The kilt is wrapped around the waist and tied in place, the lower fringe reaching below the knees. In full dress the performer wears similarly made leggings below the knee, a button blanket or Chilkat blanket over the shoulders, and the appropriate mask or headdress. The kilt is a rich visual and auditory part of the whole ensemble. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

Nuxalk ceremonial traditions are related to those of their neighbors, yet their complex cosmology is unique. This mask was likely used in a dance-drama performance honoring the supernatural beings who inhabit the Nuxalk universe.

This adze is a basic Northwest Coast wood-working tool. The long steel blade of this adze is attached to the hardwood handle with screws. The upper end of the handle is carved to represent the head of an animal, apparently a bear, with a large Nootka-style eye, crosshatched nostril, and massive, exposed teeth. The eyesockets and teeth are painted red. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

On the basis of the form of the carved figures and painted designs, this staff can be identified as Nootka work. It is made of very heavy wood. The figure of a sea otter is carved on the back of the human face and painted black. Blue, black, red, and white are used in the painted designs. It was probably used as a talking stick. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

Simple, undecorated wooden ladles share everyday duty with plain dishes and bowls. This ladle is decorated only with a shallow groove paralleling the inner rim, a conventional ladle feature throughout much of the northern coast. The wood, probably alder, has been stained almost black by an infusion of the candlefish oil which it once contained. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

This argillite pipe bowl is in the shape of an eagle or thunderbird grasping a killer whale with its talons and beak. Generally argillite pipes are thought not to have been intended for use, but this one so closely resembles wooden smoking pipes from the northern tribes that it may be an exception. The metal cap of foreign make that closes the pipe bowl in the bird's head adds to the impression that this may have been a functional pipe. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

One of the Northwest Coast basketmaker's most interesting products is the hat. Generally conical in shape, with variations in form and structure from region to region, they were light, waterproof, and decorative. The figures represented on this hat are two killer whales and a raven. This is a type that could be used for everyday wear as well as for formal occasions. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

In the 1840s non-Haida subject matter almost completely dominated the argillite carvers' repertoire. Long panel pipes, thin slabs of argillite intricately carved and pierced into silhouette friezes of shipboard scenes, were in style. They are pipes only in that they have a tiny hole drilled down from the top to meet a similar hole drilled along the bottom from one end. Very often, as in this pipe, a rectangular motif suggesting a ship's cabin occupies the center. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

During the course of the great Nootka ceremonial, Klookwana (which roughly corresponds to the Kwakwaka'wakw Tseyka) masks of certain birds and animals are worn. One of these is the raven mask, and it is likely that this one was so used. The mask is very simple in form, with an articualted jaw and a crest of bald eagle feathers attached to the top of the head. The mask sits on the head, leaving the dancer's face exposed, but in the shadows of the firelit dance house, the strong silhouette of the raven's beak is remarkably realistic. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

These carved frontlets were attached to regal headdresses and use in the Nuxalk Sisaok ceremony, comparable to the Kwakwaka'wakw Tlasula. The whale has a beak-like ridge extending down the center of its face and a human face in its upturned tail.