Northwest Coast culture has exerted its influence over the tribes both
of the north and south. The woodwork of the Columbia River region and
of northern California has undoubtedly been stimulated by its example.
Although the style changes materially, the technique of handling the
wood and the relative abundance of wood carving indicates the
interrelation of these cultures. Taken in conjunction with other
features,—such as the peculiar type of correlation of wealth and rank
and the extensive use of standards of value,—the historical relation
seems firmly established. The art style of woodwork does not exhibit a
close affinity to the North West Coast. We have shown that the older
art of the Gulf of Georgia is quite distinct from that of the North
West Coast. The further south we go the more meager become the vestiges
of the symbolic style here treated.
In the north conditions are somewhat different. Even among the
northern Tlingit tribes some types of masks may be observed that
are conceptionally different from those found further south. They
are characterized by the attachment of small animal figures to the
face,—particularly on the forehead and cheeks. This usage is much
more frequent among the Eskimo tribes.[117] Their masks tend to be
flat and appear like plastic representations of their paintings and
etchings: realistic forms of human or imaginary beings or of animals.
They have adopted from the North West Coast the attachment of parts
of the body to the face, while these parts,—such as hands and feet,
retain their realistic character. The attachment of small animal forms
to the face is quite frequent here. Its source may perhaps be found
in the application of animal heads to carved objects, which is one of
the principle features of the decorative art of the Alaskan Eskimo.
It is exemplified in the needle cases shown in fig. 119, p. 125. The
abundance of masks can hardly be understood unless we assume that the
coast people of the south exerted a powerful influence over the Eskimo.
The eastern Eskimo, among whom this influence is lacking, have few
masks of quite a different type.
[117] Sie E. W. Nelson, The Eskimo about Bering Strait, 18^{th} Ann.
Rep. Bur. Am. Ethn. (1899) Plates 95 et seq.; also the Athapascan
masks from Anvik in J. W. Chapman, Notes on the Tinneh tribe of Anvik,
Congrès International des Americanistes XV^e session, Vol 2, pp. 7 et
seq.
The relation of the North West Coast art to that of the adjoining
plateaus of the interior deserves special consideration. The contrast
between the two is striking. A few of the tribes that have adopted,
partially at least, totemic ideas of the coast people, as the Lillooet,
have taken over with it a moderate amount of carving. A few that have
fallen more fully under the sway of the North West Coast culture, as
the Bella Coola, Babine, and a few of the Alaskan tribes near the coast
of southern Alaska, have also, to a great extent, adopted the art style
of the coast.
[Illustration: Fig. 306. _a_, Rawhide pouch, Salish or Chinook; _b_,
Design from parfleche, Fort Colville, Washington.]
As soon as we move farther inland we find an art that, in its
essential characteristics, is subject to the Plains art. The style and
decoration of the clothing are essentially those of the Plains. Rude
pictography is used extensively. There is hardly any attempt to fit the
pictographic representation to the decorative field that serves merely
as the background on which the representative design is conveniently
placed. Most of the geometric patterns that do occur are closely
related to eastern forms. A rawhide pouch from the interior of British
Columbia (fig. 28, p. 36) may serve as an example. On parfleches and
rawhide pouches from Fort Colville and from Columbia River (fig. 306)
we find the same designs that are characteristic of eastern paintings
on rawhide (see figs. 144-146 pp. 170-172). Analogous forms are found
in bone carvings from the Tahltan in Alaska (fig. 307). In the southern
parts of the plateaus of British Columbia, simple lines and circles
with center are the most common decorative pattern on bone and on wood.
Representative sculpture is rare although a few ancient specimens have
been found. The archaeological remains prove that at an early time the
same art type prevailed in the Delta of Fraser River. The symbolism of
the patterns is very weak, but seems analogous to that found in the
east.
[Illustration: Fig. 307. Scraper of bone, Tahltan.]
[Illustration: Fig. 308. Detail of imbricated basketry.]
Decorative art is most highly developed in basketry. The basketry
of the Coast tribes is made by twining or weaving, but the highly
decorated basketry of the interior is exclusively of the coiled type.
Only among the Sahaptin and other tribes to the southeast do we find
elaborately decorated twined bags. The twined weaving of the interior
of British Columbia is largely undecorated or bears a few lines set
off in lighter color. The coiled weaving is decorated by imbrication,
a method peculiar to that part of the plateaus extending from the
Columbia River to Chilcotin (fig. 308). In this area a number of
decorative art styles have developed. These appear most clearly on the
burden baskets. The southern baskets are round and flaring, those of
southern British Columbia are angular in cross section, those of the
north oblong and of irregular form. The southern baskets are decorated
all over with designs resembling Californian patterns. Those of
the Thompson River have design areas set off against an undecorated
background. The designs are made by imbrication and extend over the
whole side of the basket, evenly on all sides. The Lillooet baskets are
more flaring than those of the Thompson. The coils are wider and the
decorative field is arranged in a different manner. The imbrication is
confined to the upper two-thirds of the basket while the lower part
remains undecorated, except that there are frequently two hangers
on the wide sides which may be compared to the hangers on Tlingit
baskets, described before. I am doubtful whether there is an historical
connection between the two, notwithstanding their striking similarity.
The Indians suggest that the hangers may have developed from the
earlier use of birch bark baskets. These were often wrapped at the
upper part with buckskin the lower portion of which hung down freely in
fringes, so that the droppers would represent the fringes. Many of the
Lillooet designs are large. (Plate XV).
The Chilcotin type differs from the preceding by the small size of
the coil and a distinctive form, the narrow ends being higher than
the middle of the long sides. The treatment of the decorative field
is similar to that used by the Tlingit. The ornamentation consists
of three bands; the upper and the lower ones wide, bearing the same
kind of decorative design and the central one narrower and either
undecorated or showing a design of a different character. Arrangements
of this kind are used so frequently that is seems hardly justifiable to
consider them as proof of an historical connection between Tlingit and
Chilcotin basketry. We find similar arrangements for instance in the
pouches of the Woodland Indians referred to on p. 175, figs. 149, 150.
[Illustration: PLATE XV.