388 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 191 



ment and the answer was invariably "no one." Some seem to be of 

 the opinion that carving is a native characteristic, insisting that "all 

 Indians carve," "it comes natural to us," "it's just in us." Even 

 Floyd Doctor, who admitted that he learned to make masks when the 

 Indian Arts Project was established at Tonawanda, made the state- 

 ment that carving is instinctive. Others, although they emphatically 

 denied that they had been taught to carve, said that they had picked it 

 up from watching the old men. "It's a matter of interest. If you see 

 other people carving, you will want to start too." Only one of the 

 carvers said that he had acquired his interest from a relative, in this 

 case an uncle. The rest could not remember that any member of their 

 family had ever carved before. 



While there is certainly more verbal instruction than the carvers 

 are willing to admit, it is quite possible most do master the essentials 

 of the art without formal training. The technical processes of wood- 

 carving are fairly smiple as compared to pottery or metalworking and 

 are such that they can be acquu'ed by observation and imitation as 

 described by one of the men. "A man will stand around and watch 

 another man work. Then he wUl get his own piece of wood and 

 start as best he can." Nor is there any expenditure of time or money 

 involved in gathering the materials and equipment, since wood can 

 be easily obtained anywhere on the reservation and the only indispen- 

 sable tool is a knife. I was told that many boys, even Christians, start 

 a maskette and then become discom'aged when the wood splits or it 

 turns out to be more difficult than they had supposed. As Christians 

 have no use for the masks, they rarely continue, whUe Council House 

 people who are not successful in thek first attempt are also lil^ely to 

 give it up. Floyd Henhawk is one of those who said he had tried 

 carving but found it too difficult. 



In the last few years there has been an opportunity to learn mask- 

 making not mentioned by any of my informants. The class in 

 Indian lore inaugurated by Pete Hest brings the carvers together at 

 the community center on an average of once a week in winter, and 

 many work on their masks during these sessions. Although Hest is 

 not himself a carver, he encourages the Indians in their efforts and 

 there is undoubtedly some instruction or at least advice offered to 

 the beginners by the more experienced. Indeed, one of the men told 

 me that he was in the habit of giving pointers to others and helping 

 them over some of the more difficult problems. 



Two of the carvers, Lee and Kenneth Thomas, have received art 

 training outside of the reservation, as they studied drawing while 

 attending high school in Sjo-acuse. Lee still does some painting, 

 mostly watercolors of Indians wearing masks. Neither of them, 

 however, could see any connection between these classes and their 



