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.
[Illustration: Fig. 215. Berry Spoon with design representing the
eagle.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 216. Halibut hook representing a beaver, Tlingit.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 217. Part of totem pole representing a shark,
Haida.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 218. Dancing-hat representing a killer-whale,
Tsimshian.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 219. Wooden hat with carving representing the
sculpin.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 220. Grease dish representing seal.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 221. Design on a bracelet representing a bear, Nass
River Indians.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 222. Painting representing bear, Haida.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 223. Painting from a house-front representing a
bear, Tsimshian.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 224. Wooden hat painted with the design of a
sculpin, Haida.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 225. Hat made of spruce roots painted with design
of a beaver, Haida or Tsimshian.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 226. Tattooing representing a duck, Haida.]
[Illustration: Fig. 227. Tattooing representing a raven, Haida.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 228. Dancing-apron woven of mountain-goat wool,
design representing a beaver, Tsimshian.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 229. Painted legging with design representing a
beaver sitting on a man’s head, Haida.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 230. Gambling-leather with engraved design
representing a beaver, Tlingit.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 231. Embroidered legging representing a sea-monster
with a bear’s head and body of the killer, Haida.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 232. Painting representing a dog-fish, Haida.]
[Illustration: Fig. 233. Slate dish design representing a shark, Haida.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 234. Painting on edge of a blanket representing a
killer-whale, Tlingit.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig. 235. Model of totem pole representing a
sea-monster, Haida.