Art.

Fig. 113. Pipe made of Steatite. From a Yakima Indian. ½ nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44506, 6-7. Original in the collection of Mr. McCandless.)

A specimen of the sixth type is shown inFig. 113. It is the only one of this style which I have seen in the whole region, and was obtained from a Yakima Indian. It is in the collection of Mr. McCandless. It is made of steatite, which Mr. McCandless calls "sandstone from the northern part of Wenatchee Lake." The form of the pipe seems to be a conventionalized tomahawk pipe. The bowl is circular in section and somewhat urn-shaped and rests upon the part that is drilled for the stem and which is rather square in cross section with slightly convex sides. Projecting from the lower part of this is the form which represents the tomahawk blade. It is wider at its convex edges than where it joins the base of the stem part. Its three edges are flat, and it is of about equal thickness throughout. The pipe is somewhat stained by tobacco. It seems likely that this was modelled after the metal hatchet, tomahawk or tomahawk pipe, introduced by the traders,[344]being a rather modern pipe, since such objects do not seem to have been used in early times in the great plateau region according to Lewis.[345]

The seventh type is illustrated inFig. 127. The specimen is the only one of the style which I have seen from this whole region and so closely resembles in its carving the work of the Kwakiutl, Haida and Tsimshian Indians of the coast to the northwest, that I am inclined to believe it was brought in as a gift or by trade. The material is apparently soft slate, but is rather light in color, possibly having been burned. Its appearance suggests that it is the same as that used by the Haida Indians on the Queen Charlotte Islands, for the carving of such things as dishes, miniature totem poles, and pipes. The pipe is made up of carvings representing among other things a bird, a human form and a human face, which are more fully described under the section of art onp. 136. This specimen was found two feet deep in earth at one side of a grave in a little hillside on Toppenish Creek, four miles southeast of Fort Simcoe. Above the earth were rocks, and the grave was marked by a circle of stones.In the grave were found elk teeth, and a sea shell, filled with a blue powder, evidently paint, and covered with what appears to be gut or a bladder-like skin. What is described as a silver coin, afterwards lost, was found with this pipe. It is possible that it may have been a silver disk or medal. The bowl of the pipe, which was gouged out, is in the middle of the carving, and the tube for the reception of the stem projects from the end under the human form. The upper part of the human figure is broken off. A hole was drilled in the opposite end of the pipe through the lower part of the bird form, but if it had any connection with the bowl, this is not now discernible.[346]The specimen shown inFig. 59and considered as a mat presser reminds one of an unfinished pipe.

FOOTNOTES:[310]Smith, (d), Fig. 100; (c), p. 428.[311]Smith, (d), p. 154.[312]Teit, (a), p. 275.[313]Smith, (a), p. 180.[314]Spinden, p. 189.[315]Spinden, p. 254.[316]Spinden, p. 189.[317]Smith, (a), Figs. 48 and 55; (b), Fig. 139.[318]Museum negative no. 44506, 6-7.[319]Spinden, p. 188, Figs. 4 and 5, PlateIX.[320]Moorehead, Fig. 457, p. 316, Figs. 9, 17, 22 and 25.[321]Lewis and Clark, II, p. 342.[322]Smith, (b), Fig. 139.[323]Smith, (a), Fig. 48.[324]Smith, (b), Fig. 139.[325]Smith, (h), p. 34.[326]Ibid., Fig. 7.[327]Ibid., p. 36.[328]Lewis and Clark. II, p. 341.[329]Smith, (h), Fig. 7a.[330]Smith, (h), Fig. 4.[331]Teit, (a), p. 300.[332]Smith, (d), Figs. 103, 104 and 111; (c), Figs. 37 1a, b.[333]Teit, (a), Figs. 275 and 276.[334]Museum negative no. 44505, 6-6.[335]Museum negative no. 41503, 6-4.[336]Spinden, p. 189, Fig. 6, PlateIX.[337]Moorehead, Fig. 27, p. 316.[338]Teit, (a), Figs. 271 and 306.[339]Spinden, p. 188, Figs. 7 and 8, PlateIX.[340]Smith, (b). Fig. 140.[341]Teit. (a), Fig. 306.[342]Museum negative no. 44508, 6-9, 6-10, 6-11.[343]Spinden, p. 188.[344]Museum negative no. 44506, 6-7.[345]Lewis, p. 190.[346]Museum negative no. 44509, 6-9, 6-10, 6-11.

