Chapter XXIX: Section 3: Artificial Objects

Artificial objects may be classified, so far as is important for the present work, into, I, fictile fabrics and, II, textile fabrics.

FICTILE FABRICS.

A large number of articles of pottery bearing pictographs are figured in the illustrated collections by Mr. James Stevenson in the Second Annual Report, and by Mr. Stevenson and Mr. William H. Holmes in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. Pipes on which totemic designs and property marks appear are also common.

The art of pottery was at first limited to vessel-making. In the earlier stages of culture, vases were confined to simple use as receptacles, but as culture ripened they were advanced to ceremonial and religious offices and received devices and representations in color and in relief connected with the cult to which they were devoted. Among some tribes large burial vases were fashioned to contain or cover the dead. An infinite variety of objects, such as pipes, whistles, rattles, toys, beads, trowels, calendars, masks, and figurines, were made of pottery. Clays of varying degrees of purity were used, and sometimes these were tempered with powdered quartz, shell, or like materials. The vessels were frequently built by coiling. The surface was smoothed by the hands or the modeling implement or was polished with a stone or other smoothing tool. Much attention was given to surface embellishment. The finger nails and various pointed tools were used to scarify and indent, and elaborate figures and designs were incised. Stamps with systematically worked designs were sometimes applied to the soft clay. Cords and woven fabrics were also employed to give diversity to the surface. With the more advanced tribes, though these simple processes were still resorted to, engraving, modeling in relief and in the round, and painting in colors were employed.

TEXTILE FABRICS.

Textile fabrics include those products of art in which the elements of their construction are filamental and mainly combined by using their flexibility. The processes employed are called wattling, interlacing, plaiting, netting, weaving, sewing, and embroidery. The materials generally used by primitive people were pliable vegetal growths, such as twigs, leaves, roots, canes, rushes, and grasses, and the hair, quills, feathers, and tendons of animals.

Unlike works in stone and clay, textile articles are seldom long preserved. Still, from historic accounts and a study of the many beautiful articles produced by existing Indian tribes, a fair knowledge of the range and general character of native fabrics may be obtained. In many cases buried articles of that character have been preserved by the impregnation of the engirding earths with preservative salts, and also some fabrics which had been wrapped about buried utensils, or ornaments of copper remained without serious decay. Charring has also been a means of preserving cloth, and much has been learned of the weaving done by ancient workers through impressions upon pottery which had been made by applying the texture while the clay was still soft. The weaving appliances were simple, but the results in plain and figured fabrics, in tapestry, in lace-like embroideries, and in feather-work are admirable.

This subject is discussed by Mr. W. H. Holmes in his paper, A Study of the Textile Art, etc., in the Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, in a manner so comprehensive as to embrace the field of pictography in its relation to woven articles.

Several examples of this application also appear in the present work. See Figs. 821, 976 and 1167. In addition the following are now presented.

Some of the California tribes are expert workers in grass and roots in the manufacture of baskets, upon which designs other than for mere ornamentation are frequently worked. The Yokuts, at Tule river Agency, in the southeastern part of the State, sometimes incorporate various human forms in which the arms are suspended at the sides of the body with the hands directed outward to either side. Above the head is a heavy horizontal line.

The following is extracted from Prof. O. T. Mason’s (_a_) paper on basket work, describing Fig. 161:

_a_ is a rain hat of twined basketry in spruce root from Haida
Indians. This figure is the upper view and shows the ornamentation
in red and black paint. The device in this instance is the
epitomized form of a bird, perhaps a duck. Omitting the red cross
on the top the beak, jaws, and nostrils are shown; the eyes at
the sides near the top, and just behind them the ears. The wings,
feet, and tail, inclosing a human face, are shown on the margin.
The Haida, as well as other coast Indians from Cape Flattery to
Mount Saint Elias, cover everything of use with totemic devices in
painting and carving.

_b_ shows the conical shape of _a_. The painted ornamentation on
these hats is laid on in black and red in the conventional manner of
ornamentation in vogue among the Haidas and used in the reproduction
of their various totems on all of their houses, wood and slate
carvings, and implements.

Mr. Niblack (_b_) says, describing Fig. 162:

The Chilkat and cedar-bark blankets are important factors in all
ceremonial dances and functions. Other forms of ceremonial blankets
or mantles are made from Hudson Bay Company blankets, with totemic
figures worked on them in a variety of ways. The usual method is to
cut out the totemic figure in red cloth and sew it on to the garment
(ornamenting it with borders of beads and buttons) by the method
known as appliqué work; another method is to sew pieces of bright
abalone or pearl shell or pearl buttons on to the garment in the
totemic patterns. The illustration is a drawing of a vestment which
hangs down the back, representing the totem or crest of the wearer.

This specimen is mentioned as the workmanship of the Tsimshian Indians, at Point Simpson, British Columbia, and represents the halibut.