THE ALKATCHO CARRIER OF BRITISH COLUMBIA 349 house, and was the center in inter-village potlatches. To the extent that he was respected as a potlatch figure his opinions carried weight. In the final analysis, though, no individual among the Carrier had political authority; and even on the Coast, centraliza- tion of authority was not very highly developed. Property concepts changed relatively little under Northwest Coast influence. The extended family, equivalent to the Athabas- can band hunted over a common territory and shared the proceeds. It appears, however, that the crest group, which as we have seen was an honorific society cutting across family lines, also had hunt- ing and fishing rights in common. But this particular development was probably the result of the transformation of a northern phra- tric concept under Bella Coola pressure. Shamanism at Alkatcho also came under the influence of rank concepts. Shamans potlatched at the assumption of power. Sha- mans also used the wealth obtained through fees and in their magically increased economic powers to become nobles. Two ver- sions of the same tradition of a famous shaman obtained at differ- ent Carrier villages, one in the east where potlatching was of minor significance, and one at Alkatcho, the two revealing clearly the different orientations. At Nazko the shaman gets a wife. At Al- katcho he becomes rich and then a great noble. It is equally significant to observe the elements of Bella Coola culture that were not adopted. Northwest Coast culture is very rich in ceremonialism. ‘The winter secret society performances were the high points of social life. It is true that the crest groups at Alkatcho are to be regarded as secret society analogues, and that a prerogative of housewrecking as a sign of displeasure with the hospitality of a potlatch donor is derivative from the Breaker So- ciety at Bella Coola; but the religious content—seizure by the society supernatural, the return to the village in a frenzy, the ritual restoration to sanity, and the final restoration of the novice to normalcy—or the performance of dances symbolic of the society’s myth was completely lacking at Alkatcho. If intermarriage could account for the adoption of a potlatch-rank complex, it ought to follow that secret society prerogatives which could be obtained in marriage should also have been adopted. But the Carrier accepted none of Bella Coola religious ideology. Their own religious prac-