Art, Prehistoric; Folk literature -- History and criticism
The blanket shown in fig. 204 shows, according to Emmons, on top, a
brown bear sitting up. On the body of the bear is a raven’s head. The
hind-quarters are treated like a whale’s head. The eyes being at the
same time the hip joints, the mouth the feet of the bear. He was given
another explanation: the principal figure being explained as a whale,
the head of which is below. The body, which is turned up, is treated as
a raven’s head, and the tail as a bear’s head. The side panels are the
sides and the back of these animals, but represent at the same time,
an eagle in profile on top, and a raven in profile below. According to
Swanton the design represents a halibut. The head is below. The whole
large middle face represents the body; and the large face nearer the
upper border, the tail. The wing designs in the lateral panels, next
to the lowest head, are the small pectoral fins and the rest of the
lateral fields, the continuous border fin.
[Illustration: Fig. 205. Chilkat blanket.]
The blanket in Fig. 103 (p. 108) represents, according to Emmons, a
diving whale and the lateral fields a raven sitting. The head, with
nostrils and mouth, is shown below. The central face represents the
body. The eyes near the upper border are the flukes of the tail. The
face designs at the sides of the body represent the fins. In the
lateral panels is shown a raven sitting. According to Swanton the same
blanket represents a wolf with young. The head is shown below. The hind
legs and hip joints are represented by two large eyes and the adjoining
ornaments along the upper border, the two dark segments just over the
eye, being the feet. The face in the middle of the design represents,
as usual, the body of the animal. The small eye design, with adjoining
ear and wing feather designs, in the middle on each side of the body,
are interpreted as foreleg and foot. The lateral panels are explained
as representing each a young wolf sitting.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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