Totem Poles

i31 -2'.,i3 0 129 1 I 28 5127 r rHE totem poles of t j Qakldoj 5 IBritish Columbia >AI ( i_Kisgagas and Alaska on the CO 6 I/e / /^ >~ ^n northwest coast of North G | itlarhdamks .Kispayaks America have long since Gitwinikul H a iet achieved world-wide re/'' , /h B R Ktwa I S pute. Their decorative 5V.4 ^ta ^ -^ / Gitsegyukla 55* -1 l_Lu, Cstyle at its best is unique Porta d and so effective that it is imet C 0LLIMn I A s nowhere surpassed in exS:Port S'mpson oi t 1 <iXilf^ Pr^n ecellence among the other Rup.e e'.se forms of aboriginal art at I '? o50? MILES large. They express native o-:4. ?:~ S\t . 50 KiLOMETERS , *I , THE GEOGR. REVIEW,.APR., 1930 personality and craftsmanFIG. i-The Nass and Skeena River basins. ship in terms impressive and intriguing. The museums of Europe and America treasure a number of them, principally from the Queen Charlotte Islands; some adorn the parks of our western cities. These picturesque creations, however, can be seen to full advantage only in their true home, at the edge of the ocean, amid tall cedars and hemlocks, and in the shadow of lofty mountains. With their bold profiles, reminiscent of Asiatic divinities and monsters, they conjure impressions strangely un-American in their surroundings of luxuriant dark-green vegetation under skies of bluish mist. The art of carving poles belongs to the past. Racial customs and stamina are on the wane everywhere, even in their former strongholds. Totem poles are no longer made. Many of them have fallen from old age, decayed, and disappeared. Some were sold, others removed in maritime raids without the consent or knowledge of the owners. Quite a few were destroyed by the owners themselves during hysterical revivals under a spurious banner of Christianity; for instance the poles of two Tsimsyan tribes, in the winters of 1917 and I918, at Gitlarhdamks and Port Simpson near the Alaskan frontier. Not even a remnant of the famous clusters of former days remains among the Haidas of the Queen Charlotte Islands. Barely a few are still left among the Bellacoolas, the Kwakiutl, and the Nootkas 258

Archaeology · Geography · Totem · American Environmental and Regional History · Archaeology and Natural History · History · Indigenous Studies and Ecology

• My Sisters Will Not Speak

  Open Access•Margaret M Bruchac, Margaret Bruchac•Curator The Museum Journal•2014

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