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Totems and Crests.

There are five separate totems or crests among these people,
established, apparently, to avoid too close blood relationships.
These are _Koot_, (eagle), _Kooji_, (wolf), _Kit-si-naka_, (crow), and
_Sxa-nu-xa_, (black bear and fin-whale united). The several tribes are
supposed to have been originally about equally divided under these
different totems. Marriage between those of the same totem is
forbidden, and the system is perpetuated by the children adopting the
totem or crest of the mother.

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Religion.

The Hydas, with the exception of those who have embraced the Christian
faith, have no forms of religious worship, and I am informed by
Rev. Mr Harrison, missionary at Massett, and probably the best
authority upon the subject, that there is no word in their language
which signifies the praise or adoration of a Supreme Being. They
believe in a Great Spirit, a future life, and in the transmigration of
souls. Their God, (Sha-nung-et-lag-e-das), possesses chiefly the
attributes of power, and is invoked to help them attain their
desires. Their Devil, (Het-gwa-lan-a), corresponds with the devil of
common belief, a demon who in various forms brings upon them evil and
destruction.

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