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CARVERS 
The Tsenaanurh pole was carved, as we have seen, by Kwikihl'wans,^ 
who belonged to the Larhsail phratry, from Qaldo, the uppermost village 
of the Gitksan on the Skeena. His technique and treatment are excellent, 
particularly in the upper figure of Tsenaanurh. Yet, as we have noticed 
of the carvers of several old totem poles, they suggest a maker of masks 
rather than of taller monuments. The faces of the Thunder-bird, of Tsenaa- 
nurh, even the wings and the tails, are treated as separate parts, rather 
flat and disconnected, and are quaintly juxtaposed along the shaft of the 
pole. This is especially noticeable in the two representations of the 
Thunder-bird. 
The Prince-of-Blackfish pole was the work of two carvers. The 
Thunder-bird, at the top, is ascribed to La’lawrli, a young man of the 
Larhsail phratry, at Kitwanga;^ and the figures on the main shaft, to 
Hakst,® of the same phratry, at Kispayaks. The achievement of Hakst 
in this pole is of the best; it belongs to the maturity of the Skeena River 
art, having proceeded a stage farther than that of Kwikihl’wans, whose 
technique still belonged to the earlier period, when masks were the chief 
medium of the carver. Here the figures emerge out of the log, without 
sharp demarcation; they are part of it. And for this reason, they cling 
together much better, like a series of hieroglyphs forming a single pattern 
up and down the tall tree. 
The Grizzly-bear-of-the-water was carved by Tsugyet (James Green), 
of the Wolf phratry, at Kispayaks, who is still living, and to whose credit 
as a carver several poles stand in his village. 
John Brown, the present Kweeyaihl, added^ the following information 
about totem pole carving: 
“The rough work — ^cutting the tree down — was done with stone axes, in the old days. 
The figures on the pole were also outlined in the same way. But in the second part of the 
carving — the finer work — sharp bone knives or chisels were necessary, the leg bones of 
the bear or the caribou. To finish up the figures, in the third part of the work, beaver 
incisors were used — four incisors lashed “very tight,” together, side by side, on to a handle.” 
(24) Poles of Ksrarom-larhse, at Gitsegyukla 
OWNERS 
The Gitsegyukla families of Ksrarom-larhae and Harhpegwawtu seem 
not to belong to the Sky clan of the Fireweed phratry. They form a group, 
with their relatives abroad, that stands apart from Gurhsan and Hanamuk, 
of the same tribe, and their Kispayaks relatives as described above. Their 
traditions and crests as a whole indicate west coast contacts, if not distinct 
affiliations. Temlaham, however, is claimed as their birthplace, and it 
seems that Skawah is also casually considered by some of them as their 
'Brown described him as "my mother’s tather." Another informant stated that he belonged to the family 
of Wee’alsk, of Kispayaks; this may apply only after his local adoption. 
*0f the house of Arh-rawt and Hlengwah group. He died a long while ago. 
*A former Hakst, not the one still living in recent years, of the household of Ma'us or Arh-rawt. 
<In 1927. 
8462g-7i 
