104 
Qaldo, the Kispayaks, the Gitenmaks, the Gitsegyukla, the Kitwanga, 
and the Gitwinlkul. There they exhibited their new crests and privileges 
and formally adopted them in permanence. 
CARVER 
No information could be had as to the function and the time of erection 
of this pole, nor was the identity of the carver recorded. It seems, however, 
not to be over forty years old, as John Brown, of Kispayaks, was consulted 
in the controversy over its Blackfish figure. This carving resembles the 
Prince-of-Blackfish on Hrantu’s pole at Kispayaks, in some ways, more 
particularly the head and the rib-lines along the body. It may be from 
the hand of the same carver, Hakst, of the Larhsail phratry at Kispayaks.^ 
(30) Poles of Weegyet, at Gitsegyukla 
Weegyet’s remote maternal ancestors, unlike those of other household 
chiefs studied above, belonged to the Eagle phratry; and the passage from 
Eagle to Eireweed of one of them, whose direct descendant he is, occurred 
in the following exceptional circumstances, here briefly outlined. 
Long ago, Small-frogs ( Kip-ranaa* o ) was the nephew of Qawq, 
Eagle head-chief of the Geenarhaat, below the present Lome creek.^ He 
fell in love with his maternal sister, which was a crime, according to native 
standards. Banned, he lived for a time with her at Waters-of-Lake 
(Ksedce). Then they parted, she returning to her people, and he, being 
accepted by Tseegwee and Harhpegwawtu, two Eireweed chiefs of Gitseg- 
yukla, as a son-in-law and odd member of their households.^ The outlaw 
was thus adopted on account of the high rank and prestige of his family, 
which he would retain in his own lineage. His Eireweed patrons gave a 
feast to wipe off his sliame, and had his name changed from Kip-ranaa’o 
to Mas-ranaa’o, for a new start in life. 
Mas-ranaa’o was a man of courage and violent temper. He legiti- 
mately married a niece of Kamaysem,^ a reputed warrior of the Gitandaw 
tribe of the Tsimsyan, for the sole purpose of murdering him; which he 
did on the occasion of Kamaysem’s visit to Gitsegyukla, the following year. 
His purpose accomplished, he also killed his wife, and married a niece of 
Harhpegwawtu. As an acknowledgment of his exploits he became the 
Eireweed head-chief of the Gitsegyukla tribe; and his posterity increased 
in time and maintained his prestige. His name among his heirs was changed 
to that of Weegyet, which had been obtained from their ally Nees-tarhawk, 
of Kitsalas. 
'The pole of tlie Prince-of-Blackfish at Kispayaks was erected about fifty years ago. 
*These people, together with others that joined them at a later date, became the Kitwanga tribe. 
•Whether Small-frogs actually changed his phratry, that is, passed from the Eagles to the Fireweeds, is somewhat 
doubtful, our informants not being agreed on this point. One version actually has it that together with his family, 
wife and all, he was adopted by the h ireweeds of Gitsegyukla; but this seems unlikely. Too many rules and customs 
of the Tsimsyans would have oeen disregarded in the process. By retaining his phratric connexions with the Eagles 
and marrying into a Fireweed family at Gitsegyukla, on the other hand, he was conforming to the customs which 
he had disregarded at home, and which hud caused his disgrace. It is true that he handed down to his heirs three 
of his Eagle crests, which is not according to custom — the children inheriting from the mother, not the father. 
But it seems to involve less disregard for custom than to have both husband and wife of the same phratry. 
•She was a Gispwudwada among the Tsimsyan, which corresponds to the Gitksan Fireweeds. 
