Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo11amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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82 Tin: .iMKiifc.ix Mrsi:r.)/ .lornx.n. r House post from Comox, British Columbia, now in the American Mu- seum. Speaker represented as standing on the head of a slavei ari' scMoiii if cxcf owned hy ;iii iii(li\ idiial hiit ratlicr liv ;i family or on foi' I he dilliculty in ficttinj:; po.sscs.sion of totem poles is that the Indians who still retaiti their ref^ard tor old customs and institu- tions will not think of partinj; with one of these sxinhols of aristocracy, which is also interwo\"en with their religious i<leas. If, on the other hand, the Museum representative i^oes to the Indians who lia\(J)een under the iuHuence of mis.sionaries and Govern- ment teachers, he finds that they have no totem poles, for ahnost as fast as the Indian loses his regard for the totem pf)les lie is willinu to chop them up and hui'u them. He is often urged to do so by the missionaries who desire to remo\e every re- minder of the old life, believ- ing that the Indian will then quickly adjust himself to the new ways taught by tin' white men. Notwithstanding the dif- ficulty in getting possession of totem poles, the American Museum is relatively rich in these primitive carvings, the Haida and Kwakiutl being best represente<l, the Tlingit anfl Tsimpshian least sati.sfac- torily. Altogether there are some fifty specimens in the Museum'scollection which for the most part is on exhibition in the North Pacific Hall. (arv.d iiouse post, Bella Bella
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