136 
the Tlingit country very early. ^ And the Russian crest quite possibly may 
have been adopted at an early date by one of the leading native families; 
other foreign features of the same kind were likewise imitated, to our 
knowledge, in other parts of the North West Coast. 
The Weasel and the Bear headdresses ( Kaidem-rneksihl, Kaidem^ol) 
also go back to the time when the Eagles and the Wolves were living to- 
gether at Na'a, among the Tlingit, on the Alaskan coast. The Weasel- 
headdress, according to the same traditions, was the ceremonial head-gear 
which the chief of the Eagles, Hlarse, wore in a memorable single combat 
with the Wolf chief, whose own headdress was the Bear, one of his main 
emblems. The Bear headdress fell to the Eagle clan as a result of the 
victory of their chief over his rival. It has been the property of their 
descendants ever since. The other uses of the Bear in the list of Eagle 
crests, such as the Bear’s den ( Rhpe-scemih ) and the Clawmarks-of-the- 
Bear (Kahlaqs) may also go back to the same incident. In other words, 
they may have been conquered along with the Bear headdress from the 
Wolf clan, to w'hom they still belong in various forms. Else, they may have 
been obtained at a later date from other Wolf families, with whom this 
Eagle clan remained associated in the Skeena River villages, even after 
their ancient feud in Alaska. 
The White-marten (’MashaH ) is not so ancient as the others. It 
apparently was assumed as a crest by the members of this family when 
they lived at Gitsemrselem, farther down the Skeena. The manner of 
its inception is not distinctly remembered. According to Semedeek, his 
ancestors there killed several monsters or supernatural beings — -Bears, 
Beavers, Martens- — and adopted them as emblems. Kwalsesu’s nephew, 
a lucky hunter, discovered a large tree in the forest, the limbs of which were 
covered with black martens. In the tree was a kanceurh, their hole; and 
in the hole dwelt the White-marten. The hunter killed this supernatural 
animal and made it into a crest. 
The figures of Drum-person (Oycedem’anuhl) and Nursing-a-child 
(Indakawt ) are not real crests. The Drum-person depicts a ceremonial 
privilege inherited in this family for unknown generations. It consists 
of a large cedar drum with a human figure on its side — like the one affixed 
to the totem pole — which was used to accompany traditional songs on cere- 
monial occasions. Nursing-a-child, on the other hand, is a personal name 
with a mask ( narhnawk ) belonging to this household. When the name of 
the Active character Nursing-a-child is assumed by a new holder in a 
ceremony, he dramatizes it and appears in the feast house carrying a 
young child in his arms (in reality a wood carving); he nurses it and 
sings to it as if to keep it from crying while he slowly proceeds around 
the house.^ 
FUNCTION 
We were told that the Bear’s-den ( Hrpe-scBmih ) pole, recently fallen, 
was erected by the present Qawk (Semedeek), in memory of his predecessor 
>TAe Pacific, Academv of Sciences, Leningrad, 1920. L. Sternberg: "Ethnography," p. 162, 
>The reference to another crest named Marhkyawl, by Alfred Sinclair, an outsider, may be dismissed as a mis- 
take, for lack of confirmation. Yet, it rather resembles in name, at least, another minor crest (Trhakj/awlk — 
Whoie-nrvan) belonging to a family of the same clan on the Naas, that of Menaesk, of Gitlarhdamks. 
