'^°No.°^"4r^^' IROQUOIS MASKS AT ONONDAGA — ^HENDRY 399 



the Seneca, since Fen ton found formal types on their reservations 

 which I did not observe at Onondaga (e.g., tongue-protruding, hanging- 

 mouth, and divided masks). 



By asking each of my informants to choose from a series of eight 

 photographs of Iroquois masks the one which he liked the best and 

 to give reasons for his choice, I was able to cross-check on generaliza- 

 tions derived from the other two sources and to obtain more explicit 

 information as to the criteria by which the carvings are judged. 

 Twenty persons were interviewed; fourteen men, of whom ten were 

 carvers, and six women. In discussing the statements of these in- 

 dividuals, I have focused on the differences between the carvers 

 and "the rest of the community" as represented by the other 10 

 informants. 



The photographs that I used are those of masks owned by the 

 American Museum of Natm-al History in New York City. Only two 

 of them are dated and identified as to tribe, but they are all traditional 

 Iroquois types. They include three crooked-mouth masks, three 

 tongue-protruding, one straight-lipped and one husk-face (pis. 100- 

 103). Since I interviewed my informants separately, their reactions 

 to the pictures may be considered independent in that, at the time they 

 were looking at them, they were not influenced by the comments or 

 opinions of anyone else. 



There was almost complete agreement among the Indians as to 

 which photographs they preferred. One or the other, or both, of two 

 pictures was judged to be the best by 18 out of 20 people. The one 

 chosen by the majority (7 carvers and 8 noncarvers) depicts a crooked- 

 mouth mask with a broken nose and many wi'inldes (pi. 100, a). This 

 type is most common among all the Iroquois tribes and apparently 

 carries the greatest prestige, for it represents the first False Face as he 

 is described in the origin legend. The picture which ranked second 

 is that of a mask which displays to a marked degree the quality I have 

 labeled technical excellence (pi. 100, h). It was judged best or was 

 preferred along with plate 100, a, by seven persons, six of whom are 

 carvers. 



While the choices made by my informants seem to indicate a uni- 

 formity in the taste standards of the group, the explanations which 

 accompanied these choices were remarkably diverse. Nor was there 

 any particular correspondence between the choices and the verbal- 

 izations about them, since different reasons were offered for selecting 

 the same picture and, conversely, different pictures were selected for 

 the same reason. Many people gave more than one reason, and only 

 one man was not able to explain his choice. 



A number of the Onondagas considered antiquity to be the most 

 important criterion. "The oldest masks are best." "What makes 



