570 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1931 



The close similarities between the plastic arts of the northwest 

 coast and those of the various people around the edges of the Pacific 

 Ocean should not be overlooked. Common features in the art and 

 technology of our coast natives and the Polynesians, for instance, are 

 too persistently alike in some aspects to be unrelated, at least in some 

 remote way. The early navigators noticed, about 1780-1790, the 

 striking resemblance between the fortresses of the Haidas and other 

 coast tribes and the " hippah " of the New Zealand natives. Totem 

 poles, as fairly recently carved and erected on both sides of the 

 Pacific, offer the same compelling resemblance. Their technique of 

 erection, besides, was identical. It will gradually become an estab- 

 lished conclusion, we believe, that much of the growth of native crafts 

 in wood carving and decoration as now exemplified in the museums 

 of the world is far more recent than is generally believed. 



