It seems not unlikely that the symbolic style and the desire to
cover the whole field with ornaments have developed exuberantly only
recently. In early times geometric ornaments were probably more widely
used than is the case now. We shall see presently that they are in
extensive use in basketry.
A number of ancient blankets show that angular geometrical ornaments
played an important part in earlier weaving. Plate X represents
a blanket of mountain-goat wool, in the Ethnological Museum at
Copenhagen, formerly belonging to the old collections in Leningrad.
It is decorated entirely with geometrical designs arranged in
horizontal bands. The same zig-zag pattern in short panels that occupies
alternating bands in this blanket appears in a second ancient blanket
(Pl. XI) which contains also curiously conventionalized faces and
triangular designs. This is a cedar bark blanket in the British Museum
transferred from the United Service Museum about 1868, collected at
Nootka. It has a border in brown and yellow wool (?), consisting of
obtuse triangles, assimilated to an eye design. A series of photographs
of blankets in the hands of Dr. Newcombe of Victoria, British Columbia,
shows that these types were in common use in Bella Coola (Pl. XII, see
also p. 292).
[Illustration: Fig. 290. Mask of Kwakiutl Indians used in winter
ceremonial; according to some representing fool dancer, according to
others The-One-Shining-Down.]
Our consideration of the fixed formal elements found in this art prove
that the principles of geometric ornamental form may be recognized even
in this highly developed symbolic art; and that it is not possible to
assign to each and every element that is derived from animal motives a
significant function, but that many of them are employed regardless of
meaning, and used for purely ornamental purposes.
The symbolic decoration is governed by rigorous formal principles. It
appears that what we have called for the sake of convenience dissection
and distortion of animal forms, is, in many cases, a fitting of animal
motives into fixed ornamental patterns. We infer from a study of form
and interpretation that there are certain purely geometric elements
that have been utilized in the symbolic representation. Most important
among these are the double curve which appears always as a filler in
an oval field with flat base, and the slit which serves to separate
distinct curves. The typical eye design is presumably related to the
circle and dot and may have developed from the double tendency of
associating geometrical motives with animal forms and of the other, of
standardizing forms derived from animal motives as ornamental elements.
This art style can be fully understood only as an integral part
of the structure of Northwest coast culture. The fundamental idea
underlying the thoughts, feelings, and activities of these tribes is
the value of rank which gives title to the use of privileges, most
of which find expression in artistic activities or in the use of art
forms. Rank and social position bestow the privilege to use certain
animal figures as paintings or carvings on the house-front, on totem
poles, on masks and on the utensils of every day life. Rank and social
position give the right to tell certain tales referring to ancestral
exploits; they determine the songs which may be sung. There are other
obligations and privileges related to rank and social position, but
the most outstanding feature is the intimate association between
social standing and art forms. A similar relation, although not quite
so intimate, prevails in the relation of religious activities and
manifestations of art. It is as though the heraldic idea had taken hold
of the whole life and had permeated it with the feeling that social
standing must be expressed at every step by heraldry which, however,
is not confined to space forms alone but extends over literary,
musical and dramatic expression. Who can tell whether the association
between social standing and the use of certain animal forms,—that
is the totemic aspect of social life,—has given the prime impetus
to the art development or whether the art impetus has developed and
enriched totemic life? Our observations make it seem plausible that
the particular symbolic development of art would not have occurred,
if the totemic ideas had been absent and that we are dealing with the
gradual intrusion of ever fuller animal motives into a well established
conventionalized art. On the other hand it seems quite certain that
the exuberance of totemic form has been stimulated by the value given
to the art form. We may observe among all the tribes that high chiefs
claim highly specialized art forms that are built up on the general
background of totemic representation. In the south, there is clear
evidence of the late exuberant development of the totemic, or perhaps
better, crest idea, owing to the strong endeavor to raise by the
possession of art forms the standing of the social units to which the
individual belongs. The multiplicity of forms among the numerous small
divisions of the Kwakiutl and the sporadic appearance of animal forms
among the adjoining Salish are ample proof of these relations.
[Illustration: Fig. 291. Ancient type of Kwakiutl box.]
[Illustration: Fig. 292. _a_, Food tray; _b_, Bucket, Kwakiutl.]
[Illustration: Fig. 293. Small boxes, Kwakiutl.]
[Illustration: Fig. 294. Combs, Kwakiutl.]
[Illustration: Fig. 295. Bone club and sword, Kwakiutl.]