FOOTNOTES:

[310]Smith, (d), Fig. 100; (c), p. 428.

[311]Smith, (d), p. 154.

[312]Teit, (a), p. 275.

[313]Smith, (a), p. 180.

[314]Spinden, p. 189.

[315]Spinden, p. 254.

[316]Spinden, p. 189.

[317]Smith, (a), Figs. 48 and 55; (b), Fig. 139.

[318]Museum negative no. 44506, 6-7.

[319]Spinden, p. 188, Figs. 4 and 5, PlateIX.

[320]Moorehead, Fig. 457, p. 316, Figs. 9, 17, 22 and 25.

[321]Lewis and Clark, II, p. 342.

[322]Smith, (b), Fig. 139.

[323]Smith, (a), Fig. 48.

[324]Smith, (b), Fig. 139.

[325]Smith, (h), p. 34.

[326]Ibid., Fig. 7.

[327]Ibid., p. 36.

[328]Lewis and Clark. II, p. 341.

[329]Smith, (h), Fig. 7a.

[330]Smith, (h), Fig. 4.

[331]Teit, (a), p. 300.

[332]Smith, (d), Figs. 103, 104 and 111; (c), Figs. 37 1a, b.

[333]Teit, (a), Figs. 275 and 276.

[334]Museum negative no. 44505, 6-6.

[335]Museum negative no. 41503, 6-4.

[336]Spinden, p. 189, Fig. 6, PlateIX.

[337]Moorehead, Fig. 27, p. 316.

[338]Teit, (a), Figs. 271 and 306.

[339]Spinden, p. 188, Figs. 7 and 8, PlateIX.

[340]Smith, (b). Fig. 140.

[341]Teit. (a), Fig. 306.

[342]Museum negative no. 44508, 6-9, 6-10, 6-11.

[343]Spinden, p. 188.

[344]Museum negative no. 44506, 6-7.

[345]Lewis, p. 190.

[346]Museum negative no. 44509, 6-9, 6-10, 6-11.

The graphic and plastic art of the early people of this region is illustrated by pictographic line paintings in red and white on the basaltic columns of the cliffs;[347]petroglyphs of the same general style pecked into similar cliffs; incised designs on stone, bone, antler and dentalium shells, and carvings both incised and pecked in stone. Some of the objects found are colored by red ochre or have it rubbed into the lines of their incised designs. Examples of graphic art seem to be more common than those of plastic art.

The paintings and pecked designs on cliffs are more or less geometric although pictographic in character. The incised designs are still more geometric and include the circle and dot commonly found in the Thompson River region.[348]This design is also common on modern objects from the coast of British Columbia and Washington, but was not there present among archaeological finds. Lewis[349]states that according to the early writers, in the general area of which this is a part, porcupine quills were much used for decorating articles of clothing and that later, beads were used for this purpose. The modern designs are largely floral. Among the Nez Perce, floral and plant designs in beadwork are particularly common although some geometric designs occur, as on belts, the decoration of which is largely geometric, as squares, triangles and similar figures.[350]Lewis[351]believes thatthe designs of the general region were originally geometric and that some of the modern geometric designs are survivals, while others suggest eastern influence. He further states that floral designs are found among the Salish tribes but to a much less extent. We found no floral designs among the archaeological specimens in the Yakima area. Some of the incised work, on certain of the carvings is of good technique, and artistic execution. This is noticeable in the object made of antler, carved on one surface to represent a human figure in costume, shown inFig. 121and on the dish shown inFig. 116. Inlaying with white metal was practised in comparatively modern times. Animal heads are represented by the specialization of knobs on pestles, an animal form by a mortar and human forms by some of the pictographs, and petroglyphs, the incised antler figure and several of the pipes.

