ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLEIIN 



ERECTING THE TOTEM-POLE AND HOUSE. 

 September 23, 1004. 



A TLINKIT TOTEM-POLE 



OF all the industrial ])r()diRTs i)f our Ala>kan 

 Indians, there is none which e(|uals the 

 totem-pole. Ethnolocrfrnllv it is everything that 

 could be desired, and its spertacular value is very 

 great. We know of no other savasre carvings quite 

 equal in scope to the giant tree-trunks of the .Alas- 

 kan coast that have been fashioned into columnar 

 masses of bears, beavers, cetaceans, men, birds, 

 and other things too numerous to mention. 



It is not strange that enterprising collectors of 

 ethnological materials cast covetous eyes upon 

 the totem-poles of the Haidah, Tlinkit, and other 

 Indians of Alaska. Some enterprising citizens of 

 Seattle once sequestrated a-very fine totem-pole, 

 and later erected it in a public square in the town 

 of continuous hills. And subsequently, the Indian 

 owners of the pole sued the city of Seattle for its 



\alue. and actually recovered 82,500. thereby li.xing 

 the value of such carvings. 



When the Harriman .Alaska E.xpedition touched 

 at Cape Fox. in July, iSgq, they found there an 

 abandoned Tlinkit Indian village, before which 

 stood several interesting and well-pre.served totem- 

 poles. Inasmuch as all the former inhabitants 

 had departed never to return, and the whole village 

 was going to decay, Mr. E. H. Harriman decided 

 to bring away the chief's house and the lofty totem- 

 pole which stood in front of it. With great labor 

 the huge pole was hoisted aboard the steamer 

 George W. Elder, and stowed away. The house 

 was successfully taken to pieces, and handled 

 with le.ss difficulty. 



On the arrival of the E.xpedition at Seattle, both 

 these gigantic "specimens" were presented to the 



