102 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 82, 



Other grease dishes aud food dishes have 

 the form of canoes, and here I believe a 

 similar idea has given rise to the form. 

 The canoe symbolizes that a canoe load of 

 food is presented to the guests, and that this 

 view is probably correct is indicated by the 

 fact that in his speeches the host often refers 

 to the canoe filled with food which he gives 

 to his guests. The canoe form is often 

 modified, and a whole series of types can be 

 established forming the transition between 

 canoe dishes and ordinary trays. Dishes 

 of this sort always bear a conventionalized 

 face at each short end, while the middle 

 part is not decorated. This is analogous to 

 the style of the decoration of the canoe. 

 The design represents almost always the 

 hawk. I am not certain what has given 

 origin to the prevalence of this design. On 

 the whole the decoration of the canoe is 

 totemistic. It may be that it is only the 

 peculiar manner in which the beak of the 

 hawk is represented which has given rise to 

 the prevalence of this decoration. The 

 upper jaw of the hawk is always shown so 

 that its point reaches the lower jaw and 

 turns back into the mouth. When painted 

 or carved in front view the beak is indi- 

 cated by a narrow wedge-shaped strip in 

 the iniddle of the face, the point of which 

 touches the lower margin of the chin. The 

 sharp bow and stern of a canoe with a pro- 

 file of a face on each side, when represented 

 on a level or slightly rounded surface, would 

 assume the same shape. Therefore, it may 

 be that originally the middle line was not 

 the beak of the hawk, but the foreshortened 

 bow or stern of the canoe. This decoration 

 is so uniform that the explanation given 

 here seems to me very probable. 



On halibut hooks we find very often 

 decorations representing the squid. The 

 reason for selecting this motive must be 

 looked for in the fact that the squid is used 

 for baiting the hooks. 



I am not quite certain if the decoration 



of armor and weapons is totemistic or sym- 

 bolic. Remarkably many helmets represent 

 the sea lion, many daggers the bear, eagle, 

 wolf and raven, while I have not seen one 

 that represents the killer whale, although it 

 is one of the ornaments that are most fre- 

 quently shown on totemistic designs. 



I presume this phenomenon may be ac- 

 counted for by a consideration of the ease 

 with which the conventionalized forms lend 

 themselves to decorating certain parts of im- 

 plements. It is difiicult to imagine how the 

 killer whale should be represented on the 

 handle of a dagger without impairing its 

 usefulness. On the other hand, the long 

 thin handles of ladles made of the horn of 

 the big horn sheep generally terminate 

 with the head of a raven or of a crane, the 

 beak being the end of the handle. This form 

 was evidently suggested by the slender tip 

 of the horn, which is easily carved in this 

 shape. The same seems to be true in the 

 cases of lances or knives, the blades of which 

 are represented as the long protruding 

 tongues of animals, but it may be that in 

 this case there is a complex action of a 

 belief in the supernatural power of the 

 tongue and in the suggestions which the 

 decorator received from the shape of the 

 object he desired to decorate. 



To sum up, it seems that there are a 

 great number of cases of decoration which 

 cannot be considered totemistic, but which 

 are either symbolic or suggested by the 

 shape of the object to be decorated. It 

 seems likely that totemism was the most 

 powerful incentive in developing the art 

 of the natives of the [N'orth Pacific coast ? 

 but the desire to decorate in certain con- 

 ventional forms once established, these 

 forms were applied in cases in which there 

 was no reason and no intention of using 

 the totemistic mark. The thoughts of the 

 artist were influenced by considerations 

 foreign to the idea of totemism. This is 

 one of the numerous ethnological pheno- 



