Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1898-12-11
ous and elaborate ornamentation.

A totem is crest or coat OF arms
of a tribe. There are enough tOtems III
these collections to illustrate an ency-
clopedia of heraldry. They are all sig
nificant moreover, as the learned doc
tor explains with clearness in his pic
turesque report on the plastic arts OF
the North Pacific Indians which was
published in last years Museum Bulle-
tin. DR.. BoaZ says that this art, like
the art of all other savage tribes, is
animal-that is, begins with drawings
of animals. These drawings become
more sketchy and conventional as the
decorative instinct develops, and after
a while is geometric, with little OF the
characteristics of its origin.
NOT UP TO GEOMETRY.
The North Pacific Indians have not
reached the geometric stage yet. The
designs Of their decorative work, cary
ing, painting, weaving and tatoolnS,
are still easily recognizable. They
accommodate their decoration to the
form of the object they are decorating,
hut. thew preserve the animal charac-
teristics, all of familiar creatures, are
first, Of the beaver, the large incisors,
the scaly tail and the stick held in
the fore paws; second of the sculpln,
two spines rising over the mouth, and
the continuous dorsal fin; third, of the
hawk, the large curved beak, with the
point turned toward the face; fourth,
of the eagle, the large, curved beak,
with the point turned down, but not
bent in against the face as in the case
of the hawk; fifth of the killer whale,
the large head and large mouth set
with teeth; sixth, of the shark, the
elongated, rounded cone rising over
the forehead, the mouth depressed at
the corners, the series of curved lines
on the cheeks, the two circles and the
curved lines rising over the forehead,
the round eyes, the numerous sharp
teeth, and the heterocercal tail almost
any one can learn to tell shark;
seventh, of the bear the large paws,
the large mouth with teeth and pro-
truding tongue; eighth, of the gazhor-
dikaluptl of the sea, the bears head
with paws to which f1ippers are at
tached, the gills and body of the killer
whale and an assortment of dorsal fins
(the appearance Of this animal will
meet the requirements of any one that
purposes to scare a bosom friend to
DEATH ninth, of the dragon fly, the
great mosquito eater, the large head,
the slender segregated body and the
wings. The wings are important, but
the head is warranting evidence. He
STANDS on his head with his tail
straight up and his eyes pointing out
ward like the lanterns on a hanson
cab.
Thanks to the genius of the museum
sculptor the methods of these weird
designers of the Land of Showers, their
ways of life and their personal ap-
pearance are presented to the student
of anthropology with astonishing fidel-
ity to detail and with such nice selec-
ton of characteristic employments
that even the casual visitor may under
stand something of the society that
produced it.
THEIR QUEER NAMES.
The first cases show Tlengit, Tsim-
Shan, Haida and Kwakiut Indians.
To spell these names is not difficult
Almost any combination of letters
would do. for the sounds as the In
dians utter them are beyond the reach
of Roman characters. DR.. Boas says
that the physiological alphabet, Bells
visible speech, is inadequate, owing to
lie unfortunate circumstances that
when Professor Bell evolved his won
derful characters he had not any Sal
yaGh physieloeJ at hand to arrange