ABORIGINAL DECORATIVE ART KRIEGER 527 



carved wooden masks. The tribes of the Pacific northwest coast, 

 however, i-oached tlu* hijzhcst development in mask carvin;;. 



In Micronesia and Mehmesia nnmerous wooden masks were fasli- 

 ioned cuhninating in the masqnerade costume of the Papuans of 

 New Guinea. Tlie ^Nfalay ])eoples deveh)ped the marionette rather 

 than the ma>.k, although there are certain traces of the primitive 

 mask in central Celebes and Borneo. In Siam and Java, and on up 

 into tiie continental hinterland of Eastern Asia, the elaborate ilemon 

 and devil mask is everywhere present. The demon mask of the 

 Tibetans is the most striking example of this sort. In structure the 

 masks are simi)le where the cerenumy is simple; where the ritual is 

 more elaborate the masks are also complex. 



In structure the Tibetan mask, in a way, is reminiscent of the 

 mosaic masks of Mexico. Such casual resemblance, howevei*, must 

 be ascribed to the natural limitation of the mask rather than to an 

 actual cultural contact or to a diffusion of this form of mask. 



rFudf^e J. G. Swan, one of the earliest students of northwest coast 

 Indian lore, describes a ceremou}' which he witnessed and <^ives 

 .some information regarding the structure of the wooden mask of 

 the northwest coast Indian, " Some are very ingeniously executed, 

 having the eyes and lower jaw movable by means of a string so the 

 performer can make the eyes roll about and the jaws gnash together 

 with a fearful clatter. As these masks are kept strictly concealed 

 until the time of the performances and as they are generally })ro- 

 (hiced at night, they are viewed with awe by the spectators, and 

 certainly the scene in one of these lodges dimly lighted by the fires 

 wiiich show the faces of the assembled spectators and illuminate the 

 l>erformers, presents a most weird and savage spectacle when the 

 nnisked dancers issue forth from behind a screen of mats and go 

 through their barbarous pantomimes. The Indians themselves, even 

 accustomed as they are to masks, feel very much afraid of them, 

 and a white man viewing the scene for the first time can only liken 

 it to a carnival of demons." 



Masks are not always identical in size with tlie human head or 

 the head of the animal they are supposed to represent. They may 

 be modeled in miniature, or they may be grotesquely enlarged. The 

 .stone and bone images worn on their forehead by the West Indian 

 Arawak. also the carved whalebone or horn mask worn on the brow 

 of the Shaman of the Pacific northwest coast Indian tribes, are 

 diminutive examples. Some of the largest and most grotesque 

 masks known come from widely separated areas. From central New 

 Guinea comes the demon dancing mask, which not only covers the 

 entire body of the dancer, but projects 10 to 15 feet above the bearer's 

 head. Bird ma.sks from the northwest coast are frequently large 



