116 BRITISH COLUMBIA.

House FrontTau Potes.

House Frontal Poles are those with the idea of which people are most
familiar. “They were carved in three sections, each of which might take a year;
and showed the crest or crests of the owner, sometimes that of his wife, possibly
also characters from family myths. Fine examples of some of these poles are to
be seen in the Provincial Museum in Victoria, B.C. One of these stood origi-
nally facing the door of “‘ The House which Chiefs peep at from concealment ”
(meaning that this house made them alive to their own inferiority). It belonged
to the Chief of the “‘ Rotten House ” division of the Eagles at Skidegate, Queen
Charlotte Islands, and shows some of the owner’s principal crests. The upper
carving represents the Raven with two frogs hanging from his beak; the lower
one is the mythical Mountain-hawk, holding a whale in his talons; the inter-
mediate figures were probably used to fill up space or possibly refer to some
family legend. (Plate XXVIII.)

The totem-pole (Plate XXIX.) represents the Raven crest. This stood in
front of a Chief’s house belonging to the Bella Bella section of the Kwakiutl
tribe, and shows the house entrance through an arched opening at the base; the
lower carving possibly represents a mythical ancestor of the householder.

Carvep MeEmoriaAt Potes.

Carved Memorial Poles were most prominent among the Tsimshian. ‘They
were erected in honour of the dead, sometimes at a distance from the place of
burial or even in a different village. Only the crests of the family to which the
deceased belonged were carved on these poles. A simpler form consisted of a
single figure only; these were always placed on the ground close to the house in
which the dead person had lived.

Mortuary Poles consisted of solid cedar logs sometimes more than 4 feet jn
diameter and about 30 feet high. A section was removed at the top in front, in
this the coffin was placed; the opening being closed with wide horizontal boards,
often carved with the crests of the deceased.

Inswe House Posts.

Inside House Posts, which faced the entrance from the further end of the house,
supported the long heavy beams on which rested the slender roof-poles. (Plate
XI.) Many of these poles in the north were elaborately carved with the crests
of the owner; more rarely the figures represented some legend. Among the
Kwakiutl the carving was usually heraldic, and referred to the traditions of the
householder; while those of the Nootka and Salish, if carved at all, represented
an event that had happened to the owner.

Captain Cook describes these house posts as “ decorated with images and
made of trunks of very large trees, 4 or 5 feet high, set up singly or in pairs at
the upper part of the room, with the front carved with a human face, the arms
and hands cut out upon the side, variously painted; a net hung before, which
the natives were not willing at all times to remove.” When they did unveil
them, they spoke of them in a mysterious manner, yet, “ their estimation of them
was extremely low, as with a small amount of iron or brass I could have pur-
chased all the images in the place.” It is now known that the cause of this
reticence was that their owners did not want to be reminded at all times of these
supernatural friends and helpers; so it was customary to uncover them only on
great occasions. Among the Salish the carvings often represented the spirits seen
by their owner when cleaning himself in the woods, before his admission to
membership of a secret society.