. Bulletin. Ethnology. ANTHROP. Pap. No. 17] ALGONQUIN BIRCHBARK—SPECK 263 Although at the present time of writmg, studies of the art content of birchbark containers of the northern Indians have not progressed far enough to permit comparisons to be made, nevertheless something can and probably should be said since the printing of the material on Montagnais art in birchbark work (Speck, 1937). A few remarks summarizing the characteristics of decorations of this group may be made from an angle of comparison derived from the sources already available. Unlike the Montagnais, the Algonquin workers
. Bulletin. Ethnology. ANTHROP. Pap. No. 17] ALGONQUIN BIRCHBARK—SPECK 263 Although at the present time of writmg, studies of the art content of birchbark containers of the northern Indians have not progressed far enough to permit comparisons to be made, nevertheless something can and probably should be said since the printing of the material on Montagnais art in birchbark work (Speck, 1937). A few remarks summarizing the characteristics of decorations of this group may be made from an angle of comparison derived from the sources already available. Unlike the Montagnais, the Algonquin workers I have observed in the present generation do not create the patterns for their designs. Figure 19.—Design elements from birchbark water pail (River Desert Band) a, "Toad's leggings," pitcherplant (.Sanacena purpurea); b, e, leaves; c, heart; d, blossom of lily. so much from folded sheets of thin birchbark indented by the teeth. The Montagnais derive many of their symetrical patterns from these symmetrically unfolded impressions. The Algonquin depend more upon the cut-out figures trimmed with a knife or scissors in accord- ance with a visual image formed in the imagination or imitated from the observation of nature. (See p. 243.) Horizontal symmetry is produced by repeatmg the carving of the pattern to the right or to the left. Vertical symmetry (that is, where the design is repeated by turning the pattern up or down on its top or bottom) is not in evidence in the art of the bands dealt with here, so far as material warrants the statement. The cut-outs are both floral and animal. Floral suggestions are more in evidence among the eastern bands of. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology. Washington : G. P. O.
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