560 



ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 31 



The only collection of poles that still remains fairly complete 

 is that of the upper Skeena, in British Columbia, a short distance 

 southeast of the Alaskan border, from 150 to 250 miles inland, at the 

 edge of the area where this art is practiced. Nowhere else but on the 

 Nass, where a number of poles also survive, are they to be seen far 

 inland. The Canadian Government and the Canadian National 

 Kailways a few years ago inaugurated the policy of preserving the 

 Skeena Kiver poles in their original location. And the Department 

 of Education of the American Government is also restoring some of 

 the Tlingit poles of the Alaskan coast. 



FiouKBj 1. — The Nass and Skeena River Basins 



Well known as is this striking form of native art, one is apt to 

 suppose that our enthnographic literature is well supplied with data 

 on their features and history. The supposition, however, is unjusti- 

 fied. Casual descriptions of poles or models of poles have been 

 furnished by Doctor Swanton, Lieutenant Emmons, Doctor Boas, 

 Doctor Newcombe, and others ; but their notes usually appear with- 

 out the necessary historical context. It is too late now to recover 

 much of this knowledge. The present writer made a complete study 

 of the poles of the three Tsimsyan nations, while engaged in several 



