THE INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST COAST. 317 



to the materials of which these native dishes are made, they may be 

 divided into wooden and horn. In shapes they may be classified as 

 boat-shaped, flat, square, round, spherical, oblong, and tub-shaped. 

 They are all essentially food dishes, but one or two exceptions will here- 

 after be noted. In the large feasts given by the chiefs, ceremonial dishes 

 are used, differing in size and character from the ordinary household 

 variety. Figs. 191 and 192, Plate xxxviii, represent the two extremes 

 of this type of dish, the former being deep, painted in totemic design, 

 and ornamented with opercula, while the latter is shallow and deeply 

 carved but not otherwise ornamented. Figs. 195 and 199 represent 

 another type of ordinary food dish with rounded sides and elaborate 

 relief carving, the former being a top and the latter a side view. 

 Other varieties are discussed in connection with the explanations of 

 illustrations. 



" Fig. 198 is a carved wooden treasure-box. The larger boxes of 

 this type are used for transportation, and storage cases for dog- 

 fish oils, dried fish, and other food supplies, and are often as large as 

 24 inches in height by 14 inches in breadth. These must be distin- 

 guished from the household boxes used for the storage of goods and 

 chattels. These latter are lighter and more beautifully carved and 

 painted. The former are heavier and clumsier, and, although carved, 

 are generally soiled with oil and grease. It is in this style of box that 

 the Indians transport eulachon and other kinds of oil, grease, or fats 

 in quantities of 100 pounds or more. The chests or household boxes 

 are described in another paragraph. Boxes of a shape corresponding 

 to Figs. 195 and 199, also used for food and supplies of grease, are 

 often as large as 20 inches in length by 12 inches in height. Fig. 209, 

 Plate XL, represents a tub shaped dish, ornamented with a totemic de- 

 sign. A specimen of this kind in the U. S. T^ational Museum measures 

 32 inches in length and 17 inches in extreme height. It may be noted 

 in passing that these native wooden dishes are now being rapidly su- 

 perseded by cheap earthernware purchased from the traders. Dishes 

 and spoons have been made on the coast from the horns of the mountain 

 sheep and goat from time immemorial. The Haida have excelled all 

 others, however, in the art of carving in general and inlaying in shell, 

 yet curiously enough they have to get the horn by trade with the 

 Tsimshian and Tliugit on the mainland, as the goats and sheep are only 

 found in the loftiest parts of the main coast ranges. Fig. 217 repre- 

 sents an end view of an elaborately carved Haida horn dish, of which a 

 side view is not unlike Figr 209. A top view of a similar dish is shown 

 in Fig. 222. 



Spoons and ladles. — Plates XLi and XLii illustrate a sufficient variety 

 of spoons to give an idea of how elaborately so simple a household 

 article as this is carved and ornamented. The first mentioned plate 

 shows a variety of horn spoons, Fig. 218 being a representative one in 



