80 
DESCRIPTION 
The first (Plate XIV, figure 2), called Pole-of-the-Moon (PtscBnem- 
hlawqs), represents the Mountain-goat (Mateeh) with a single horn; the 
Moon (Hlawqs); (in the Moon) Skawah, the ancestress of the clan, with 
the earthquake (Tsa~urh ) charm in her hand; (under the Moon) L<egi-yuwen, 
one of Skawah’s sky-born sons, an ancestor in the clan; the Owl ( Gutkwee- 
nurhs ). At the back of the pole is affixed another representation of the 
Moon, smaller than the first, on which the picture of Skawah with the 
Earthquake charm is reproduced in red paintd 
The second (Plate XIV, figure 3), called The Owl (Gutkwee-nurhs ) or 
Grave-of-Gurhsan ( Anskee-G^trshan ) , includes four representations of the 
mythic Owl. The only reason why the same figure is four times repeated 
is that the owners wanted carvings to cover most of the length of the pole. 
ORIGIN 
The origin of these figures, and the right of Gurhsan to use them as 
family emblems, is accounted for in three different myths: those of Skawah, 
of the Revenge of the Mountain Goats, and of the Owl. 
The Skawah narratives are among the lengthiest and most character- 
istic myths of the nation. They describe the misfortunes of the maiden 
Skawah, after her relatives were slain by their enemies; her rescue by 
Rays-of-the-Sun, a sky spirit; the birth of several children to her in the 
Sky, their education, their training, and finally, their return to earth, 
where they avenged the memory of their uncles, established new customs, 
and adopted heraldic emblems or crests which were symbolic of their noble 
origin, in particular, the Moon, the Stars, the Rainbow, and Bird of the 
Sky. The Earthquake charm, in the hand of Skawah, was a bucket-like 
vessel given by Rays-of-the-Sun to his semi-divine children before they 
returned to earth, when raised and tilted in their hand, it caused the 
village of their enemies to quake, turn over, and be crushed under an ava- 
lanche of rock. This myth is shared by all the members of the clan as a 
traditional account of their common origin, presumably on Nass river to 
the north. 
The Mountain-Goat crest was obtained at Temlaham, at a later 
period. The people had become sinful; they no longer observed the rule 
of the Sky according to which animals must be an object of respect. They 
recklessly slaughtered herds of mountain goats on Stekyawden (now 
Rocher D^'boule, near Hazelton), and made fun of a young goat, which 
they had taken home alive as a trophy. A young man adopted the goat as 
a pet, and saved it from abuse. The offenders were invited by Goats 
in human guise to a feast at the mountain lodge. There they perished by 
falling down the crags at night, all of them save the young man, who was 
led down the peaks to safety by his grateful pet. His family adopted as 
a crest the Mountain Goat with a single horn on its forehead. This 
crest is still used by several families of the Sky clan, both among the 
Gitksan and abroad, who retained it after they had left Temlaham, in the 
'Some of the marks in paint, red, blue, and black, that formerly decorated part of these figures, may have been 
emblematic. The rainbow-like marks on Skawah’s cheeks, for instance, may have alluded to the Rainbow crest 
of her posterity. 
