63 
painting {qawarh ),^ This crest was called Raven-house-front-painting 
( qawan-qaq ). It consisted of a single Raven with two smaller birds under 
each wing. Lurhawn, who had his own separate house, also gave a feast, 
with the assistance of his clan. There he exhibited his crests, while he 
distributed presents. These crests were: Real-people-of-the-ladder 
( Lademek-semgyoet ) — a “notched-ladder in a log serving to climb down into 
the house through an entrance at the top consisting of two large Frogs 
surrounded by human-like beings.” He also had a large wooden Frog 
(Ranaa^o), with abalone pearl and caribou hoof decorations, placed on 
the rear platform in the house. This Frog was called Frog-of-the-house- 
partition (Ranaa'um-larhptaw^). The trap door hanging and swinging 
from the top was called Frog-door (Ptsawrom-ranaa'o). His third crest, 
which he also exhibited in the feast, was a large, human-like being wearing 
a conical hat surmounted with four cylinders, called Lanemrmt.^ 
The copper shield used on the pole may allude to another episode of 
the traditional recollections of the clan. At the time when these families 
had settled at Where-peoplc-seek-refuge (Oilanyao), near the present 
Gitwinlkul, a feud developed between the family of Lurhawn and some 
Tsetsaut hunters of the interior. Gysebesu, of this family, invited a 
Tsetsaut visitor into his house and killed him, thus securing his insignia, 
among them a headdress of bear cub skin upon which were tacked miniature 
copper shields, eyes of abalone shell, and dentalia ("to'g j shells. This is 
now used as a crest by Ramlarhycelk and Lurhawn — the Headdress-of- 
upper-river ( Raidern-rhkeegycenee ). 
The reason why the Eagle ( Mawdzeks ) is used by this family is not 
given, except that it was carved on the boards for the smoke hole, at a very 
early period, when the ancestors still lived in the Black-water country, 
among the Tsetsaut. This is an ancient crest, one of the most generally 
diffused among the Larhsail clans of the Gitksan. 
FUNCTION 
The first pole (Plate IX, figure 5; Plate X, figure 1), that of the People- 
of-the-smoke-hole (Gymdem-ranalm), was erected in commemoration of a 
former Rarnlarhyselk and Sendihl, a member of the family.^ It is one of 
the oldest poles in Gitwinlkul, and it may have stood over sixty or seventy 
years.^ 
The second pole (Plate X, figure 2), standing next to the first, on the 
north side, was erected in commemoration of a former Hlamee, presumably 
many years later than the other.® It is still in a good state of preservation; 
the name of its carver is remembered; and it stands as it was first planted. 
iThe terra for houae-front painting in Tsirasyan is neksuugifet. 
*This last is used by Lurhawn as his eiclusive crest; the others are still more or less shared with his “brother’ ' 
Ramlarhyselk. 
•From this an informant, Kweenu (Mrs. John Larahnitz), called it "the Sendihl pole.” 
•It stood when Mrs, John Larahnitz was a child, and she seems over fifty yeirs old. As it is remembered by 
the older informants that the carver was a Nass River artist, the time of its erection is not far beyond the living 
generations. 
•From a statement of LsbU, our informant, we infer that it was erected over fifty years ago — when L»lt 
himself was about twenty years of age. 
