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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roTEM poj.es of a totem pole to n'pi'cscnt tlic spciikcr or orator oniploycd by an Indian Iiost Ki^>K " l)anse are hollow figures in which a siaxc or ser\ant may he secreted to make speeches throuj^h the open mouth. Frequently such a ligure is carved standing' upon the head of another carved Hguri' representing' a slave, tentling to show that the owner ot" the house was rich in slaves. The art of the average totem pole is on the whole symbolic and conventional though rather realistic in appearance. This is true not only in the case of the totem poles but also in nearly all of the art of the Northwest Coast p(>oples. On the other hand, the same motifs, animal and human, may be employed for pui*ely decorati\e purposes and some of the baskets and occa- sionally blankets show geometric designs, many of which, however, probably symbolize ideas also, while decorative carvings without ?ynibolic meaning may be inserted here aiifl there on a totem pole to fill up blank spaces between the symbolic carvings. One method of conventionalizing a carving frequently consists in ex- aggerating some salient feature of the animal repre- sented; for instance the carvings of a beaver and a wolf look ^•ery nuicli alike e.Kcept that the beaver is indi- cated by prominent incisors and a flat tail. Again, the artist has sometimes distorted to fit the field what would otherwise ha\-e Ix'cn a nearly realistic figure or a slightly conventionalized one. It must not be forgotten that among Indians as among other peoples great artists are rare, and that men of w^ealth who desire to have a fine totem pole must pay enormous prices in such things as blankets, canoes or slaves in order to have the most perfect work. Carved house and grave posts are akin to totem poles. On entering the houses we find that some of the posts supporting the rafters are carved so much like totem poles that where a house has gone to decay and only the posts remain, they may quite naturally be mistaken for small totem poles. Sometimes the house posts are plain, and carved posts which do not bear any
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i Tliiifiit niod'.Tii lo- ti'in polf al Wraiigel, Alaska, cotUrasting sharply in idea with a niissiun chiirfh near. The lowest carving is a beaver as sliown by the teeth and tail

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