Pipes were made and used on the Northwest Coast from the period of White contact when the custom of smoking tobacco was introduced. They were made of many materials and in many forms. This small stone pipe utilizes the form of a frog, with the pipe bowl in his back and a hole for the stem under his chin. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, carvers began to produce compact sculptural groups of figures of animals and men. Some of them are very complex, with many figures crowded together in contorted positions. Incidents from myths were often depicted. This group has the bear as its main figure, holding a man in its jaws and a cub on its lap. The meaning of the various figures is not clear, but it is likely that the group illustrates incidents from the "Bear Mother" myth. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

These shield-shaped objects made of commercial copper represent monetary wealth. As coppers are bought and sold by chiefs, their value increases, sometimes to the equivalent of thousands of dollars. They are displayed on ceremonial occasions, and exchanged at noble marriages. Sometimes during quarrels, pieces were cut from them and publicly given to the offender. That person was then obliged in turn to break a copper to protect his own name. The most valuable coppers have been cut and patched many times.

Round rattles similiar to nothern shamans' rattles are shaken by the attendents of the Hamatsa dancers to help tame them of their wildness. Raven rattles are chiefs' rattles used from Vancouver Island to Southeast Alaska. Headdress dancers use them in the Tlasula.

This frontlet is worn on the forehead of a dancer participating in the Tlasula. The back of the headdress is usually covered with a strip of swanskin. Around the upper rim is attached a row of sea lion whiskers. To the back of the crown is attached rows of ermine skins. The carving on this frontlet is apparently a family crest figure representing a hawk or thunderbird. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

Like the Dzoonokwa, Bukwus is a wild creature of the woods. Described as a chief of the ghosts, he tempts travellers to eat his food, which transforms them into wild spirits like himself. The Bukwus dance is performed during the Tlasula.

The paint is black.

The mask was said to have been made nearly one hundred years ago by a carver named Hayogwis for chief Gwalis Gyekhendzi. This chief was the grandfather of Willie Seaweed, whose work is well represented in the Burke Museum collection. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972).

Bugwis, the Merman, is represented in this miniature mask, an example of the small carvings made in great numbers today by the Kwakwaka'wakw for sale in souvenir outlets. The mask can be identified as Bugwis by its large rodent-like incisors and the browline merging in a downward sweep with the nose. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

This whistle is unusual in that it combines two completely different sound-producing mechanisms. Whistles widely varying in size and pitch as well as in tone quality were used to represent the presence of certain spirit motivators of the Winter Ceremonial. This whistle belongs to the Tseyka version of the Bukwus (Man of the Ground). (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)