194 YEARBOOK, PUBLIC MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE [Vol. II. 



developed to be a touchy subject with them, so we fed them well, Paul 

 eating twenty- seven pancakes, and made ready for our long paddle up 

 the river to Boulder against the current. We left at eleven and made 

 the dam at three twenty in the afternoon. There we proceeded to clean 

 up everything in the way of eatables, and to clean the outfit before 

 making camp. 



The other three canoe parties were in from Winegar, Tenderfoot, 

 and Star, all finishing in the specified four days. That evening, around 

 the fireplace, we listened to the account of the trips. 



THE HAIDA TOTEM POLE AT THE MILWAUKEE 

 PUBLIC MUSEUM 



By C. F. Newcombe, M. D.s* 



On the Northwest Coast of America, from Vancouver Island to 

 Alaska, there was developed in aboriginal times, a most unusual type 

 of culture, characterized by maritime pursuits, and a very high develop- 

 ment in the woodworking arts, especially wood bending and carving. 



This rugged coast line, in which the mountains come down to the 

 very shore and are cleft by many great fjords, is covered with a dense 

 forest of evergreens, particularly cedars. This was the particular en- 

 vironmental condition which gave rise to this great woodworking 

 industry. 



The most highly developed phase of this art is found in the great 

 totem poles, which have formed perhaps the most characteristic and 

 interesting feature of this region from the days of the earliest travelers 

 down to the present. And such poles are found nowhere else in the 

 world. 



Among the several tribes of Indians living in this environment and 

 having the same general cultural features, the Haida, living on the 

 Queen Charlotte group of Islands, were the best carvers. They are 



^*Dr. Newcombe went to Victoria as a retired physician in 1883, and his 

 interest in anthropolog'y soon brought him into contact with many of the tribes 

 of the Northwest Coast. In time he became a recognized authority on these 

 peoples and has collected extensively for the following museums in the United 

 States: the American Museum of Natural History, United States National 

 Museum, the University of Pennsylvania Museum and the Museum of the LTni- 

 versity of California, as well as for the British Museum, for the Victoria Me- 

 morial Museum of Ottawa, and for the Provincial Museum, at Victoria, B. C. 



Totem poles, which he has secured, are now in the following- of the larger 

 museums of the world: the British Museum; the Field Museum of Natural His- 

 tory, Chicago: the American Museum of Natural History, New York; the 

 United States National Museum, Washington, D. C; the LTniversity of Pennsyl- 

 vania Museum, Philadelphia; the Museum of the University of California, San 

 Francisco; the Brooklyn Institute Museum, the Museum of the Royal Gardens 

 at Kew, England, and at public museums at Liverpool, England, and Mel- 

 bourne, Australia. The one just secured by the Milwaukee Public Museum 

 is an exceptionally fine specimen of the type of carving which illustrates 

 family crests and stories relating thereto. — Editor. 



