18 
The habitations* are, in general, painted and decorated in various ways; but what 
was particularly remarkable in that which the French visited, was a picture somewhat 
like those which they had seen in the sort of redoubt erected in the small island of the 
strait, which occupied the head of the apartment, as is seen suspended in the drawing- 
rooms in Spain, over the Estrado, the picture of the Immaculate Conception, Surgeon 
Roblet has described this production of the fine arts of the North West Coast of America. 
‘Among a great number of figures very much varied, and which at first appeared to me,' 
says he 'to resemble nothing, I distinguished in the middle a human figure which its extra- 
ordinary proportions, still more than its size, render monstrous. Its thighs extended 
horizontally, after the manner of tailors seated, are slim, long, out of all proportion, and 
form a carpenter’s square with the legs which are equally ill-made; the arms extended 
in the form of a cross, and terminated by fingers, slender and bent. The face is twelve 
(French) inches, from the extremity of the chin to the top of the forehead, and eighteen 
inches from one ear to the other; it is surmounted by a sort of cap. Dark red.’ adds he, 
‘applegreen, and black are here blended with the natural colour of the wood, and distri- 
buted in symmetrical spots with sufficient intelligence to afford at a distance an agreeable 
object.’ 
We see, in the small islands which would scarcely be thought habitable, each habi- 
tation unth a portal that occupies the whole elevation of the forefront, surmounted by 
wooden statues erect, and ornamented on its jambs with carved figures of birds, fishes, 
and other animals; we there see a sort of temple, monuments in honour of the dead; 
and, what undoubtedly is no less astonishing, pictures painted on wood, nine feet long 
by five feet broad, on which all the parts of the human body, drawn separately, are repre- 
sented in different colours; the features of which, partly effaced, attest the antiquity of 
the work.” 
Carved house poles and portals, it appears from these excerpts, were 
already familiar at the close of the eighteenth century among several of 
the North West Coast nations. But we find no mention of totem poles 
or memorial columns proper anywhere, with the single exception of Van- 
couver’s statement concerning a Nootka village: “Near one or two of the 
most conspicuous mansions were carved figures in large logs of timber, 
representing a gigantic human form, with strange and uncommonly dis- 
torted features.” From this we conclude that they did not exist at the 
time in the villages which have since become so typically their home — 
those of the Queen Charlotte islands and the adjacent coast. 
The custom of carving and erecting memorial columns to the dead 
is, therefore, modern; it may exceed slightly the span of the last century. 
Can we without further data trace back its origin to its very birthplace? 
This is an open question. Yet we may without undue temerity reach out 
towards the likely solution. 
These tall monuments undoubtedly go back to simpler or smaller 
prototypes. Their elaboration solely depends upon the use of iron and 
steel tools, in other words, they are post-European. Small ceremonial 
objects — masks, rattles, charms, trays — were most common everywhere 
on the coast at the date of our earliest records {See Appendix J, whereas the 
only larger carvings were house posts, short, stumpy, and crude, that could 
be seen in some villages and differentiated the houses of the chiefs from the 
others. The evolution of this art from smaller carvings to larger ones 
repeated itself among the Gitksan, where the technique in the earliest 
poles is that of mask carving; the figures being carved out of the log as if 
they were affixed to its surface with wooden pegs. 
MppefKiii, No. 6, p. 200. Marchand’s "A Voyoffe , . . pp. 417, 418, 419. 
^Although the native."?, strictly speaking, could have carved large poles with their primitive tools, stone aies, 
bone knives, and beaver incisors. See tire concluding romarlis under “Tlie Poles of Kweeyaihl, at Kispayaks,” 
p. 91. 
i 
