O8 BritisH CoLuMBIA. : ; 1923 



main floor of the Museum, but the space provided was barely sufficient for the accommodation 
of members of the Natural History Society and their friends, who displayed deep interest in the 
lantern-slides illustrating the work carried on by the larger museums in Hastern Canada and 
the United States. These slides Mr. Smith very kindly had his Department send from Ottawa 
for the occasion. 
Two other lectures were given for the Natural History Society, one on “ Bird Life of the 
Western Country,” with illustrations, given by Miss Elizabeth Racey, of Portland, Oregon, and 
the other by Dr. Franz Boas, of Columbia University, New York, on “Indians of British 
Columbia: their Customs, Folk-lore, and Habits.” These lectures were held in the Girls’ Central 
School and were attended by large and appreciative gatherings. 
At the request of the Honourable John Oliver, Prime Minister, the Museum was open during 
the evening of September 21st, 1922, for the members of the Montreal Board of Trade, who were 
accompanied on their trip across Canada by a number of British Parliamentarians. They were 
conducted through the Department by the Honourable the Premier, and numbers of them 
expressed their gratitude, and were agreeably surprised at the showing this Province has made 
in the exhibit of natural-history specimens. 
ANTHROPOLOGY. 
In the early part of the year the Director took up with Mr. R. G. Cunningham, of Port 
Essington, the advisability of his loaning to the Department his very valuable collection of 
Indian stone carvings, which have been in his possession for many years. Mr. Cunningham 
willingly consented to place on exhibition for an indefinite time the whole of this collection, 
numbering approximately fifty-five specimens. 
These carvings are exceptionally good pieces of work, above the average that is done by the 
Haida Indians, who are the expert carvers of the North Pacific Coast, and exceed all other tribes 
in their totem designs, both in workmanship and skill. Of these stone carvings, some were made 
by the late Henry Edensaw, a chief of the Masset Tribe of the Haida Indians of the Queen 
Charlotte Islands, who lived to be a very old man, dying a few years ago; others were carved 
by a man named Abraham, a cripple, born of slave parents who were taken slaves by the Haidas 
from another tribe many years ago. 
The material these carvings are made of is a form of black slate which is rather soft when 
first taken from the deposits found at Skidegate Inlet, Queen Charlotte Islands. After being 
carved this material is polished with oil and takes a very brilliant finish. 
This exhibition of totem-poles illustrates the stories and legends of the Haida Indians. The 
exhibit is in a plate-glass case on the main floor, and may be seen by all visitors entering the 
Department before visiting the anthropological halls in the basement. 
In the early spring, when the anthropological collection was being transferred to the base- 
ment, three extra totem-poles were arranged in the main entrance. One is a large house-pole, 
No. 2309, collected by Dr. C. F. Newcombe, 1913, at Talio, South Bentinck Arm, B.C. It is of 
cedar with a hollowed back, large doorway at bottom, painted yellow, blue, green, white, and 
black. The lower figure has a short beak and there are two smaller birds three-quarters of the 
way up the pole. Size, 17 feet 8 inches by 4 feet 2 inches by 2 feet 6 inches. 
Two other house-poles were also placed in the entrance hall; No. 2355, used in the interior 
of the house, is of cedar, with the eagle carved on the top and the ancestor of the owner below. 
Size, 14 feet 7 inches by 22 inches. No. 2356 is the companion to No. 2355. These two poles 
stood inside a house, supporting the roof. Collected at Comox, B.C., 1912, by C. F. N. 
At the time these poles were placed in position, the Director thought it advisable to remove 
the two oil paintings of Alert Bay Indian Village from the entrance hall to the hall where the 
stair-case leads to the anthropological section. A large totem-pole which had been in storage 
for a number of years was also erected near the stairway. This totem, No. 1863, is of cedar, 
carved, and painted red, black, and grey. The top is the copper which the chief or owner is 
holding up (holding up his tribe); then comes the chief's figure; then the raven (his crest), 
and the man underneath is the enemy chief of the chief who is holding the copper. He is 
treading on his enemy. ‘Size of pole, 26 feet by 21 inches by 18 inches. Collected at Tsawadi 
Village by C. F. N. 
A number of other totem-poles, house-poles, and canoes, with several more Indian antiquities 
too large for exhibition in the present halls, have still to remain in storage in another building 