Many of the representations are realistic, others are highly conventional. Some conventional representations are explained by similar figures. For instance, the radiating lines of the pictographs shown inPlateXVIare probably explained satisfactorily by similar figures inPlateXI, Fig. 2, such radiations on the costumed figure in antler shown inFig. 121or by the feather headdresses worn by the present natives. Spinden states that in the Nez Perce region, realistic figures are probably of recent origin.[352]One of the carvings is clearly of the art of the northwest coast, from which the object or the artist who executed it must have come. Some of the pictographic-geometric and conventional figures probably represent guardian spirits and illustrate dreams done in symbols. A few art forms are evenly spaced on objects but only a few are distorted to fit the shape of the field. Pictographic symbols and conventional figures may be placed in groups to form designs as in the arrangement of the circles and dots on the pipe shown inFig. 106.

In general, the art of the region tends toward line work of geometric and a slightly pictographic nature. It shows little resemblance to that of the coast, but a strong relationship to that of the Plains. The decorative art of the Nez Perce region includes motives from the Plains and also from the Pacific Coast.[353]Some of their designs partake strongly of motives from the Plains, while here in the Yakima Valley there are perhaps more examples of coast art and still much influence from the Plains. Spinden says that in early times the Nez Perce were very poor in decorative ideas and that the richness and variety found in their modern art may be ascribed to the absorbing of ideas from other cultures. This is perhaps equally true of the Yakima region where the influence of coast art in proportion to that from the Plains is perhaps greater than in the Nez Perce region.

Paintings.Pictographic line paintings somewhat geometric in character, made on the basaltic columns on the west of the mouth of Cowiche Creek, on the south side of the Naches River, about four miles northwest from North Yakima, are shown in PlatesXIV-XVI. These pictures, some in red, and some in white, were probably painted with mineral matter mixed with grease. Their antiquity is unknown. In the Nez Perce region to the east,[354]pictographs in red, yellow and black occur, while in the Thompson River area[355]and in the Lillooet Valley,[356]pictographs in red are found. Some of the Yakima pictographs have been destroyed during the construction of the irrigation flume which runs along the top of this cliff. Others are partly covered by the talus slope. All those remaining, are here represented by those reproduced in the plates. They extend from the top of the talus slope upward a distance of perhaps five feet. Many of them are indistinct, and appear more easily seen, if they are not actually clearer, in the photographs here reproduced than in the originals. Many of the paintings represent human heads and headdresses and one of them the whole figure with such a headdress. These headdresses may be compared to similar designs in the petroglyphs (PlateXI) at Sentinal Bluffs, thirty-three miles to the northeast (Fig. 2, PlateXIIandFig. 1, PlateXIII) at Selah Canon, eight miles to the northeast and the headdress pecked on the grooved net sinker shown inFig. 14. Also, taken together with the pictographs representing the full figure with similar headdress shown inFig. 1, PlateXIV, may be compared to the petroglyphs of men each with a headdress among those at Sentinal Bluffs, the human figure with a headdress carved in antler found near Tampico, only fourteen miles to the southwest and shown inFig. 121, petroglyphs which apparently represent human forms somewhat similar to this, on Buffalo Rock, in the Nez Perce region to the east[357]and the quill flattener carved to represent a human form with headdress or hair from the Dakota shown inFig. 122.

The human figure with feather headdress indicated by ten lines shown inFig. 1, PlateXIVis all in red. It is the next to the westernmost pictograph at this site. It is 457 mm. high, the ends of the legs are 279 mm. apart, the tip of the arms 254 mm., the width of the headdress 229 mm. and the height of the middle feather 101 mm. There are four horizontal red lines on the overhanging column above the figure.[358]Fig. 2, PlateXIVshowshuman heads with feather headdresses in white.[359]Fig. 1, PlateXVshows similar human heads with feather headdresses also in white.[360]Fig. 2, PlateXVshows human heads with feather headdresses in white and a double star figure in white and red.[361]PlateXVI[362]shows human heads with feather headdresses in white and red. In addition,Fig. 2shows the advertisement of a modern business man over the pictographs. Some of the pictographs at the same place have every alternate radiating line in red, while others are in white.

