400 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 191 



them good is that they're old; I don't like the shiny new ones." 

 Others justified their preferences in terms of the origin legend, stating 

 that masks which represent the first False Face are the "most real," 

 "the most natural." Still others asserted that masks should be 

 "fierce looking," "weird," "scary," and one man amplified his state- 

 ment in a way which suggests that this criterion is related to the 

 Indians' conception of the function of the carvings. "The idea of a 

 mask is to have fright in it. They should be as frightful as possible 

 because they're supposed to chase away the evil spirits." 



A few people said that their preferences were based on originality. 

 "A really original way of making"; "Somebody had a pretty good 

 imagination on that one." Much more frequently verbalized, how- 

 ever, was the recognition that preference is likely to be the result of 

 familiarity. "I like it best because it looks something like a mask 

 I once had." "I've seen some that were similar." "It's most like 

 our type, like the masks we use around here." Sometimes familiarity 

 was combined with a sense of tribal pride at the supposed rarity of the 

 mask outside of Onondaga. "I'll bet they don't have any like this on 

 the other reservations. We have some like it around here though." 

 Pictures were often rejected because they did not "look Iroquois." 



In commenting on the photographs which they had selected as best, 

 many of my informants expressed their admiration for the workman- 

 ship of the carvings and the technical skUl of the carvers. "It's got 

 the best carving." "It has lots of work on it." "They sure used good 

 tools when they worked on that one." Pictures which were not liked 

 were judged to be too plain, too simple, too crude. "It doesn't require 

 much carving; could be made in a day." 



The material which I obtained through the use of photographs 

 essentially substantiates the generalizations derived from other 

 sources. Both carvers and noncarvers consider as "best" those com- 

 binations of forms (i.e. crooked-mouth masks) with which they are 

 most familiar; which are, in their opinion, the oldest, and therefore 

 the most typically Iroquois. The representative function or meaning 

 of the carvings also enters into their evaluations, for they prefer the 

 mask which tells the story of the first False Face and does not merely 

 symbolize, but literally depicts, his characteristics. Originality, as we 

 define it, is rarely operative and then only within the limits of the 

 traditional style. The taste of the Onondaga is narrower than 

 some of their statements would seem to imply. 



Insofar as there is a difi^erence between the standards of the carvers 

 and the rest of the community, it is one of degree, not kind. While 

 it is true that a greater proportion of carvers chose plate 100, b, a mask 

 which I consider to be more detailed and finished than those shown 

 in the other plates, my informants may not have seen these qualities 



