408 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1940 



comer; and finally, both corners may turn down in an expression 

 of utmost anguish. Thick, distended lips protrude beneath the 

 nose, and a series of modifying wrinkles augment the distorted ex- 

 pression. Cheek bones are sometimes suggested, and a prominent 

 chin, common on masks from Grand River, serves as a convenient 

 grip for the wearer to adjust the mask to his face. The face is 

 framed by a long wig, usually cut from black horsetails which fall 

 on either side from a part in the middle of the forehead; but an- 

 ciently, corn-husk braids, shredded basswood bast, or buffalo mane 

 served as hair. Masks are commonly painted red or black. 



Cl<issi'fication hosed on specimens. — In classifying the masks we 

 must take into consideration formal types based on variations in the 

 masks themselves and local styles of carving. Thus a particular 

 formal feature, such as the bent nose or the twisted mouth, is apt to 

 be shared among two or more local groups and tribes, but what 

 distinguishes the masks of one local group, say the Senecas of New- 

 town, from the masks of artisans in another community, possibly 

 the Onondagas of Grand River, is the manner with which the indi- 

 vidual carver expresses his local artistic tradition in the general 

 conformation of the whole face. Since the mouth is the mask's most 

 variable feature, permitting us to range our photographs in a series 

 of categories illustrating progressive changes from up-turned corners 

 to down-turned comers, it seems a likely basis for distinguishing 

 formal types. Wliat gives this arrangement significance is the tend- 

 ency of the Iroquois themselves to designate the mouth as a cri- 

 terion for naming the masks. The masks, unlike individuals, do not 

 have personal names except as they are given the names of the 

 spirits who are their tutelaries. The names are rather descriptive 

 referents to various facial expressions. 



Thus one afternoon two Seneca informants, James Crow, of New- 

 town, and Chauncey Jolmny John, of Coldspring, distinguished the 

 following mouth types, while examining photographs of museum 

 specimens. Naturally, they commenced with types most familiar to 

 them in their own localities; and I append the remarks of other 

 informants, Jesse Cornplanter, of Tonawanda, and Simeon Gibson 

 (Onondaga-Cayuga), of Grand River, and Shennan Redeye, of 

 Coldspring, where they seem pertinent. We begin at the middle of 

 the series. 



1. The crooked-mouth masks, a type so named because "his mouth 

 is twisted" (ha*sagai"'de'), aro^commonest among all the Iroquois. 

 One corner of the mouth is pulled down, or up. They occur among 

 Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga of New York and Grand River. In 

 the latter place carvers make them intentionally horrific to frighten 

 away disease, and masks with bent noses and twisted mouths aug- 



