3 
The Great Plains had few trees and a plentiful food supply in the 
form of vast herds of buffalo, which also supplied material for tents, 
clothing, spoons, and other articles. 
The Eastern Woodlands area is characterized by forests, including the 
birch and sugar maple, and by wild rice swamps. The bark of the birch 
was formerly much used for covering lodges and canoes, for baskets, trays, 
and other things. Maple-sugar and rice made up perhaps one-third of the 
food of the people. Pottery was extensively made by both Algonkian and 
Iroquoian tribes, the Iroquoian pottery being well developed. Sculptured 
animal forms and geometric figures are numerous. 
The Arctic coast, or Eskimo area, also has its own peculiar character, 
but collections of prehistoric art from the Canadian Arctic are small and 
those from Alaska are large, so that this material cannot be considered 
distinctively Canadian. Furthermore, it comes from a region far from our 
manufacturing districts. It is consequently omitted from this album. 
The art of each regional division as a whole is so distinctive that it 
can never be mistaken for that of another division by any person acquainted 
with the art of both. Much less can it be mistaken for the art of distant 
countries, such as Mexico or Japan. A part of it is common to the art of 
neighbouring regions, just as the maple and beaver symbols of this Dominion 
are found beyond the limits of Canada. Only a few pieces of very simple 
lines or pieces lacking distinctive characteristics might be mistaken for 
objects from distant places. Some of the types are limited to small 
areas and may be useful in making trade-marks of those areas — for instance, 
the eleven peculiar seated human figures illustrated in Plates XV to XX 
are found only in the comparatively small area from Cowichan to Kamloops 
in British Columbia. 
MATERIALS 
The specimens illustrated are made of the following materials : one 
of iron, one of copper, about one hundred of stone, over two hundred of 
pottery, about thirty of bone, about ten of antler, three of teeth, about 
ten of shell, and one of wood. The objects of iron and wood, however, 
are modern. Pottery is found only from east of the Rockies. It reaches 
its highest excellence in Iroquoian sites of southern Ontario, where it is 
extremely plentiful. 
Most of the Pacific coast specimens are of stone with some duplicates, 
a considerable number are of bone with many duplicates, a few are of 
antler, a very few have inlays of shell, and there is one each of wood and 
iron, both modern. Most of the Plateau specimens are of stone and a 
considerable number are of bone. A few are of antler and a very few of 
teeth, shell, and copper. The Plains specimens also are mostly of stone. 
A few are of pottery, shell, and antler. Most of the Eastern Woodlands 
specimens are of pottery, and only about one-tenth are of stone. A few 
are of bone, a smaller number of shell, and one is of antler. 
The material of each object is mentioned in the legends, since it is 
clear that the material greatly affects the technique, and the technique 
affects the design. 
