GRAPHIC ART OF THE ESKIMOS. 801 



tioii of an adjoining body of peoi)le of a like linguistic family and with 

 whom there may be frequent social intercourse. This is'accounted for 

 in the instances in mind because of the absence of like materials and 

 resources quite necessary for a faithful imitation of the imported i)at- 

 tern, the original being fully recognized as a cult symbol, and any 

 alteration however slight would immediately provoke the anger of the 

 gods. Therefore, a remote body of people whose ciilt beliefs are difi'er- 

 ent, and who would i^erhaps not recognize the sacred or mystic import 

 of a symbol, might readily and without any hesitation adopt such pat- 

 tern as might suit one's fancy and subsequently alter it to conform to 

 the shape of the material upon which it would be imposed by incision, 

 impressed in color, or otherwise. 



The northwest coast of America, between Puget Sound and Kadiak, 

 is an excellent illustration of a culture route, and the arts of the vari- 

 ous Selish tribes are traceable over a wide area. The peculiar designs of 

 the Haida, both in sculpture and in tattooing, have been gradually car- 

 ried northward into the territory of the Thlinkits, the Kadiak, and have 

 been even recently adopted, to a limited extent, by the Aigalu'^amut 

 and Kiate'xamut Eskimo of southern Alaska. 



The original patterns of the Eskimo, such as the line^ dots, and 

 herring-bone patterns, do not seem to prevail against the rounded and 

 curved figures and designs of the Haida art. The origin of the latter 

 is peculiar, and the alleged development, if not the introduction and 

 adoption, of the elaborate system of tattooing since about the year 1833, 

 certainly otters an interesting field for critical research.^ 



The Haida i^atterns, as has been intimated, are very different in both 

 design and concept as compared with the artistic work of the Eskimo. 

 Both are peculiar to the regions in which they flourish, and no resem- 

 blance whatever is ai^parent. The Haida designs originate chiefly in 

 totemic, mythologic, and cult forms, which have, iu many instances, 

 become so highly conventionalized as to become difficult of identifica- 

 tion. The Eskimo art embraces chiefly an attempt at personal and 

 family records of hunting exploits, with occasional ceremonials por- 

 trayed in little more than simple pictorial form, but there is present an 

 exhibition of the progress of recording both gestures and signals, to 

 aid in the explanation of the record, as well as frequent attempts at 

 the record of subjective ideas, a system of pictography foreign to that 

 of the Haida, and more nearly approaching the j)etroglyi)hs of various 

 tribes belonging to the Shoshonian linguistic family, conspicuous among 

 which are some of the pueblos of i^ew Mexico and Arizona; and the 

 Bculpturings found in Owens Valley, California, the authors of which 

 are unknown but are believed to have been members of the same family, 

 both because of the typical resemblance of many of the patterns and 

 the geographic location of the sculptured bowlders. 



•See remarks on "Aboriginal Art in California and Queen Charlotte's Island,'' 

 W. J. Hoffman, in Proceedings Davenport Academy of Sciences, IV, 1885. 

 NAT MUS 95 51 



