these were called 
Mawdzeks (Eagles). 
