115 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



shoulders and from the neck downward as far as the ribs extend, 

 and upon the back sometimes even farther. 



The characters are totemic and represent either animate or my- 

 thologic beings. They are usually drawn in outline, with interior 

 decorative lines, sometimes introducing red to form a pleasant con- 

 trast. The ceremonies at which tattooing is done are held in the 

 autumn, and extend over a period of several weeks. To complete 

 the designs upon any one person may require his subjection to the 

 operation at several different ceremonies. The figures generally 

 adopted — and I have examined a good many individuals of both 

 sexes — are the thunder-bird, raven, bear, skulpin, squid, etc. Upon 

 the extremities a figure is drawn to extend from near the elbow 

 down to the back of the hand, usually terminating with the head of 

 the bird or animal adopted. Upon the breast and back the figures 

 are frequently double, so that the middle of the sternum and spinal 

 column, form the dividing line from which the symmetrical figures 

 face outward towards either side.* 



The Haidas also carve in wood and slate in the form of columns, 

 the latter about twenty-four ihches high and the former reaching a 

 height of from ten to fifty feet. These totem posts are often placed 

 before the council-houses, and more frequently before private dwel- 

 lings. When the posts are the property of some individual, the 

 personal totei:nic sign is carved at the top. Other animate and 

 grotesque figures follow, in rapid succession, down to the base, so 

 that unless one is familiar with the mythology and folk-lore of the 

 tribe, the subject would be utterly unintelligible. A drawing was 

 made of one post with only seven pronounced carvings, but which 

 related to three distinct myths. The bear, in the act of devouring 

 a hunter or tearing out his heart, is met with on many of the posts, 

 and appears to form an interesting theme for the native artists. The 



* Dr. Heinrich Fischer describes a number of stone rehcs from Costa Rica, 

 several of them consisting of celts, etc., upon which are engraved human forms 

 similar, in almost every peculiarity, to the ruder forms of Haida carving. Upon 

 several of these carvings, the arms are placed horizontally across the front of the 

 body, so that the right hand rests upon the left side, and the left hand upon the 

 right, as if to express "hugging one's self" — contentment. The head gear also 

 presents similar resemblance to characters noticed among the carvings of the. 

 Haidas, as well as other peculiarities pertaining to artistic execution, etc. See 

 Abhandlungen des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins zu Bremen, Band VII, 1881, 



pp. 153-175- Pii- ix-xi. 



