Part 15

These examples show clearly that there is ample room for the fancy of the interpreter. The symbols lend themselves to various explanations, which are presumably selected in accordance with totemic affiliations of the owner. Not all of them seem quite consistent with the best northwest coast usage; for instance, Swanton’s explanation of the last named blanket seems doubtful on account of the inverted position of the hat and the explanation of a single wing design as a body.

So far I have considered the symbols only in connection with their use in representing various animals. It now becomes necessary to inquire in what manner they are used to identify the animals. We have seen that in a number of the preceding cases entire animals were represented, and that they were identified by means of these symbols. However, the artist is allowed wide latitude in the selection of the form of the animal. Whatever its form may be, as long as the recognized symbols are present, its identity is established. We have mentioned before that the symbols are often applied to human faces, while the body of the figure has the characteristics of the animal.

We find this principle applied on the totem pole, fig. 206. Each of the three animals represented has a human face, to which are added characteristic symbols. In the top figure the ears indicate an animal; the arms, to which flippers are attached, the sea-monster (see fig. 183). The next figure below represents the shark. Originally a large lip with a labret was attached to it. This would indicate that a female shark is represented. Its symbols are the peculiar high snout which rises over its forehead, and the fins, which are placed under the chin. The body of the lowest figure which is shown under the face represents a fish; and the two large spines which rise over the eyebrows specify the sculpin.

In many cases the bodies of the animals are not represented and the essential symbols are applied to a purely human face. This style is found on masks and in facial paintings.

Fig. 207 has a human face with human ears. Only the nose indicates that the mask is not intended to represent a human being. It is strongly curved, and drawn back into the mouth, thus symbolizing the hawk.

In fig. 208 we see the face of a woman with a moderately large labret. The ears, as explained before, are those of an animal. The nose, which has been lost, had undoubtedly the form of a bird’s beak. Thus the face was characterized as that of a bird. It was specified partly by the form of the beak, but principally by the ornaments painted in red and black on the cheeks and forehead. These represent the feathers of the red-winged flicker.

A small mask representing a human face (fig. 209) has, in place of the eyebrows, two rows of circles, the sucking-cups of the squid. By means of this symbol the face is recognized as that of the squid.

In the same manner the mask fig. 210 is identified as the killer-whale by the two black ornaments painted on the left cheek and extending down to the chin. They represent the dorsal fin of the killer-whale.

These symbols are also used as facial paintings and body paintings by dancers, who are thus recognized as personifying the animal in question, or as belonging to the social group with which the animals are associated (see figs. 264, 265, pp. 250, 251). Sometimes these symbols are attached to the garments. To this class belongs the ornament (fig. 212), which represents the dorsal fin of a killer-whale and which is worn attached to the back part of the blanket.

Having thus become acquainted with a few of the symbols of animals, we will next investigate in what manner the native artist adapts the animal form to the object he intends to decorate. First of all, we will direct our attention to a series of specimens which show that he endeavors, whenever possible, to represent the whole animal on the object that he desires to decorate.

Fig. 211 is a club used for killing seals and halibut before they are landed in the canoe. The carving represents the killer-whale. The dorsal fin, the principal symbol of the killer-whale, cannot be omitted. If placed in an upright position on the club, the implement would assume an awkward shape. Therefore the artist bent it down along the side of the body, so that it covers the flipper. The tail of the whale would have interfered with the handle, and has been turned forward and lies flat over the back.

The distortion of the body has been carried still further in the handle of a spoon (fig. 176 _a_, p. 195) which represents the same animal. The large head of the whale, to which the flippers are attached is near the bowl of the spoon. The body has been twisted backward so that it is completely doubled up. Therefore, the surface pattern of the tail is carved on the back of the spoon, and the two projections just below the mouth are the two tips of the whale’s tail. The dorsal fin extends upward from the head of the whale, between the legs of the man who forms the tip of the handle.

