Wichita eagle., 1888-01-31
TOTEM POLES OF ALASKA.
How the Indians Preserve Their Family
History in Carvings, Mostly Of Wood.

How the Indians Preserve Their Family
History in Carvings, Mostly of Wood.
have said that the family histories are
regulated by the female side Of the house,
and this assertion would seem to indicate
that they have means Of preserving his
tories, rare culture among the North
American Indians This assertion Is true,
limited though the historical information
may be; and the means of preserving these
scant family facts is in carvings. mostly of
wood, in which art, it might be mentioned
here, these Alaskan and British Colum-
bian Indians probably excel all others on
the continent.
In front of their wooden houses are
often seen tall poles, sometimes towering
two or three times as high as their little
one-story huts, and carved on the outer
face from bottom to top These are called
totem" poles, and are nothing but long
sections of the tall trees OF the country,
which, after being carved on one side, are
placed in front of their houses. From q
great distance these make the village, al
ways just above high water mark on the
seashore, look as if it had q large fleet Of
vessels, with great thick masus, in its
front.
The carvings, while well done as
matter of workmanship, are of the mos:
diabolical character, and each totem pole
looks like sculptured representation of
so many linear yards of nightmare.
Grotesque and hideous beasts, birds and
fishes, with abnormal limbs, wings and
fins, staring eyes and grinning teeth, are
arranged one above the other, from bot
tom to top, like so many inlps of Satan
trying to reach the sky by climbing on
top of each other. Those knowing the
subject best soy these totem poles are
genealogical records or family trees.
Generally two are in front of each house,
one for the man and one for the woman;
but where there is only one it belongs, as
limited, to the woman, or the womap's
family history.
These Indians are divided, socially, into
clans, of more or less aristocratic preten-
sions, and each clan is named after some
beast, bird, fish or reptile, which the
carvings are supposed to represent. Thus,
to take the totem pole of the woman, the
carving at the top represents the clan to
which she belongs, as the raven, wolf or
whale clan, and by stretch of the imag
ination the beast, or what not, can be
made out of the sculpture, in most hide
Gus caricature, however The next below
is that Of her mother, and SO on down OH
the woman's side until the grass is reached
in some ancient female ancestor, each one
changing with the clan to which they be-
longed, and sometimes they are repeated
consecutively many times, as one wolf or
dogfish following another like pack of
wolves or string of fish.
The mans totem begins with himself
similar to that of his spouse, but here the
similarity ceases; for instead of continuing
backwards on his fathers side, to keep up
the resemblance, each recurring totem is
on his mothers side, and representing the
clans to which she and her female ances-
tors belonged, making both of the totem
poles and their numerous carvings repre-
sent only the many clans to which the
women belonged, with the single excep-
tion of the one noted, which stands for the
''lord of creation in the household before
whose door the totem pole rears its quaint
and curious carved column Frederick
Schwatka in Demorest's Monthly