10 



Occurrences of the Motive North of the 

 St. Lawrence River. 



PRIMARY AREA. GROUP 1: NASKAPI, 

 MONTAGNAIS, MISTASSINI. 



Naskapi. 



The Naskapi, in several related bands, inhabit nearly the 

 whole interior of the Labrador peninsula north of the height of 

 land dividing the Arctic watershed from that of the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence. These people paint their designs with pigments 

 made from bird's eggs and fish upon caribou skin articles of cloth- 

 ing, bags, utensils and the like. Although a little bead work is 

 done, the whole of Naskapi art may be included under painting. 

 Since these Indians and their neighbours remain today about 

 the most uninfluenced of the Algonkian tribes, we are enabled 

 through them to determine some of the earliest common charac- 

 teristics of the stock. 



In the Naskapi examples (Figs. 12, 13; Plate VIII) consider- 

 able uniformity prevails. The common type has a smaller curve 

 or two ellipses superimposed upon the centre of the main double- 

 curve, which generally has sweeping shallow sides. The effect 

 is very artistic. Practically no flowers except the three petal or 

 leaf-like pattern, which is found both north and south of the St. 

 Lawrence, appear in the designs of this tribe. No symbolism has 

 as yet been found, though when more is known we can speak 

 more definitely. The favourite scheme in the Naskapi figures 

 is for the double-curve to be side by side between rows of the 

 common Algonkian serrated stripes. This feature, appearing in 

 the figures, is common from the Penobscots northward to the 

 Naskapi, and is probably one of the most fundamental 

 features of the whole eastern field. 



An isolated example of the curve from the Labrador Eskimo, 

 probably derived from the Naskapi, is shown in Fig. 13 (b). 



Monlagnais. 



The bands of Indians who hunt south of the height of land 

 n the Labrador peninsula southward to the St. Lawrence river 



