18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE IsTATIOITAL MUSEUM vol.73 



Another form of sudatory like that of the Nez Percys, figured and 

 described by Spinden/ is on the west bank of the Columbia 6 miles 

 below the confluence of the Methow River. It is also identical with 

 that of the Shuswap, Cree, Tinne, and other northern peoples. 



The skin-covered conical tent appears never to have been intro- 

 duced into the valley of the Columbia. The framework of the conical 

 mat-covered tipi of the Columbia River tribes is probably a local 

 development and was apparently not introduced from the Shoshoni 

 with the horse. The difiBculty encountered by the Columbia River 

 Indians in transporting skins of the buffalo from the east, beyond 

 the Rocky Mountains, prevented any considerable use of the products 

 of the buffalo. Danger of contact with hostile tribes probably also 

 prevented the acquiring of obsidian from the east, deposits of which 

 occur at various points in the volcanic area of the Yellowstone and of 

 the Snake River Valleys. Essential characteristics in the art designs 

 of the ancient Columbia River Indians and in the mode of their appli- 

 cation and execution are those of the historic Indian tribes of the 

 middle and upper Columbia Basin. They are similar, in many in- 

 stances identical, with those of the tribes of southern British Columbia 

 on the north, the Nez Percys on the east, and in a more limited, though 

 none the less definite manner, with those executed on certain plastic 

 materials as sandstone, wood, and born, by the Shoshonean and other 

 southern stocks. Both curvilinear and rectilinear surface designs 

 are applied by etching with bone, stone, or horn points, by rubbing, 

 and by crumbling, though to a lesser extent also by carving out of 

 the solid, by chipping, drilling, and by burning. 



A small slab of sedimentary sandy limestone was used as a tablet 

 by the ancient dwellers at Wahluke on which to sketch decorative 

 surface designs resembling somewhat the veins and outHne form of a 

 lanceolate-shape leaf. No evidence was obtained that such objects 

 had ever been worn as pendants or that they represented more than 

 casual sketches by some artistically inclined aborigine. The etched 

 design is identical with that described by Harlan I. Smith from a 

 sandstone pipe of the Nez Perces. 



Etched designs are more commonly applied to such media as den- 

 talium shell and elk horn or bone than to other varieties of shell, of 

 stone, or of wood. Rectilinear designs are commonly etched on bowls 

 of tubular pipes of stone, also on stone weaving and plaiting imple- 

 ments. Etching tools are simple yet effective. Some of the more 

 interesting and ingenious devices are two-point compasses and spaced 

 grooving tools. A few beautiful etching tools or points of chipped 

 jasper, chalcedony, and agate are remarkable for the almost micro- 

 scopical dimensions of the working surfaces. Designs executed with 



• The Nez Perc6 Indians, vol. 2, pt. 3, p. 199, Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association. 



