212 
too involved, the symbolism too obscure and too far removed from 
our trends of thought for us to assimilate this exotic style of art, 
which, however attractive in certain respects, fails to blend with our 
traditional styles. We can understand and appreciate better, per- 
haps, the fine portrait masks that are also found along the British 
Columbia coast, especially in the southern part where the artists 
more frequently abandoned the usual conventionalized style and 
strove after absolute realism. 
The small ivory carvings of the I]skimo deserve a few words 
of commendation, particularly the animal figurines and sculpt urings 
in high relief. The earlier engravings were practically limited to 
geometrical patterns, but since the introduction of iron the Eskimo 
have developed a vivid ])icture-writing remarkable for its delicacy 
and the life of the individual figures. The finest carvings and engrav- 
ings in ivory come from Alaska, where the art is now thoi'oughly 
commercialized, but the natives of Baffin island and Labrador also 
i:)roduce some excellent figurines. 
The peculiar paintings and carvings of the Pacific Coast natives 
had their counterpart in the “ Chilcat ” blankets, which the Tsim- 
shian Indians of the Skeena and Nass rivers, and their Tlinkit 
neighbours in southeastern Alaska, wove from goat’s wool and 
shreddexl cedar bark on a primitive, shuttleless loom. The ground or 
field of this blanket was divided into three panels, of which the 
middle and largest usually contained a representation of an animal 
figure, so conventionalized that it resembled discrete blocks of geo- 
metrical designs with one or more human-like faces standing out in 
bold relief. The side panels, which were pi'actically identical with 
each other, contained similar geometric patterns arranged without 
(lefinite relation other than a regard to symmetry. The gracefully 
curved lines, the symmetry of the block patterns and the soft colours, 
black, pale blue, pale yellow, and white, combined to make these 
blankets very decorative. The oldest specimens, however, have only 
very simple geometric designs like those on the blankets made by 
the Coast Salish Indians farther south, so that probably the more 
ornamental forms that copy the style of painting did not originate 
until comparatively recent times, after the early fur trade had 
brought unexpected wealth to the Tsimshian and stimulatefl a rich 
