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DESCRIPTION 
This pole bears the name of Pole-of- Neegyamks ( Rans' Neegyamks ) 
from the most important of its emblematic figures (Plate XIII, figure 3; 
Plate XIV, figure 1). Its upper half is uncarved. The figures in the 
lower half are: the Frogs-jammed-up or squeezed (^Meetsehl-ranaa^o or 
' Meedzem-ranaa'o ), two of them, head-down, one below the other; the 
Water-lily ( Skasewasan ), represented in a conventional way on the saddle- 
like band across the two Frogs — a series of lobes on both sides of a stem 
running horizontally from the centre; and a bud at the opposite end — 
the Shingles ( Ran' arhgyeeku ), represented like cedar shingles on the houses 
of white people — parallel lines, sloping downwards on both sides of a cen- 
tral ridge Sun-shines-on or ’Neegyamks, the mythical Frog-woman, 
small frogs on her eyes, her breasts, her hands, and crawling out of her 
mouth. 
ORIGIN 
The crest of Sun-shincs-on {'Neegyamks J is to be traced back, accord- 
ing to one informant,^ to the Carrier family of Wiitarhayiets, at Hagwelget 
and Moricetown. But Wiitarhayiets, as we have seen, has relatives at 
Gitwinlkul, who also own the same crests. The mythic origin of this 
crest is explained in the family traditions of Kweenu of Gitwinlkul: A 
woman of this family, named ’Neegyamks, once was taken into a lake, 
near Nass river, by supernatural Frogs, where she stayed for several years. 
Her children were frogs. The people, seeking her, drained a lake, and 
found her exactly as she is represented on the totem poles of Kweenu and 
Harhu. The Frogs-jammed-up are traced back to the family of Kweenu, 
of Gitwinlkul. 
The Water-lily crest originated in the Carrier country not long ago; 
in a lake, in the course of a supernatural experience, a huge lily was observed, 
and there were human faces to be seen on some of the leaves. 
No explanation is given of the Shingles, as a special crest of this house- 
hold. But the Shingles being a white man’s architectural device, it is to 
be presumed that they were taken on as a crest only after some ancestor 
in this family had seen shingles at^ — presumably^ — -Fort St. James, early 
in the nineteenth century, and was impressed enough to want them as an 
emblem, as if they had been seen in the course of a supernatural experi- 
ence. A few other crests of the upper Gitksan — the High-road, the Pali- 
sade, the White-man ’s-dog, etc.— began in exactly the same way. 
FUNCTION 
The pole of ’Neegyamks was erected, from thirty to forty-five years 
ago, in commemoration of the late Harhu by his nephew, who assumed his 
name and rank.^ 
iThis creat was described by another informant, John Brown, as consisting of red linee painted on garments and 
also as a decoration painted inside the bouse, on the ceiling. 
*John Brown, of Kiapayaks. 
•The present Ilarhu is Mark Simpson, of Glen Vowell. 
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