Fig. 213 is a small totem pole representing the shark. The tip of its tail forms the top of the pole, while the face is placed at its lower end. Since most of the symbols of the shark are found on its face, it was necessary to bring the face into such a position as to be seen in front view, but the artist also desired to show the back of the fish. For this reason the head has been twisted around entirely, so that it appears in front view over the back of the fish. The flippers are made visible by having been pushed backward far beyond the place to which they properly belong.

The speaker’s staff (fig. 214), which also represents the shark, has been distorted in the same manner; but here the head has been turned round entirely, so that it faces the back of the fish. The pectoral fins are shown below the chin.

On the berry spoon (fig. 215) is an eagle whose head which is turned back completely. The small wing occupies the field under the head. The upper margin with geometrical decoration represents the body under which the hip joint, leg and feet are shown.

The changes of position and of the relative sizes of parts of the body, which result from such adaptations to the form of the object to be decorated, are still more far-reaching in the following specimens.

On a halibut hook (fig. 216) carved with a design of the beaver, the two incisors, the symbols of the beaver, have been moved to the same side of the mouth. In reality only one of the incisors is visible in profile, but being important symbols, both are shown.

Fig. 217 is a shark represented on the top of a totem pole. The head of the animal is shown in the form of a human face with the characteristic symbols. Under the chin are two flippers. The body must be considered turned upward; but it has been shortened so much that only the tail remains, which rises immediately above the face.

On a wooden dancing-hat (fig. 218) the symbols of the killer-whale are attached to its head. Since the whole body has been omitted, the dorsal fin, the essential symbol, has been moved from the back to the head, and the flippers are attached to the head behind the eyebrows.

In all these cases the artist has taken great liberties with the form of the animal body, and has treated it so that the symbols become clearly visible. On the whole, he endeavors to represent the whole animal. When this is not possible, all its essential parts are shown. The insignificant parts are often omitted.

Far-reaching distortions result from the adjustment of the animal body to the decorative field and from the necessity of preserving its symbols.

Fig. 219 is the top view of a wooden hat on which is carved the figure of a sculpin. The animal is shown in top view, as though it were lying with its lower side on the hat. The dancing-hats of these Indians have the forms of truncated cones. To the top are attached a series of rings, mostly made of basketry, which indicate the social rank of the owner, each ring symbolizing a step in the social ladder. The top of the hat, therefore, does not belong to the decorative field, which is confined to the surface of the cone. The artist found it necessary, therefore, to open the back of the sculpin far enough to make room for the gap in the decorative field. He has done so by representing the animal as seen from the top, but split and distended in the middle, so that the top of the hat is located in the opening thus secured.

Fig. 220 represents a dish in the shape of a seal. The whole dish is carved in the form of the animal; but the bottom, which corresponds to the belly, is flattened, and the back is hollowed out so as to form the bowl of the dish. In order to gain a wider rim the whole back has been distended so that the animal becomes inordinately wide as compared to its length. The flippers are carved in their proper positions at the sides of the dish. The hind flippers are turned back, and join the tail closely. A similar method of representation is used in decorating small boxes. The whole box is considered as representing an animal. The front of the body is painted or carved on the box front; its sides, on the sides of the box; the hind side of the body, on the back of the box (see figs. 282 et seq., p. 270). The bottom of the box is the animal’s stomach; the top, or the open upper side, its back. These boxes are bent of a single piece of wood and are represented here unbent.

In the decoration of silver bracelets a similar principle is followed, but the problem differs somewhat from that offered in the decoration of square boxes. While in the latter case the four edges make a natural division between the four views of the animal,—front and right profile, back and left profile,—there is no such sharp line of division in the round bracelet, and there would be great difficulty in joining the four aspects artistically, two whole profiles offer no such difficulty. This is the method of representation adopted by the native artists (figs. 221; 255-257 p. 245). The animal is imagined cut in two from head to tail, so that the two halves cohere only at the tip of the nose and at the tip of the tail. The hand is put through this hole, and the animal now surrounds the wrist. In this position it is represented on the bracelet. The method adopted is therefore identical with the one applied in the hat (fig. 219), except that the central opening is much larger, and that the animal has been represented on a cylindrical surface, not on a conical one.

