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 beadwork 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 
isfor 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). 
Montagnais. 
The bands of Indians who hunt south of the height of land 
in the Labrador peninsula southward to the St. Lawrence river 