Mr. G. R. Shafer informed me that he knows of painted rocks in the Teton River Valley, 20 miles above the Nelson Bridge, which crosses the Naches a short distance above the mouth of Cowiche Creek. Mr. W. H. Wilcox of North Yakima stated to me that there are pictures on rocks on the west side of the Columbia River ten miles south of Wenatchee. Bancroft[363]refers to painted and "carved" pictures on the perpendicular rocks between Yakima and Pisquouse. According to Mallery, "Capt. Charles Bendire, U. S. Army, states in a letter that Col. Henry C. Merriam, U. S. Army, discovered pictographs on a perpendicular cliff of granite at the lower end of Lake Chelan, lat. 48° N., near old Fort O'Kinakane, on the upper Columbia River. The etchings appear to have been made at widely different periods, and are evidently quite old. Those which appeared the earliest were from twenty-five to thirty feet above the present water level. Those appearing more recent are about ten feet above water level. The figures are in black and red colors, representing Indians with bows and arrows, elk, deer, bear, beaver, and fish. There are four or five rows of these figures, and quite a number in each row. The present native inhabitants know nothing whatever regarding the history of these paintings."[364]Apparently only paintings are meant.

Red ochre is rubbed in the circle and dot designs and the grain of the stone of the pestle shown inFig. 30and also in the incised lines on the pipe shown inFig. 104. Red paint (mercury) partly fills some of the holes and lines on the pendant made of steatite shown inFig. 119. Because of the mineral nature of this paint, it may have remained a long time and its presence does not necessarily prove that the supposedly old grave in which the object was found is recent. Red paint also fills the circles and dots in the slate object shown inFig. 120while vermilion paint is found in the groovesof the animal form shown inFig. 125and as this is probably a mineral which would be rather enduring, it does not indicate that the painting was recently done.

Painting was done on moccasins in the general plateau area of which this is a part.[365]Spinden states that in the Nez Perce region the natives depended upon minerals for dyes, except in the cases of a wood, which produced a brown dye, and rock slime which produced green[366]and that white, red, blue and yellow earth paints were obtained by them further east from the vicinity of the Grande Ronde Valley;[367]also, that rock surfaces were painted over with brown as a field upon which to peck petroglyphs.[368]In the same region moreover, white clay[369]was used for cleaning clothing.

Petroglyphs.The petroglyphs pecked into the weathered surface of the basaltic columns found in this region, are similar in style to the paintings, being largely line designs of geometric or conventional representation together with a few realistic figures. The pictures are formed by pecking away the weathered surface and exposing the lighter color of the basalt below. Some of them may be very old, but the bruised surfaces making up the lines are not weathered very much in comparison with the surrounding rock surface and yet there is no history of their manufacture. In the Nez Perce region[370]such pecked pictographs are also found, some of them being upon fields painted brown.

InPlateXIare shown petroglyphs on the vertical basaltic columns on the eastern side of the Columbia River at Sentinal Bluffs, immediately above Priest Rapids. They are at the base of the cliffs shown inPlateV. Those shown in Fig. 1 are to the east of the road which runs along a notch blasted in the top of the columns that rise from the river at this point, while those shown in Fig. 2 are about fifteen feet to the southwest on the columns that rise shear from the river.

