368 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 191 



flower oil. When they are put away it must be face downward, as to 

 be laid with the face up intimates that they are dead, which greatly 

 offends them. If masks are hung on the wall, they should be covered 

 or turned inward lest they cause possession. Some have special 

 powers to warn their owners of impending sickness or death, which 

 they do by sweating, falling from the wall, or speaking out; one old 

 Seneca mask was thought to be able to instruct newer masks and was 

 laid away with them for that purpose. Other false faces are noto- 

 riously bad tempered and hard to please. These are known as 

 "poison" and are a source of much trouble and anxiety to their owners 

 as they must be worn often and require a great deal of tobacco. To 

 mock any mask, to speak disrespectfully to it or of it, brings dire con- 

 sequences on the offender. Illness or a crooked face result and can be 

 cured only when the mask is used in a ceremony and propitiated with 

 an offering of tobacco. 



STYLE 



There is little stylistic relationship between the masks and the other 

 woodcarvings of the Iroquois. Whereas simplicity and restraint 

 are characteristic of the figures on bowls, spoons, and other objects, 

 the masks show an elaboration of form and a concern with detail that 

 sometimes tend toward the grotesque. Although this disparity in 

 style seems to place false faces outside the main traditions of Iroquois 

 art and could be attributed to the fact that they were acquired from 

 another culture, an equally plausible explanation lies in the relation 

 of form to function. As portraits of the powerful and dangerous 

 Hodo'vn, the masks must reflect the attributes of these beings, and so 

 it is not unnatural that they should have an emotional quality that 

 is absent from carvings which serve a less dramatic purpose. 



Although differing in detail, all false faces share certain character- 

 istics which give them the same general effect and constitute a single 

 style. The carving is in high relief and the features, though dis- 

 tinctly human, are always distorted or exaggerated. The eyes are 

 deeply set and rimmed with wide pieces of sheet metal, while the nose 

 is usually long with a high bridge and may be bent to one side. The 

 most variable feature is the mouth which may be twisted, puckered, 

 smiling, distended, or flaring; teeth or a protuding tongue are frequent 

 additions. Most masks have deeply cut wrinldes around the mouth 

 or eyes, and some have a crest of spines on the forehead or nose. 

 Horsehair, either black or white, is fastened at the top and hangs down 

 in long locks on each side of the face. As a rule, masks are painted 

 one solid color, either black or red. Occasionally, however, both red 

 and black will be used on a single false face, the coloration being 

 divided by a vertical line down the center of the mask. 



