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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1884)
250 THE WEST SHORE. THE OARVINOS AND HERALDIC PAINTINGS OF THE HAIDA INDIANS. ARLY in the spring of 1883 1 was instructed by Pro J fumtui' Euud, chief executive officer of the Smith sonian Institute of Wellington, to visit Queen Char lotte Islands, British Columbia, and further investigate the subjects indicated by the heading of this article. I accordingly proceeded to that group of islands in June, 188U, and remained all summer, making collections for the United States Fish Commission the National Mu seum and the 13ureau of Ethnology, and was enabled, by the assistance of a very intelligent young Haida, who octed ns interpreter, to decipher the moaning of the carvings on the heraldic and mortuary columns and totem jxdes, and the hieroglyphic paintings and drawings of those interesting natives. Careless and casual observers term all Indian carvings as idols or objects of worship. Hut the Indian is not an idolater; ho does not Ixjw down or worship the image of created things. His worship is socret, and performed in boohoiib of retirement in the dopths of the forest His ideas of the existence of a Deity are vague at best; and the lines of separation Iwtwoon it and necromancy, medi cal magic and domonology are too faintly separated to allow him to Hiak with discrimination. The Indian's necessities of language at all times require personifica tions, and his carved columns are picture writings readily understcxxl by all. They are logonds of advontures of giants and dwarfs, and whilo he amuses with the teles of the conflicts between monsters and demons, fairies and enchanters, ho also throws in some few grains of instruc tion in tho form of allegory and fablo, which enable us to jxircoivo glimps( of tho heart and its affections. The mythical belief of tho Ilaidas is similar to tho Algonkin. Tho Raven, or Nekilstes, of tho Haidu is like Mmabozho of tho Algrics and Hiawatha of tho Iroquois. Ho has all tho iMwors of n deity, and can assume any shape he pleases; and ho of tho Hoorts, or Grizzly B,)lir, the Kkana, or Killer (orca), the Helinga, or Thunder Bird, ete. This play letwoon tho zoonic and mortal shapes of heroes must constantly bo observed in high as well as in ordinary characters. To have the name of ftn animal, or bird, or reptile, is to have his lowers. The ordinary domcwtio life of tho Indian is described in plain words and phrases; but whatever is mysterious or almtract must bo brought under mythological grP8 ftlul infllJ0nc08 Bird and quadrupeds must lie made to talk, and even the clouds, which chose each other in brilliant hues and constantly changing forms in the heavens, constitute a pocies of wild pictography which ho can interpret The phenomena of storms and meteorological changes connect themselves, m tho superstitious mind, with some en grossing my thos or nymlxd. Ih IH7I I omawttonl Urn tod. f .) ;.. ... ; to W fcoptd U1 Wd to h.nh In w,oo. ud wUloh It U Figure 1, which, as drawn by my Indian assistant. Johnny Kit Elswa, represents cirrus clouds, or, as sailors term them, "mare's tails and macWl pW" precursors of a change of weather. The centre figare ig T'kul, the wind spirit On the right and left are his feet which are indicated by long streaming clouds; above are the wings, and on each side are the different winds each designated by an eye, and represented by the patches of cirrus clouds. "When T'kul determines which wind is to blow, he gives the word and the other winds retire. The change in the weather is usually followed by rain which is indicated in the tears which stream from the eyes of T'kul. Figure 2 represents the raven (hooyeh) in the whale (koone). The Haidas are not whalemen, like the Makaha of Cope Flattery, and I never knew of their killing a whale; but occasionally a dead whale drifts ashore having been killed by whalemen, or sword fish, or kilta. The Haidas do not care to look for natural causes, but adopt the mythological dogma that the raven goes into the Bea and is swallowed by the whale, and assumim? - . o another shape causes a dreadful griping in the whale's belly, which, frantio with pain, rushes ashore, while the invisible h(xiyeh walks quietly out and is ready for an- other adventure. Figure 3 represents the killer ( orca ateA which the Haidas believe to be a demon who is named "Skana," He can change into any desired form, and many are the legends about him. One which was related to me was that ages ago the Indians were out hunting for seals. The weather was calm and the sea smooth. One of these killors, or black fish, a species of txM-rxrise. keot alongside J. X A of a canoe, and the young men amused themselves by tnrowing stones from the canoe ballast and hitting the fin of the killer. After some nrettv hard blows from w these rocks the creature made for the shore, where it grounded on the beach. Soon a smoke was seen and their curiosity prompted them to ascertain the cause; but as they reached the shore they discovered, to their sur prise, tnat it was a large canoe; and not the Skana, that was on the beach, and that a man was on shore cooking some food. He asked them why they threw stones at his canoe. "You have broken it," said he, "and now you go into the woods and get some cedar wythes and mend it" They did so, and when they had finished the man said. " Tlirn Willi Vtnilra 4s 4-Yn mninn arA flnVflf VflUT jwui unvao 1AJ luc navui auu j heads with your skin blankets, and don't you look till I call you." They did so, and heard the canoe grate on tho beach as Bhe was hauled down to the surf. Then the man said, " Now look" They lookbd and saw the canoe just going over the first breaker and the man sitting in the stern; but when she came to the second breaker she went under it and presently came up outside of the break- o a h juner ana not a canoe, and the" man, or aemou, was m its bellv. Thi 11a rmrv ia Anmmnn Am Oil f? all the tribes of the Northwest Coast, and even with the interior u-ioes, witu whom the salmon takes the place of th orca, which nevnr nar,,io n. t i i Ti.n flhilcat - wmu mtj ixobu water nvoio. and other tribes of Alaska carve figures of salmon, inside