Totem pole curator Marius Barbeau had been eyeing it for some time.

In the late 1920s, a Canadian ethnographer visited the Ank’idaa village in the Nass Valley, a remote community nestled among mountains, creeks, and waterfalls.

During his travels, he photographed interesting items and sent them to museums around the world.

In particular, the Ni’isjoohl memorial pole caught the attention of the Royal Scottish Museum, now known as the National Museum of Scotland.

Mr Barbeau accepted an offer of between C$400 ($295; £240) and C$600 for the pole – estimated to be worth between C$7,000 and C$10,000 today.

When most Nisga’a people were away working, hunting, or fishing in 1929, he and his team simply took it.

An 11-meter pole, made mostly from red cedar, was commissioned to commemorate the death of a warrior named Ts’wawit.

Mr Barbeau and his team cut down the pole and bundled it onto a raft that floated down the river to Prince Rupert, where it would be shipped over 6,700km (4,200 miles) to Edinburgh.

Dr Amy Parent, whose great-great grandmother commissioned the Ni’isjoohl memorial pole in 1855 to honor her warrior son, told the Now, nearly a century later, the Ni’isjoohl memorial pole is back in Nass Valley, welcomed by hundreds on Friday with an event marking its arrival.

Located in a modern building surrounded by snow-capped mountains, the Nisga’a Museum will permanently display the pole.