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goodwill and interdependence. They assist one another in the outstanding 
events of their ceremonial life — the potlatches that accompany death, 
marriage, and the erection of totem poles. 
Their remote origin is often lost in obscurity; and the farther removed 
the collateral branches of a clan, the less distinctly their relationship is 
remembered. Still, objective evidence of a common origin itself at times 
yields clues where human memory fails. The clans naturally vary in size 
and prestige. Some are of high standing, wealthy, and powerful; others 
are small and of low extraction. Evil fortune and warfare in the course 
of time brought vicissitudes to some of the clans, whereas others climbed 
the social ladder. Local families of varied extraction at times would 
amalgamate, chiefly to prevent extinction. This arbitrary process natur- 
ally tends to obscure the strands and thus make some of the clans composite 
like the phratries themselves.^ 
Families. The families are the subdivisions of the clan; their 
nature is the same. Their members are close relatives, who reside within 
one tribe in the same house or several houses usually in the same part of 
the village. 
Conclusion. The tribes are nothing but casual geographic units. 
The phratries are political groups extending throughout several nations on 
the North West Coast. The clans and the families are essentially founded 
on kinship, independently of any fixed abode or tribal affiliation. 
GITKSAN CLANS AND TPIEIR ORIGINS 
Clans of the Frog-Raven or Larhsail Phratry 
(a) The Frog-woman or ’Neegyamks clan. Its origin is traced back 
to the Nass. Some of the ancestors of this clan once resided among the 
Haidas, on Queen Charlotte islands fSee The Poles of Kweenu). Its lead- 
ing members, as mentioned in this monograph, are Kweenu, of Gitwinlkul; 
Laelt, Ha'ku, and T-haku, of Kitwanga; and Arhkawt, a member of Hleng- 
wah’s group, at Kitwanga. 
(h) The Tongue-Licked or Naeqt clan, a subdivision of the Frog- 
woman or 'Neegyamks clan. Its migration to the Skeena is also from the 
north — the Nass. Its leading members are: Wistis and Rarhs-rabarhs, 
of Gitsegyukla; and Tselramuk, of Kispayaks. 
(c) K third clan consisting of the descendants of Nawle and Kaldi- 
hgyet. It is related somehow to those of the Frog-woman and Tongue- 
licked, collaterally, it seems. The myths and crests of its members are 
on the whole analogous; but their differentiation is marked. Temlaham is 
usually claimed as their original home; but its actual location is uncertain, 
either on the Skeena or the Nass, according to conflicting opinions. The 
leading families in this clan are Kaldihgyet or Lutkudzeeus, at Hazelton; 
and Ma’us and Harhu, of Kispayaks. Harhu and his family may, instead, 
be part of the Water-lily (Skasewasan) clan, from the headwaters of the 
Skeena. 
*Cf. instance in The Poles of Hlengwah, at Kitwanga; The Poles of Lalt, at Kitwanga; The Poles of Arhteeh, at Kit- 
uanga; The Poles of IVularkagwts, at dtwinlkul. 
84 « 28— 11 
