118 BRITISH COLUMBIA.

Mopet ToremM-Po.es.

Brief reference must be made to the miniature totem-poles made from black
slate found near Skidegate (black argile, which hardens on exposure to the air),
and carved only by the Haidas of the Queen Charlotte Islands. Apparently the
use of this substance and the particular way in which it is employed date back to
the middle of the nineteenth century. The technique is primarily that of wood-
carving not of stone-working, though the best specimens, which represent heraldic

figures, are good.
PLATE XXX.

(1) (2) (2) 5) (1) (2)

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Courtesy of National Museum of Canada, Ottawa.

The Haida Village of Skedans (Q.C.I.), showing (1) Houses with
Totem-poles, (2) Mortuary Poles.

PAINTED HoUSE-FRONTS.

Closely associated in symbolism and heraldic significance with the various
types of carved poles were the totemic designs and crests painted on house-fronts.
An old illustration of Cheslakee’s village, situated at the mouth of the Nimpkish
River, dated 1793, shows the majority of the houses thus embellished. In most
cases the crest of the owner was the chosen design; the Killer-whale, for
instance (Plate XX.), or a representation of the Moon. ‘The Tsimshian and
Bella Bella people excelled in the painting of these large “crest boards,” which
possess great interest as they display a method of flat, figurative painting devoid
of perspective, considered by Professor Lips to be the oldest form of pictorial art.