Some of those shown in Fig. 1[371]represent human figures each with a feather headdress which may be compared with that of the antler figure found at Tampico (Fig. 121) and the pictographs of Cowiche Creek. This place is only about 47 miles northeast from Tampico, and 33 miles in the same direction from the mouth of Cowiche Creek. One of these is shown in Fig. 2.[372]The long form in the centre has a headdress which taken withits shape reminds us especially of the human form in antler from Tampico. The general shape of the body and the row of dots on each side edge suggest a resemblance to the quill flattener made of antler from the Dakota shown inFig. 122. On each side are human heads, each with a similar feather headdress that might be interpreted as rising suns with eyes and mouths. On the left are some similar figures without eyes and mouths. Below, is a horizontal figure resembling five links of a chain. There is also a goat which resembles the two pecked in a granite boulder near Buffalo Rock in the Nez Perce area, eighteen miles above Lewiston on the east bank of the Snake River.[373]The star at the bottom, the rays of which end in dots, a small oval with radiating lines at the left, and two connected ovals with radiating lines at the top, remind us of the stars at Selah Canon, shown inFig. 1, PlateXII, the petroglyphs near Wallula Junction, shown inFig. 2, PlateXIII, somewhat similar figures on the large petroglyph at Nanaimo[374]and perhaps even more than of the Nanaimo figures, those in the petroglyphs beyond Nanaimo at Yellow Island, near Comox.[375]However, the two connected ovals with the radiating lines may represent hands of a human figure with a headdress having radiating feathers. All of these headdresses remind us of the others at this place shown in Fig. 1, the rising suns at Selah Canon next described, the pictographs at the mouth of Cowiche Creek, and the incised human form in antler.

InPlateXIIandFig. 1, PlateXIIIare shown petroglyphs which appear fresher and whiter or yellower than the naturally weathered reddish basaltic columns into which they are pecked. They are on the north side of Selah Canon about one and a half miles from the Yakima River at a point about a mile north of Selah station or one half a mile south of the intake of the Moxee Canal. It is about twenty-five miles west southwest of Sentinal Bluffs, eight northeast from the mouth of Cowiche Creek and twenty-two miles northeast from Tampico. They are more easily made out from a distance than close by.

The petroglyph shown inFig. 1, PlateXII, is the most northeasterly of the group. This seems to be made up of circles with a dot in the middle and radiating lines, some of which end in dots. They remind us of some of the same series of figures as the oval with radiating lines at Priest Rapids.[376]

The one shown in Fig. 2, is about eight feet to the southwest and a little lower down. The upper part of the left figure and the two main parts onthe right, each consisting of a curve with short radiating lines like a representation of the rising sun, may be compared with the top of the petroglyph on the rocks a few feet to the southwest shown inFig. 1, PlateXIII, next described, and with some of those at Sentinal Bluffs, shown inPlateXI; also, with the pictographs at the mouth of Cowiche Creek.[377]

The petroglyph shown inFig. 1, PlateXIII, is a few feet southwest of those shown inPlateXII, taken from the south. The segment with radiating lines like the rising sun at the top reminds us of similar figures among the other petroglyphs here just described, those at Sentinal Bluffs and pictographs at the mouth of Cowiche Creek, but the other lines are not interpreted and are not suggestive to us of other figures in the neighborhood. A small figure, similar in that it consists of two nearly vertical lines crossing each other and topped by a curved line, shows very faintly above, a little to the right.[378]A design similar to the part of some of these pictures interpreted as representing a headdress was also found pecked in the surface of the grooved net sinker shown inFig. 14.

The petroglyph shown inFig. 2, PlateXIII, is pecked on the top of a rock which projects about three feet from the surface of the ground near mile post 209 between it and 210 above the Spokane branch of the O. R. & N. on the south side of the Columbia River about four miles west of Wallula Junction and is here illustrated as one twentieth of the natural size, from a tracing made by Mr. J. P. Newell, of Portland, assistant chief engineer on that road. We are indebted to Mr. W. E. Elliott of New York City, formerly engineer with Mr. Newell for permission to copy this tracing.[379]The top of the rock forms an east and west ridge. The pecked grooves are all of about equal depth and there are no other petroglyphs on the rock. The large figure at the left reminds us of the dog-like figures with "spines" in the petroglyphs at Nanaimo,[380]on Vancouver Island, especially as it has waved parallel lines, a fin or "spine" and two concentric curves at the top similar in shape to the lines indicating the back of the head and the mouth of the Nanaimo figure. This is less suggestive of certain harpoon points that are incised apparently to represent fish found in the main shell heap in the Fraser Delta at Eburne[381]although Eburne is nearer than Nanaimo and en route, and although these harpoon points have parallel lines, a fin-like projection and two lines representative of the back of the head or cheek andthe mouth. The small circles some with lines radiating from them, remind us of similar marks on the same large petroglyph at Nanaimo and even more so of the petroglyphs beyond Nanaimo at Yellow Island near Comox.[382]The large figure on the right reminds us of the human form of the petroglyph at Nanaimo.[383]

