THE GRAPHIC ART OF THH ESKIMOS. 



By WALTER JAMES HOFFMAN, M. D., 



Honorary Curator. Ethnological Museum, Catholic University of America, Washing- 

 Ion, 1). C. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In the selection of appropriate materials upon which to inscribe 

 his thoughts, primitive man w-as governed to a great extent by his 

 environment. 



In a country abounding in rocks and cliffs, it was but natural for 

 him to portray upon a smooth conspicuous surface the record of an 

 exploit, or a character to direct his companions on the right trail or 

 to a convenient camping place. In that portion of the West known 

 as the &quot; Great Plains,&quot; rock pictures are of seldom occurrence. The 

 numerous tribes of many different languages were hunters of the 

 buffalo, and in their frequent movements from place to place found 

 the skin of that animal, as well as that of the deer, the most con 

 venient. Along the shores of the Great Lakes, where the white birch 

 is of frequent occurrence, the Indians employ the bark of this tree for 

 their mnemonic and other records. The bark, when fresh, is tough, 

 and retains permanently the slightest markings indented or incised 

 upon it by means of a sharply pointed bone or nail. 



Various Indian tribes employ, also, other substances, such as bone, 

 wood, and various arrangements of shell beads, as well as feathers and 

 textile substances, to convey special forms of information. 1 



The Iimuit or Eskimo of Alaska utilize the tusks of the walrus, and 

 in occasional instances the horns of the reindeer. The tusks are cut 

 longitudinally into rods, upon the faces of which delicate engravings 

 or etchings are made, the depressions or incisions thus produced being 

 filled with black or some other color so as to heighten the effect. 



The Eskimo of Greenland, Labrador, and the remaining portions of 

 the Arctic regions east of the delta of the Mackenzie Eiver, use flat 

 pieces of wood upon which to exercise their more primitive skill at art 

 ornamentation. Although ivory is abundant in some portions of the 

 Melville Peninsula, yet it appears generally absent in the collections 

 from that region. 



details and history of pictography, see the writer s &quot; Beginnings of Writing.&quot; 



D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1895. 



749 



