The
Pillars That Had Supported The Ridgepole Were Still Standing In Some
Of The Ruins.
They were all, as far as I observed, carved into
life-size figures of men, women, and children, fishes, birds, and
various other animals, such as the beaver, wolf, or bear.
Each of the
wall planks had evidently been hewn out of a whole log, and must have
required sturdy deliberation as well as skill. Their geometrical
truthfulness was admirable. With the same tools not one in a thousand
of our skilled mechanics could do as good work. Compared with it the
bravest work of civilized backwoodsmen is feeble and bungling. The
completeness of form, finish, and proportion of these timbers
suggested skill of a wild and positive kind, like that which guides
the woodpecker in drilling round holes, and the bee in making its
cells.
The carved totem-pole monuments are the most striking of the objects
displayed here. The simplest of them consisted of a smooth, round
post fifteen or twenty feet high and about eighteen inches in
diameter, with the figure of some animal on top - a bear, porpoise,
eagle, or raven, about life-size or larger. These were the totems of
the families that occupied the houses in front of which they stood.
Others supported the figure of a man or woman, life-size or larger,
usually in a sitting posture, said to resemble the dead whose ashes
were contained in a closed cavity in the pole. The largest were
thirty or forty feet high, carved from top to bottom into human and
animal totem figures, one above another, with their limbs grotesquely
doubled and folded. Some of the most imposing were said to
commemorate some event of an historical character. But a telling
display of family pride seemed to have been the prevailing motive.
All the figures were more or less rude, and some were broadly
grotesque, but there was never any feebleness or obscurity in the
expression. On the contrary, every feature showed grave force and
decision; while the childish audacity displayed in the designs,
combined with manly strength in their execution, was truly wonderful.
The colored lichens and mosses gave them a venerable air, while the
larger vegetation often found on such as were most decayed produced a
picturesque effect. Here, for example, is a bear five or six feet
long, reposing on top of his lichen-clad pillar, with paws
comfortably folded, a tuft of grass growing in each ear and rubus
bushes along his back. And yonder is an old chief poised on a taller
pillar, apparently gazing out over the landscape in contemplative
mood, a tuft of bushes leaning back with a jaunty air from the top of
his weatherbeaten hat, and downy mosses about his massive lips. But
no rudeness or grotesqueness that may appear, however combined with
the decorations that nature has added, may possibly provoke mirth.
The whole work is serious in aspect and brave and true in execution.
Similar monuments are made by other Thlinkit tribes.
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