THE MODERN GROWTH OF THE TOTEM POLE ON THE 

 NORTHWEST COAST ^ 



By Mabius Bakbeau 

 Dominion Ethnologist, National Museum, Ottawa, Canada 



[With 5 plates] 



Totem poles were once a characteristic form of plastic art, among 

 the tribes of the northwest coast, in British Columbia and southern 

 Alaska. The natives took pride in them and strained every nerve 

 to make them worthy symbols of their own social standing and 

 achievements. 



But the carvers were not artists in our present meaning of the term ; 

 they were not permitted to give free rein to their imagination or 

 fancy. They had nothing to do with the choice of the cedar tree they 

 were to carve, nor the spot in the village where it was to be erected 

 after it was carved, nor even the selection or the number of the figures 

 they were hired to execute. Their art was not considered esthetic; 

 it was useful. Regulated by custom, it fulfilled a social purpose and 

 was the chief vehicle of a system of heraldry which in a short time 

 grew to abnormal proportions. Hence its vital importance in the 

 life of the natives. 



The totems: ichat they loere. — The totems, whose figures appear on 

 the poles, were not, as often misrepresented, pagan gods or fetishes, 

 nor did they usually stand for clan ancestors. Their spiritual signifi- 

 cance was quite secondary ; they were not worshipped or even revered 

 for their own sake. First of all they were symbols in the nature of 

 European coats of arms or badges of ownership, and they usually 

 illustrated historic events, true or fictitious. 



When a new totemic emblem was introduced — this happened only 

 seldom — an explanation of its origin and significance was furnished ; 

 this was purely stereotyped. The people were not credulous enough to 

 believe their own tales, nor presumably most of the other folk at large. 



The Raven, the Wolf, the Grizzly Bear, the Blackfish, the Eagle, 

 and the Thunderbird were six of the outstanding totems of the 



^ Reprinted by permission, with slight revisions by the author and the addition of some 

 illustrations, from the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, vol. 28, No. 9, 

 Sept. 15, 1938. 



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