PRIMITIVE ART 



^3 



Cases O, 12 and P 



Coast Tribes of Washington and Tribes of the Interior 

 OF British Columbia. — The general character of the decorative 

 art of this region is entirely different from that of the coast tribes 

 of Alaska described before. The ornamentation applied by the 

 tribes of the interior to their garments and to objects of every-day 

 use is throughout pictographic ; that is to say, it consists of realistic 

 representations of natural objects, which are connected, and tell 

 a complete story. We notice, for instance, on a painted blanket 



in Case 1 2 /, a number of animal and human figures. A mountain- 

 range rising on the earth is shown above the fringe. On the 

 upper part of the blanket, two suns are shown, outside of which 

 are two beetles. In the center is a stag pursued by two Indians. 

 The figures near the right and left margins are grizzly bears. On 

 the lower part of the blanket two loons are shown. These are 

 painted on a large scale because they are the guardian spirits of 

 the wearer. Between them there is a lake with trees around one 

 side, and a canoe and a man in the center. Trail-lines between the 

 loons indicate that they belong to the lake. The owner's pipe 

 is painted on the lower right-hand corner. The idea expressed 

 by these figures is a prayer for success in hunting on mountain 

 and lake. The hunters and the canoe-man represent the wearer 

 of the blanket ; the suns, beetles and loons are his guardian spirits. 



