it called for great skill in the engraver, and drew upon
the resources of other pictorial arts; it absorbed wi th
Slight transformation the current stylization of totemic

or heraldic figures on totem poles, in housefront paintings
and in all sorts of domestic and ceremonial objects; in
this it is wholly derivative yet aboriginal.

"A very few patterns were not heraldic nor even
native; they were borrowed from the white people; for in-
stance, the American Eagle, floral scrolls, and common
fret designs.

"Silversmithing for a time flourished because of the
difficulty experienced in safeguarding gold and silver
coins in open houses or in the wilderness by Indians who
often were paid for their furs in specie: and it was
thus found expedient to have ten and twenty dollar gold
pieces hammered out into bracelets, which the engraved
crests made recognizable to everyone at sight."

Captain A. P. Niblack also describes the making of these
bracelets as he watched it in 1886.

"The silver coin was first hammered out into a
flat strip of metal of the width required, with the
ends rounded. In this shape silver has little elasti-
city, so the bracelet was rounded by means of gentle
hammering on the inside. It curls up, becoming thinner
and broader; this economizes metal and gives elasticity
and clasp to the bracelet; after which the design is
carved or engraved. For tools a light hammer, blunt
cold chisel and sharp carving or etching tool were
employed as the art developed after contact had been
established with white men who could provide them."

Dr. Barbeau is of the opinion that "certafn technical de-
vices, together with the tools, were obviously borrowed from
the white craftsmen who, Somehow, must have helped in the
first stages of the craft; as for instance, in the fine hatch-
ing and checkered lines diagonally inter-crossing to form a
shaded background; incised or slightly depressed surfaces and
wide lines (represented in the illustrations here by means of
dots) and some floral and scroll-like ornaments of exotic ap-
pearance" which are otherwise absent from the art methods of
the Northwest Pacific Coast Indians.

= “7038.