Their knives recall a vanished group of master craftsmen…
They are functional and yet mysterious pieces of sculpture. Iron inlays that seem to gaze at the world with the absolute self-assurance of a great work of primitive art. The tails of these pieces are often deadly fourteen inch blades, double-edged, fluted, and shaped like a short sword. Somehow the unlikely combination of materials that make up the works, none of which are indigenous, sums up the whole enigmatic genius of Northwest Coast Indian civilization. Theirs was never a high culture to compare with those of Central or South America. A few thousand Indians, thinly scattered on the long coast, produced wooden houses of great beauty, wooden totems of imposing height, and a vast range of utensils and ornaments in wood, bone, stone and sea ivory, all magnificently carved and decorated.
Read More:http://www.northwestcoastindian.com/misc1.html ---Tlingit Fighting Knife Tlingit Steel blade, Carved, incised and inlaid wooden grip with animal hide binding. L. 15 1/4 in. Provenance: Collected by Lieutenant George T, Emmons, Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York. De-Accessioned by trade. Acquired by Robert Du Perrier, H. Malcolm Grimmer, Morning Star Gallery, March 1994, Charles and Valerie Diker, April 1994, Sotheby's, January 2001. Tapering Steel blade with low median ridge, inset to a divided wood grip of oval section, tightly bound with strips of animal hide, the hilt carved in the form of a voracious avain creature, probably an eagle, with a curving openwork beak, parted to reveal teeth, hollowed eye frames finely carved with classic ovoid eye rims and tall curving ears. Decorated with hand cut plaques of abalone shell inset on the nostrils, eye pupils and and ears, a rich brown patina overall.---
Their may have been the most art-conscious civilization that has ever existed. For the first Europeans on this coast, it confirmed their fondest notions of what the noble savage could accomplish: Thompson says that the Indians west of the Rockies prided themselves on their industry and skill in doing anything. Cook says that everything they have is as well and ingeniously made as if they were furnished with the most complete tool-chest; and worthy to be put in competition with the most delicate manufactures of the known world. Read More:http://www.archive.org/stream/oregonhistorical17oreguoft/oregonhistorical17oreguoft_djvu.txt
Read More:http://www.hougengroup.com/yukonhistory/nuggets_year/2000s.aspx?nugget=1957 ---Kate was undaunted and made it to Whitehorse Rapids, where a Mountie turned her away saying the trip is too dangerous for ladies. The rule was that women and children had to walk the five miles to the foot of the rapids. Kate was not discouraged. She dressed as a man and went back to the landing. A scow was drifting away from the bank, and the Mountie had his back turned. Kate ran to the water's edge and leaped to the scow's deck. She had outwitted him! After the ride through the rapids she wished she had walked the five miles! Kate received a letter in Whitehorse, an offer of soubrette in a large theatrical company, in Victoria, which was organizing to go to Dawson City in the spring. She decided this was a better idea, and returned to Victoria. Kate was the best of entertainers. It was this talent, combined with her qualities of charm, kindness and sincerity, that won her the title "Queen of the Klondike." ---
The iron age made a belated arrival to the Indians of the west coast. The only native metal known to them was copper, which they found as raw lumps of surface ore and converted into knives and ornaments by cutting and hammering. So, when the first Europeans arrived, they found the demand was there for iron, which had probably come from Inuit in contact with Russian trading posts. With the aid of fire and stones, the Europeans were duly impressed by the quality of wrought iron work. The Klondike gold rush brought “civilization” in its wake and Primitive art ceased to be produced on the coast. The great treasures passed into foreign hands.
Read More: http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/pdfs/bchf/bchq_1939_1.pdf ---Gold is not an object of more eager desire in Europe, than iron in this part of America, which is another proof of it’s scarcity.18 The editor of this account of La Pérouse’s voyage adds a note saying that the softness of the iron indicated that it was “native or virgin.”19 These conjectures are interesting; the idea that the Indians had native iron was without the warrant of evidence; the iron was soft wrought iron; the beads suggest a Russian origin; the Hudson’s Bay provenance will be disproved. Here I may mention that native iron in large masses was dis covered by Adolf Nordenskiöld in 1870 at Ovifak, on Disko Island, on the western coast of Greenland...T.A. Rickard.
ADDENDUM:
Alejandro Malaspina 1791:The numbers of natives gathering around our tent increased at every moment. At one time they wanted to look through the telescopes and at another to come to the chests and examine their contents. Since the experience of two days left us in no doubt of their considerable propensity to theft, I eventually thought it safer to bring all the instruments and the tent itself on board rather than tire the marines with continual night watches or to let these articles become the cause of a breach which in the inevitable confusion might be misunderstood and unjust. Our relations with the natives at present could not have seemed more promising. We had acquainted ourselves with the most useful words of their language and freely visited their huts. Don Tomás Suria was able to take the likeness of several of the women, and draw a small number of domestic utensils. The bartering had become more active on both sides and we had also been given permission to cut as much firewood as necessary in the vicinity of the huts, without any preliminary contract, to which, however, I would have acceded immediately.
image; http://www.nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/infinityofnations/northwest-coast/235601.html Read More:http://www.mith2.umd.edu/fellows/bauer/teach/index/ENGL748b2008/anthology/malaspina.htm ---Malaspina:From early in the morning the natives had assembled in some numbers on board both corvettes, beginning to offer some skins, many fresh salmon and a few wooden tools, in exchange for clothes and iron, the only things they really seemed to desire. Nevertheless they accepted any kind of buttons, several nails and various other items of the many that could be included under the heading of hardware and so succeeded in establishing a closer relationship with the crew. As caprice or fancy outweigh necessity in the seaman's character, particularly in that of the Spanish seaman, to a degree difficult to comprehend, during the first exchanges the natives realized imme diately that dealings of this type would be highly advantageous for them. If we were to judge by the eagerness of the parties we would have to infer that it was our seamen who could not live without acquiring everything they saw rather than the natives, who lacked the clothing and iron that they so understandably craved
Near the observatory (as the natives showed us) was buried the body of a man killed in the most recent fight. The place was marked by a small pole stuck in the ground among the grass. It had a rush mat to cover it, held down by a few stones. The natives showed some reluctance to approach the spot, and even insisted that we should not do so, accompanying their demands by the signs and silence which indi cate the fear of disturbing a peaceful rest.
Among the many things that by then the natives had brought to the market we often saw traces of Captain Dixon’s visit to this harbour in the brig Queen Charlotte. We saw axes, cooking pots, a silver spoon, two or three books and a few articles of clothing. Often the younger men repeated the chants used when working the ships and one or two English words. As for the scraps of iron, we knew that they would soon be converted, with the aid of fire and stones, into the knives or daggers that each of them always carried under the left arm, hidden by a wolf, otter or bear skin. Equally clear, as a sign of this visit, was the insistent offering of their women. Today I was obliged to reprimand the old chief severely when he brought a woman towards the observatory, where I was at the time. I also had to repeat the order that no one but the officers of both corvettes might approach the huts. At this the women increased their cajolery and at about six in the evening we saw near the stern of the Descubierta a canoe carrying three women, two of whom would not have been more than eigh teen or twenty years old. After repeating a few English words and talking with their
ral loquacity for a long period, they sang quite a melodious song, which Don Tadeo Haenke transcribed with his innate accuracy and musical knowledge. Read More: http://www.mith2.umd.edu/fellows/bauer/teach/index/ENGL748b2008/anthology/malaspina.htm
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