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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 78 



that we have nothing to compare with it in America except among the 

 more highly civiUzed and developed tribes of the northwest coast, 

 Mexico, Yucatan and Peru. They attained a high grade of native art, 

 which was characterized especially by decoration in curves and soft 

 lines. There seems to be a distinction between this and the Eskimo 

 art of today, as if some other people were responsible for the older 

 culture ; but when one examines the skeletal remains there is no 

 indication of any other people except Eskimo and Indian in this 



l'"ic. 156. — Eskimo woman, Indian-like typo, and child, 

 Kevalina (Arctic). 



region at any period thus far represented in the collections. There- 

 fore it seems that for the present at least it must be accepted provi- 

 sionally that this culture was connected with the ancestors of the pres- 

 ent natives of these regions. This interesting old culture seems to 

 reach away along the American coasts : but it is not certain that its 

 arts were actually practiced everywhere along these coasts. One of 

 the most striking phenomena in these parts of the world is the exten- 

 sive trade that, according to many indications, was here carried on in 

 implements and other cultural objects. There is on the Kobuk River a 

 mountain which is called Jade Mountain. This mountain was early 



