Several totem poles of varying antiquity have been preserved in the Gitksan village of Kitwanga. They are reminders of the exhibitions which Tsimshian chiefs made of their social rank and power, with traditional iconography. From the left: The mountain lion totem pole is more than 140 years old (1987!) and shows, below the superimposed puma, alternately two wolves and two bears. The next is a wolf totem pole from 1895; in the middle, a female bear squats with two cubs at her feet. The subject is the mystical woman Xpisunt, who lived for a time among bears and bore twins who were half human and half bear. As the base figure, she is depicted in human form holding one of her children in her arms. On the next post, dating from 1942, one of her bear children is attached above the bear mother Xpisunt; her second child once sat on top of the pole. The myth of Xpisunt is continued in the totem pole at right, known as the Bear Pole. The brothers of Xpisunt killed her bear husband and brought her and the twins home. Her children helped set bear traps and, consequently, all of their descendants were successful bear hunters. The figure of a wolf is fastened to the top of this t Io-year-old pole; underneath it are Xpisunt and her twins, then two wolves and a bear. The fifth pole was erected in 1919. Its name is "On Which Raven Swung Himself Up," although Raven is missing from the pole and the figure of Axgawt has lost all of its original chiefly trappings, such as its copper plate.
