This set of four masks represents the supernatural brothers who were created at the beginning of time by the supreme spirit, Ahlkuntam, and given the task of ordering the world. These and other supernatural beings were honored in the Nuxalk Winter Ceremonial, called Kusiut, comparable to the Kwakwaka'wakw Tseyka. The oldest and most powerful brother was named Yula'timot (He Who Completes Any Task with a Single Smoothing Motion) and is credited with creating fire. The second brother brought rain and was called MaLapa'litsek (He Who Completes Any Task with a Single Stroke of His Adze). The creator of trees, MaL'ape'exoek (He Who Completes Any Task with Two Strokes of his Adze) was the third brother. IL'iLu'lak (He Who Completes Any Task in a Single Day), the fourth brother, created the world.

This model whale is one of the more naturalistically carved in Northwest Coast art. Even if it represents a minke whale, the smallest of the fin-backed baleen whales known to the Makah, it is only half as long as it ought to be in relation to the model canoe it accompanies. (Holm, Spirit and Ancestor, 1987)