117 
{' 66 ) Poles of Weerhse, at Gitwinlkul 
OWNERS 
The family of Weerhse traces back its origin to the seacoast, near the 
mouth of the Skeena; more precisely, to the prehistoric village of SqseqhP 
on Hrain (Kaien)^ island (where now stands Prince Rupert). The evidence 
at hand shows that it once formed part of the family of Asaralysen or of 
Anarhladay, of the Gitsees tribe. These two households are among the 
most ancient Wolf families of the Tsimsyan.^ 
The ancestors of this family were forced by misfortune to abandon 
their country long ago, after a fight with the Gitwilgyawts tribe, over 
the infidelity of Weerhse’s wife. They moved on to the upper Nass, and 
became incorporated in another Wolf family for a time, that of Negwa^on, 
of Gitrhatin. Thence, at a later date, they joined the interior band 
which afterwards became the Gitwinlkul tribe. Weerhae has been the 
head-chief of this tribe for several generations. 
The family of Weerhae owns four totem poles in Gitwinlkul. The 
four house-posts of the feast house of Weerhae, the name of which was 
Underground-grades-of-stone (Taqam-law^p ), used to be four Standing- 
bears, carved out of wood. They now have disappeared. 
DESCRIPTION 
The shortest and most impressive of the three (Plate XXV, figure 1) 
is known under the name of Mountain-eagle or Thunder-bird ( Skaimsem ). 
On its top sits the bird-like monster variously known as Woodpecker 
(Kyewahlran or GitVwins), Split-person or Twins or Double-headed-person 
(Kaodihgyet or Kaldih-gyet ), and, among the Tsimsyan, Caterpillar (Hrtse* 
nawsuh ); the ten or eleven children, in two rows, are those of the ancestress 
who was kidnapped by the mythic mountain-eagle (Skaimsem), and of 
her semi-human children; the Mountain-eagle; and, at the bottom, Person- 
with-a-large-nose ( GiVweedzarat ) holding a child or a human being in his 
hands. ^ 
The second pole standing to the right (Plate XXV, figure 2) is called 
a Split-person (Kaodih-gyet). The figures on the upper half are Double- 
headed or Split-person, with two complete human beings on his head, on 
both sides of a headdress or a mask; the lower carvings represent the same 
characters, but the human figures on the head of Split-person are of a large 
size, and each holds a child in his arms. 
The tallest of these poles, now leaning backwards (Plate XXV, figure 
3; Plate XXIV, figure 2), illustrates still more extensively the same crests 
of the ancestress kidnapped by the Mountain-eagle (Skaimsem) and her 
children, and of Split-person. It stands in front of the two others. The 
figures of no less than twenty or twenty-one children actually appear 
‘Or Skyaerh. 
*The Indian name, Hrain, is used in this report, not the Geographic Board spelling — Kaien. 
rrheir clan is considered by the informants as being of ancient Tsimsyan extraction, whereas the others are 
remembered for their foreign northern origin — either Tlingit, Tahltan, or Tsetsaut (Sekanais). Yet it may, like 
the others, have come down from the north at a remote date; the name of Anarhladay itself sounds distinctly 
Tlingit. 
‘The nose has fallen off. 
