86 
(22) Poles of Wawsemlarhse, at Kispayaks 
The Fire weed households of Wawsemlarhae and Nurhs, of Kispayaks, 
and of their Hazelton ‘brothers', Hatisran, Guhwawtu, and Aret, formed a 
compact kinship unit within the Sky clan. Their traditions and crests, 
and to a certain extent their personal names, were identical. The semi- 
independent existence of the Hazelton branch of this family is indeed quite 
recent, dating back as it does to the time when the white people first 
settled in the upper valley, about 1871. 
Larhsendzihl, on the Skeena above Kispayaks, was their original 
village. And some of them claim as relatives: Nurse, among the Babin e 
Indians; Hramrhset, of Stewart lake; Tseebasse, of Gitwinksilk, on the 
Nass; Hail, of Kitrhahla, on the seacoast; and Neeyuks, of the Gitlsen 
tribe of the Tsimsyan. 
They own three totem poles, which still stand in the village of Kispa- 
yaks. 
DESCRIPTION 
The oldest of these (Plate XVI, figure 2) is named “The White Owl” 
pole. It is also the shortest and stands at the rear. It consists of four 
conventional representations of the Owl, one of which is apart from the 
others, at the top, on a pedestal that resembles a box. Between the lower 
figures are carved two smaller, mask-like, owl faces. 
The pole (Plate XVI, figure 3) nearest to the road, and the tallest, 
was the second erected. It may not have had a different name of its own. 
Its figures are also those of four Owls, one of which reclines forward, at 
the top. A small human figure is inserted between the wings of the second 
(from the top) Owl — a further allusion to the child kidnapped by the Owl, 
in the myth. The Mountain-fern crest f^Wee’ arh — Large-fern) here appears 
in full with root and tendrils, between the two lower Owls (See Plate 
XXX, figure 1). 
The third pole (Plate XVI, figure 4), between the two others, is known 
under the name of Sun-dogs ( Kip-hlawrs ). Its figures — ^all three of which 
were carved or incised and painted — -are the Thunder-bird (Htsi-iiyaHiuh)^ 
with a human face;^ the rows of small, painted circles, which represent 
Sun-dogs; and the checker-work, at the bottom, the Mountain-fern em- 
blem, in a different style. 
On one of these poles formerly appeared the Grouse (PistmH) crest, 
consisting of two birds, male and female, and their brood of five chickens, 
all of which were perched on a crossbar pegged on to the main shaft. 
ORIGIN 
The mythic origins of the Owl and the Sun or Moon crests have been 
explained (pages 80, 81). The Sun-dogs emblem seems to be a mere 
variation upon the Sun and Star themes of the Sky clan, the initial reason 
for which is given in the Skawah myth. Therefore, it is their legitimate 
property, without any further explanation under the form of a legend. 
Here it is represented in the same way as are the Stars on one of Hanamuk’s 
poles at Gitsegyukla (page 239). 
>Acoordiiis to Jimmy WilliamB (Nurhs). Two other informants described it as an Owl with a human face. 
Williams further stated that Htsi-tiya’ituh is the equivalent of Hkyemsem, among the Tsimsyan. 
