Almost all Northwest Coast masks representing human males show a mustache, and often also a small beard on the point of the chin. The characteristic Kwakwaka'wakw use of green paint in the eyesocket is seen here as well as the customary painting of the features. A red formline design is painted on each cheek and merges with the red nostrils. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

The paint is black and white.

The speaker's staff or talking stick is an emblem of chiefly office. While making speeches, the chief or his designated speaker gives emphasis to words by gesturing with the stick or pounding it against the floor. At the top are images of a copper (see the to the left) and a whale's upturned tail, both decorated with faces.

CEDAR BARK CAPE Kwakwaka'wakw Skilled weavers soak yellow cedar bark in salt water and pound it until it is soft enough for capes and robes. This cape, from Alert Bay, British Columbia, originally had a comfortable fur neckline. 1800s; Gift of Young Naturalists' Society; No. 4794

The paint is red, black, and green.

The stories of seafarers are often peopled by monsters of the deep: bringers of bad weather, capsizers, devourers of men. The Yagim is all of those. Described as a destroyer of whole tribes, a shark-like monster who lurks behind canoes, or the source of storms, his name literally means badness. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)

The paper is buff.