THE INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST COAST. 



321 



The rudest form in which this art embodies itself is in the picto- 

 graphs on the rocks. These are found just above high-water mark 

 around the sites of ancient and abandoned villages. Two groups of 

 them, from the ancient village of Stikine, near Ft. Wrangell, Alaska, 

 are shown in Plate xx, and in Figs. 278, 279, 296, and 297. These have 



296 



297 



Figs. 278, 279, 296, 297. 

 Cakvings on Rocks. Sitka, Alaska. 



(From skelches by the author.) 



tio other significance than the practice in idle hours of an art in which 

 they were all striving to attain excellence. Some, outstripping others, 

 became in time famous carvers, decorators, or tattooers, their fame even 

 tfti:teMiiig beyond their own village or tribe. In one sense these carv- 

 H. Mis. 142, pt. 2 -21 