An examination of the head of the bear shown on the bracelet (fig. 221), makes it clear that this idea has been carried out rigidly. It will be noticed that there is a deep depression between the eyes, extending down to the nose. This shows that the head itself must not be considered a front view, but as consisting of two profiles which adjoin at mouth and nose, while they are not in contact with each other on a level with the eyes and forehead. The peculiar ornament rising over the nose of the bear, decorated with three rings, represents a hat with three rings which designate the rank of the bearer.

We have thus recognized that the representations of animals on dishes and bracelets (and we may include the design on the hat, fig. 219) must not be considered as perspective views, but as representing complete animals more or less distorted and split.

The transition from the bracelet to the painting or carving of animals on a flat surface is not a difficult one. The same principle is adhered to; and either the animals are represented as split in two so that the profiles are joined in the middle, or a front view of the head is shown with two adjoining profiles of the body. In the cases considered heretofore the animal was cut through and through from the mouth to the tip of the tail. These points were allowed to cohere, and the animal was stretched over a ring, a cone, or the sides of a prism. If we imagine the bracelet opened, and flattened in the manner in which it is shown in fig. 221, we have a section of the animal from mouth to tail, cohering only at the mouth, and the two halves spread over a flat surface. This is the natural development of the method here described when applied to the decoration of flat surfaces.

It is clear that on flat surfaces this method allows of modifications by changing the method of cutting. When the body of a long animal, such as that of a fish or of a standing quadruped, is cut in this manner, a design results which forms a long narrow strip. This mode of cutting is therefore mostly applied in the decoration of long bands. When the field that is to be decorated is more nearly square, this form is not favorable. In such cases a square design is obtained by cutting quadrupeds sitting on their haunches in the same manner as before, and unfolding the animal so that the two halves remain in contact at the nose and mouth, while the median line at the back is to the extreme right and to the extreme left.

Fig. 222 (a Haida painting) shows a design which has been obtained in this manner. It represents a bear. The enormous breadth of mouth observed in these cases is brought about by the junction of the two profiles of which the head consists.

This cutting of the head is brought out most clearly in the painting fig. 223, which also represents the bear. It is the painting on the front of a Tsimshian house, the circular hole in the middle of the design being the door of the house. The animal is cut from back to front, so that only the front part of the head coheres. The two halves of the lower jaw do not touch each other. The back is represented by the black outline on which the hair is indicated by fine lines. The Tsimshian call such a design “bears meeting”, as though two bears had been represented.

In a number of cases the designs painted on hats must also be explained as formed by the junction of two profiles. This is the case in the painted wooden hat (fig. 224), on which the design of a sculpin is shown. It will be noticed that only the mouth of the animal coheres, while the eyes are widely separated. The spines rise immediately over the mouth. The flippers are attached to the corners of the face, while the dorsal fin is split into halves, each half being joined to an eye.

The beaver (fig. 225) has been treated in the same manner. The head is split down to the mouth, over which rises the hat with four rings. The split has been carried back to the tail, which, however, is left intact, and turned up towards the centre of the hat. The importance of the symbols becomes very clear in this specimen. If the two large black teeth which are seen under the four rings, and the tail with the cross-hatchings, were omitted, the figure would represent the frog.

In other designs the cut is made in the opposite direction from the one described heretofore. It passes from the chest to the back, and the animal is unfolded so that the two halves cohere along the middle line of the back. This has been done in the Haida tattooings figs. 226 and 227, the former representing the duck, the latter the raven. In both the tail is left intact. The duck has been split along the back so that the two halves of the body do not cohere except in their lowest portions, while the two halves of the raven are left in contact up to the head.

Fig. 228 is a dancing-apron woven from mountain-goat wool, and fastened to a large piece of leather, the fringes of which are set with puffin beaks. The woven design represents the beaver. Its symbols, the two pairs of incisors and the scaly tail, are clearly represented. While in most carvings and paintings the tail is turned upward in front of the body, it is hanging down here between the two feet. The meaning of the ornaments in the upper part of the apron to the right and to the left of the head is not quite clear to me, but, if they are significant at all, I believe they must be considered as the back of the body split and folded along the upper margin of the blanket. If this explanation is correct, we have to consider the animal cut into three pieces, one cut running along the sides of the body, the other one along the back.

