99 
The second pole, to the right (Plate XIX, figure 3), is named Big- 
snake CWee-lmlt), the whole length of the pole representing the monster 
head downwards. The protruding tongue of the Snake is represented under 
the form of a human head. 
The Blackfish CNoerhl ) and the Grizzly-bear-of-the-water stand side 
by side on the platform between the two poles (Plate XIX, figure 4). The 
platform has been renewed in the past decade or two. It used to consist 
of two posts rising from the ground, one in front, and the other a few feet 
behind. The carvings were supported on each side, a few feet from the 
ground, by horizontal cross-pieces, in the manner of Harhpegwawtu’s 
new Blackfish carvings at Gitsegyukla (page 247). 
ORIGIN 
None of the above emblems has been in the possession of QscFs house- 
hold for very long; neither do his ancestors seem to have owned any of 
them, presumably on account of their origin among a people who were 
unacquainted with this type of native heraldry. The Owl, the only crest 
of Weegyet of Anlarasemdserh, his relatives, is not claimed by Qsel, which 
shows that it must be a fairly recent acquisition in the older branch of his 
family. 
The Big-snake is used as an emblem by nobody else, with the single 
exception of a sub-chief in Ksemrhsan family, of the Raven phratry, at 
Gitlarhdamks, on the Nass. It is said to have been found in a lake, pre- 
sumably during one of the Gitksan raids against the Tsetsaut tribes of the 
interior. It is distinctly modern and is not to be found as a character in 
the mythology or carved figures of the Tsimsyan.* 
The Leading-in crest was acquired in the course of an unusual and 
peculiar event. Luskeest, of this family at Kispayaks, had been captured 
as a slave by a raiding party of Tsimsyan,^ and later redeemed by Hail, 
of Kitrhahla, in the belief that he was his close relative.^ While he stayed 
at his redeemer’s house, a child urinated on him, when he held it in his 
arms. The father, thus placed under obligations towards his Gitksan 
relative, compensated him for the moral injury by conferring upon him, 
so an informant believed, the crest of Leading-in,^ which consisted of several 
human beings with very large mouths. Then he accompanied him home- 
wards as far as the canyon of the Skeena and placed him in charge of Nees- 
tarhawk, of Kitsalas, his relative, who escorted him back to Kispayaks. 
The Grizzly-bear-of-the-water, and presumably the Blackfish along 
with it, were obtained as a gift from Nees-tarhawk, of Kitsalas. Nees- 
tarhawk once came up the river to trade with the Kispayaks,^ and stayed 
at Su'ens house as his guest. In acknowledgement of the feast in his 
honour given by Su’ens, Nees-tarhawk gave him one of his own names, 
Ut differs from the double-headed, serpent-like, Monster called Lararh’wais, a well-known concept of the 
North West Coast tribes. 
^Presumably over a century ago, when Legyarh raided Kispayaks village. 
*One of our informants, Nurhs, of Kispayaks (Jimmy Williams), was emphatic in stating that Hail was under 
a misconception: Luskeest, though of the same phratry, was not of the same clan; he belonged to Weegyet's group, 
not to that of Wawsemlarhse — which is the one related to Hail, 
*We fail to find the Leading-in mentioned in the long list of crests of Hail; therefore, wo may doubt the historical 
accuracy of this statement by Nurhs (Jimmy Williams) of Kispayaks. 
‘Presumably after the advent of the white traders on the North West Coast. 
