INTRODUCTION

Artistic characteristics of the Indian Tribes of British Columbia

When contact was first established with the Northwest coast
of British Columbia about two centuries ago the attention of ex-
plorers was at once attracted by the ingenious skills displayed
by the natives and by their great love of decoration as shown in
their possessions. Obviously there was no recognition at that
date of the unique features of the arts and crafts prevalent in
this whole coastal area or that experts in later days would rank
them as among the most outstanding examples of primitive art in
the world.

"They show beautiful forms" - wrote Mr. Harlan Smith of the
National Museum of Canada (1923) "capable of inspiring useful
Shapes, designs and trade-marks" a statement perhaps hard to
accept by modern youth in a mechanistic age of mass production.

But this opinion was recently endorsed by Mr. R. A. Hoey of the
Indian Affairs Office at Ottawa. "We believe," he said, "that
Canadian Indians have a real contribution to make to the prosperity
of the Dominion . .. . by the exercise of their innate gifts of
conception, technique and intelligence." Therefore a short account,
giving reasons for these opinions based upon surviving specimens

of these arts and crafts seems desirable for those interested in
the artistic, cultural, economic and commercial development of this
country.

The origin of the tribes scattered over this province is des-
cribed by Dr. D. Jenness, Chief of the Anthropological Department
at Ottawa, as "still wrapped in mystery." Theories formerly cur-
rent are undergoing revision in the light of further researches
for, to date, essential investigations have been very limited in
British Columbia. The use of the word "primitive" also in connec-
tion with tribal arts and crafts has detracted from public interest
in their value, as the word popularly carries the idea of that
which is crude and imperfect; whereas in modern parlance the mean-
ing is restricted to that period of a people's existence before
methodical records were made or preserved.

Among the earliest known provincial survivals uncovered or

dug up from middens or burial mounds belonging to this prehistoric
period were designs incised on flat stones and cliffs (petroglyphs)
of which the significance can only be guessed. Others frequently
outlined with black or red (pictographs) are still being discovered
on sandstone cliffs, chiefly in the Interior. These are believed
to signify a desire for reinforced contact with the artist's
guardian spirit or to record some ancestral feat. There are also

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