Fig. 229 shows the design on a leather legging, a beaver squatting on a human head. In this specimen we observe that the proportions of the body have been much distorted owing to the greater width of the legging at its upper part. The head has been much enlarged in order to fill the wider portion of the decorative field.

The gambling-leather (fig. 230) is treated in a similar manner. It represents the beaver, and must probably be explained as the animal cut in two. The symbols,—the large incisors and a scaly tail,—appear here as in all other representations of the beaver, but the lower extremities have been omitted. It might seem that this design could be explained as well as a front view of the animal, but the deep depression between the two eyes is not in favor of this assumption. The head consists undoubtedly of two profiles, which join at the nose and mouth; but the cut has not been continued to the tail, which remains intact.

Fig. 231 is one of a pair of leggings embroidered with quills on a piece of leather. The design, which represents the sea-monster described in fig. 183, must also be explained as a representation of the animal split along its lower side, and flattened. In the lower portion of the legging the two profiles are seen, which are joined on a level with the eyes, while the two mouths are separated. The nostrils are shown in the small triangle below the line connecting the two eyes. Owing to the shape of the legging, the arms are not attached to the body, but to the upper part of the head. They appear at the right and left borders of the legging, and are turned inward along the lower jaws, the three-toed paws touching the lower border. The fins, which are supposed to grow out of the upper part of the arms, adjoin the elbows, and are turned upward. Another pair of fins, which do not appear in most representations of this monster, are attached to the upper part of the back, and form the two flaps to the right and left of the upper margin. On the back we see a series of circles, which probably represent the dorsal fin. The tail occupies the centre of the upper margin. The smaller ornaments in the outside corners of the head, adjoining the mouth, probably represent the gills.

In the following figures we find a new cut applied. Figs. 232 and 233 represent the shark. I explained, when discussing the symbols of the shark, that in the front view of the animal the symbols are shown to best advantage. For this reason side views of the face of the shark are avoided, and in representing the whole animal a cut is made from the back to the lower side, and the two sides are unfolded, leaving the head in front view.

The painting (fig. 232) has been made in this manner, the two halves of the body being entirely separated from each other, and folded to the right and to the left. The heterocerc tail is cut in halves, and is shown at each end turned downward. The pectoral fins are unduly enlarged, in order to fill the vacant space under the head.

The shark which is shown in fig. 233 is treated in a slightly different manner. Again the head is left intact. The cut is made from back to chest, but the two halves of the animal are not separated. They cohere at the chest, and are unfolded in this manner, so that the pectoral fins and dorsal fins appear to the right and left of the body. The heterocerc tail is not clearly indicated in this specimen.

The method of section applied in fig. 234 is still different. The figure represents a painting on the border of a large skin blanket. The animal here represented is the killer-whale. The upper painting clearly represents the profile of the animal. The lower painting represents the other profile, so that both the right and the left halves are visible. Since there was no room for showing the dorsal fin on the lower painting, it is indicated by a curved line on one of the series of wider fringes at the lower border. It is remarkable that the tails in the two halves of the animal are not drawn symmetrically; but it is possible that this is due to a mistake on the part of the painter, because the design is repeated on the opposite border of the blanket in the same manner, but with symmetrical tails. The two halves of the body differ in details, but their main features are identical. The flipper is shown on a very large scale. It is attached immediately behind the head, and extends to a point near the tail. Its principal part is occupied by a face, in front of which an eye is shown.

Animals are represented by means of sections not only on flat surfaces, but also in round carvings in which one side cannot be shown. This is the case on all totem poles, for the rear side of the pole is not carved. Whenever all the symbols of the animal can be shown on the front of the totem pole, the animals are apparently represented in their natural position. But representations of animals, the symbols of which would be placed on the rear side of the totem pole, make it clear that the artist actually splits the animals along the rear of the totem pole, and extends this cut in such a way that the animal is spread along the curved front of the pole. This will become clear by a consideration of the following figures.