I am informed by Mr. Owen that there is a petroglyph on the north side of the Columbia River below Kennewick and that it has been destroyed by recent railroad construction; by Mr. W. H. Willcox of North Yakima that there are petroglyphs or pictographs on the rocks ten miles south of Wenatchee on the western side of the Columbia River; and by Prof. Mark Harrington that it is said that there are "engravings" on the cliffs overhanging Lake Chelan. Mallery[384]refers to etchings at the lower end of Lake Chelan but his information seems to refer to painted figures only (Seep. 120). The late Prof. Israel C. Russell informed me that there are etchings close to the river on both sides in the Snake Canon at Buffalo Rock in the extreme southeast corner of the state of Washington.[385]

Fig. 114a(202-8159). Incised Design on a Fragment of a Wooden Bow. From grave No. 10 (5) in a rock-slide near the mouth of Naches River. ½ nat. size.bSection of Fragment of Bow shown ina.

Incised Designs.Among the designs incised on stone, attention may be called to the top of the pestle made of steatite shown inFig. 35, which bears two parallel longitudinal incisions and notches, ten on the left and eleven on the right of each side edge of the obverse. There are fifteen fine incisions running obliquely down from the notches on the left to the first longitudinal incision. They begin at the eighth notch from the bottom and extend to the lower notch. On the reverse are three longitudinal incisions apparently more recently made, and eleven notches on each side edge. This incised knob is said by the Indians to represent the head of a snake. On the reverse of the steatite object, possibly a mat-presser, shown inFig. 59a, is an incised pictographic sketch which unfortunately, with the exception of the nine short lines above, was re-scratched by its owner. It is reproduced inFig. 59b. The first figure beginning at the left possibly represents a tree. The middle figure has not been identified but it is clear that the one on the right represents a human being. On the left of the groove in the object are incised two hands pointing towards the left. These also were re-cut and are not reproduced inFig. 59. The incision in the edge of the top of the club shown inFig. 62and the incisions at right angles to this were probably intended for decorative purposes. There is an incised design on the rounded surface of the saddle-shaped hollow of the club shown inFig. 64. This design is made of transverse notches above and a zigzag line below.The upper part of the right edge of this knob is flat with two incisions across it. Incised lines arranged parallel to each other in rows may be seen on the handle and knob of the club shown inFig. 68. There are thirteen of these lines on either edge of the knob. The other incisions are arranged in four vertical rows on the handle. The lines on the top of the shell pendant shown inFig. 88may be merely the depths of the teeth rather than incisions artificially made, but in this case they may have been considered as decorative and the shell may even have been chosen because of these lines. There are nine incised lines on the bone tube shown inFig. 98. These run around it in a spiral direction in such a way that the lower end of each line is on the opposite side from the upper end.

The three transverse incisions on the top of the steatite specimen shown inFig. 99may be for decorative purposes or merely as tallies as also the five small drilled pits arranged about equi-distant from each other around the top and the four similarly arranged near the bottom.

Fig. 115. Incised Design on Bowl of Pipe shown inFig. 107. ½ nat. size.

The oblique incised lines on the edge of the mouthpiece and on the ridge about the middle of the pipe shown inFig. 100, which slant outward from left to right at an angle of about 45° and make the ridge at least suggest a twisted cord, were no doubt made for decorative purposes. Pictographic scratches may be seen on the disk-shaped stone pipe, shown inFig. 107. Those on the reverse are shown inFig. 115. A simple geometric incised line decoration on wood may be seen on a fragment of a bow shown inFig. 111. It will be remembered that parallel irregularly arranged cuneiform incisions decorated a fragment of a bow found in the Thompson River region.[386]The incised design on the stone dish previously mentioned onp. 38and shown inFig. 116consists of two horizontal incisions running around the upper part of the dish a little below its middle and a zigzag line made up of twenty-five V-shaped marks which fills the space between the flat rim of this dish and the upper horizontal line.

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