dt THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
Alaska, Haida of Queen Charlotte Islands, Tsimshian near the Nass and 
Skeena Rivers, Bella Coola between the Burke and Dean Channels, 
Kwakiutl on the mainland and northeast end of Vaneouver Island, 
Nootka on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and Salish at the extreme 
southern extremity of British Columbia. 
According to prominent writers the typical industry of each tribe 
serves as a means of commerce and trade among the neighboring tribes, 
the conditions of the country naturally influencing its products; for ex- 
ample, when the northern Indian is weaving blankets out of mountain 
goat wool, the southern Indian may be drying clams for the winter’s food. 
Therefore in the first series of paintings the effort will be made to show 
not only the industries, but also the connections of these industries with 
those of other tribes. These pictures will present the scenes where the 
material was procured, how it was prepared and as far as possible the 
use of the finished article in trade. 
To gather the artistic and scientific data for the first painting of the 
series, showing the weaving of the Chilcat blanket, I searched through 
many towns and villages, often in vain, because the weather-beaten and 
adze-carved boards of the old houses had their original color hidden 
under white man’s paint. In Wrangel, I made many color notes valu- 
able to my work, yet it was not until I reached the Great Glacier on the 
Stickine River that I caught the spirit of Alaska. Having waited two 
days for the dense fog to rise, I at last beheld a beautiful glacier partly 
covered with snow converging toward a small river of ice at the junction 
of the mountains. ‘The scene partly in sunlight gave me the first inspira- 
tion for the Tlingit decoration. I got the remainder of the subject in the 
Chileat River section at Kluekwan where two old women, seated in their 
peculiar fashion on their heels, were creating a blanket, stripping the 
cedar bark for warp and spinning the wool from the crude wool of the 
mountain goat. 
‘Yo obtain data for the second or Haida decoration, I went to Masset, 
Queen Charlotte Islands, but in all the twelve days spent there, I had but 
a few hours of sunshine in which to make sketches and so gather in the 
material I had located. ‘There were days of waiting and watching in the 
rain. When an opening came in the clouds I had to cover a hasty two 
miles along the sandy beach to catch on canvas the brilliancy of color 
displayed — gaining often a severe drenching as an additional reward. 
The Queen Charlotte Islands have long been inhabited by the most 
