84 DANIEL WILSON ON THE ARTISTIC 



also mark the Haida sculptures executed in the soft argillaceous slate which abounds in 

 their vicinity. But the Haidas work with no less ability in other materials ; and were 

 familiar of old with the native copper, which is brought from some still unascertained 

 locality, it is believed, in Alaska. The collections of the Geological Survey at Ottawa 

 include some of their beautifulljr wrought copper daggers and a massive and finely finished 

 copper neck-collar. They have now learned to work with equal skill in iron. Their bra- 

 celets, rings, and ear ornaments of gold and silver ; their copper shields and richly carved 

 emblematic weapons, bows and arrows, iron daggers and war knives ; as well as their 

 wooden and horn dishes, spoons, masks and toys, are eagerly sought after. The carvings 

 on them, when properly explained, are of great interest : for every device has a meaning, 

 and each illustrates a story or a legend, readily understood by the Indian, but by no means 

 willingly interpreted to strangers. 



A knowledge of the myths of the Haidas and other coast tribes is indispensable to any 

 interpretation of their carvings ; and to those, accordingly, Dr. Hoffman has directed his 

 attention. " A very common object," as he says, " found carved upon various household 

 vessels, handles of wooden spoons, etc., is the head of a human being in the act of eating 

 a toad ; or, as it frequently occurs, the toad placed a short distance below the mouth. 

 This refers to the cA'il spirit, supposed to live in the wooded country, who has gTeat 

 power of committing evil by means of poison, supposed to be extracted from the toad;" 

 but, as Dr. Hoffman adds, it is a difficult matter to get an Indian to acknowledge the 

 common belief in the mythic being, even when aware that the enquirer is in possession 

 of the main facts. 



The interpretations thus furnished by a careful study of the carvings of the Haidas 

 and other artistic native tribes of British Columbia, and the evidence of a specific meaning 

 and application discoverable in their most conventional designs, have a significant bearing 

 on the study of analogous productions of the cave-men of Europe's iiala-olithic dawn. The 

 manifestations of an active imitative faculty and considerable amount of artistic skill, 

 among different rude native tribes of this continent, present some striking iiarallels to the 

 oesthetic aptitudes of the primeval draftsmen and carvers of Europe. There are moreover, 

 undoubted resemblances in style and mode of representation of the objects, as depicted 

 on some of the ancient and the modern bone aijd ivory carvings and drawings of the two 

 continents ; but the latter exhibit no evidence of progress. The Innuit and Eskimo designs 

 do, indeed, more nearly approximate to those of the primitive draftsmen than other abori- 

 ginal efforts ; but their inferiority in all respects is equally striking and indisputable. 



The evidence of artistic ability in the native races both of Central and Southern 

 America is abundant ; nor is the Northern continent lacking in its specially artistic race. 

 But the achievements of the ancient Mayas, Peruvians, or Mound-builders, are of A'ery 

 recent date, compared with the palœolithic, or even the neolithic productions of Europe. 

 It need not, therefore, excite our wonder to find American antiquaries welcoming a disclo- 

 sure, only too strikingly analogous to the famous mammoth drawing of the La Madeleine 

 cave. There recently issued from the American press a tastefully printed volume, in 

 which its author, Mr. H. C. Mercer, gives an account of the discovery, near Doylestown, 

 Pennsylvania, of a " gorget stone " of soft shale, on which is graven what the author de- 

 scribes as " unquestionably a picture of a combat between savages and the hairy mammoth. 

 The monster, angry, and with erect tail, approaches the forest, in which through the pine- 



