54 



TSIMSHIAN MYTHOLOGY 



witli the crest designs (if the wearer. Greaves were worn over the 

 shins, and the head was covered with a helmet. 



Household utensils, canoes, and practically all objects utilized by 

 the natives, are elaborately decorated. This is true particularly of 



then woodwork. The style 

 of decoration is very char- 

 acteristic. Only animal mo- 

 1 Lves are applied, each design 

 generally consisting of a com- 

 bination of various parts of 

 an animal's body, whose 

 forms, although highly con- 

 ventionalized, are easily rec- 

 ognized. The conventional 

 type of this art is based 

 on the principle, so common 

 in the art of children and 

 of primitive people, of representing what appear to the artist 

 as the essential parts of the animal, with little regard to their 

 arrangement in space. This method of representation is developed 

 here to a high artistic perfection. In general, the artist endeavors 



inted skin blanket. 



by distortion and dissection to fit the whole animal as nearly 

 as possible into the decorative field. This is frequently accom- 

 plished by splitting the animal in two, and by representing 