The style has undoubtedly its home in northern British Columbia and
southern Alaska. The manufactures of the tribes of Vancouver Island
show a far more extended use of geometrical ornamentation than those of
the northern tribes. I am under the impression that these are survivals
of an older style. Trays, boxes, and baskets of the Kwakiutl Indians
are still decorated with geometrical patterns. A rattle used in a
ceremony performed after the birth of twins (fig. 19, p. 31) bears a
pattern consisting of angular fields. Ancient boxes found in caves are
ornamented with a geometrical style more elaborate than that of modern
times (fig. 291).
[Illustration: Fig. 296. Spindle whorls.]
[Illustration: Fig. 297. Ladle made of big-horn-sheep horn, Columbia
River.]
The small food trays, the sides of which are bent out of a single
board, bear on the upper end a border pattern consisting of equidistant
lines following the rim, while the body of the sides is ornamented
with vertical lines (fig. 292 _a_). A similar border pattern is found
on buckets (fig. 292 _b_). In boxes a border design is cut in, setting
off the central field (fig. 293). Combs are decorated with geometrical
motives most of which consist of a central rectangular field set off
from the background by parallel lines or developed by a subdivision of
the field. In one case triangles and crossing lines with hachure are
used (fig. 294). On a bone sword the decoration consists of circles
with center, a pattern that is widely distributed among the western
Eskimo, the plateau tribes of the interior and in California (fig.
295). It will be noticed that the head carved at the end of this
specimen does not conform at all to the style of art here discussed
but rather agrees with the carving found in the region of the Gulf of
Georgia and Puget Sound. Another specimen (fig. 295), differs still
more from the style of the Northwest coast art and resembles that of
the tribes of the interior.
[Illustration: Fig. 298. Clubs made of bone of whale, Nootka.]
In the art of the West coast of Vancouver Island, in a few ancient
specimens of the Kwakiutl and particularly in the whole area of the
Gulf of Georgia, a triangular motive analogous to the “Kerbschnitt” of
northern Europe, plays an important role. It is found on the ancient
Kwakiutl boxes previously referred to (fig. 291), and is a common
decorative motive on clubs made of bone of whale (fig. 298). A related
motive is found on spindle whorls (fig. 296). It is also found on
representative wood carvings, as on the eagle design on a house post
from the Fraser River Delta (Plate XIII p. 288). In the region still
farther south, this ornament becomes more and more important, as may be
seen on dishes and spoons from the Columbia River area. On these the
circular design and central dot also occur (fig. 297).
[Illustration: Fig. 299. Clubs made of bone of whale, Nootka and coast
of Salish.]
A number of ancient specimens prove the existence of a fixed art style
in this region, representative, but differing in character from the
style of the Northwest coast. This is best illustrated by a series
of war clubs. The fundamental type is a blade of a lenticular cross
section surmounted by a head resembling that of an eagle, which bears
on its head a bird headdress not unlike what is used by the Nootka of
modern times.[115] In all the specimens represented in figures 298 and
299 this fundamental form will be recognized, although in many cases
the outlines are so crude that the elements of the composition are
recognized with difficulty only. It is possible that in a number of
these carvings it was not the intent to represent the eagle with bird
headdress, but that the form is rather due to the compelling influence
of a standardized form that determined the outlines of the subject
of the representation. Common to these clubs is also the central
ornamental line ending near the point in a circular ornament which is
often given the form of a human head.
[115] See Harlan I. Smith, Archaeology of the Gulf of Georgia and Puget
Sound, Publications of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, Vol II,
figs. 165-168.
Representations of animals in wood carving differ also in important
features from those of the northern region. The tendency to ornament
the whole body, the dislike of a plain background is not found here.
If we are right in assuming that the fullest development of a rich
ornamentation in the north is late, we might say that in the south the
ornamentation has not yet encroached upon the whole background. The
eye design, double curve, the slit design are foreign to this area.
Instead of house posts carved in the round, we find heavy posts of
rectangular cross section which bear on the front figures carved in the
round or in high relief. Sometimes the post assumes geometrical forms.
A characteristic trait of the human face in this region is the sharp
angle setting off the forehead from the face. This is most pronounced
in the carvings of the Puget Sound region (fig. 300 and Plate XIV).
[Illustration: Fig. 300. House posts, Lower Fraser River.]
On Puget Sound animal representations are used with great frequency in
basketry, particularly as ornamental borders. In ancient times they
were also applied to hats (fig. 301, see also fig. 72 p. 78). This
style seems to be entirely missing in the north.
[Illustration: PLATE XIII.