"I'm really interested in the exhibits about the early inhabitants of Canada. I wonder if they call them Native Canadians?" I said to Claudette.
"According to the brochure they're referred to as First Nations people," answered Claudette.
As our eyes adjusted to the interior I noticed that many of the artifacts not on display were available for study when requested through proper channels. After all, the museum is a research and teaching museum where courses in anthropology, archaeology, conservation, and museum studies are given. All exhibits appear new or in pristine condition. We were drawn to totem pole relics of weathered and decaying wood. They were about twelve feet tall with stylized images of animals.
Some of my favorite objects on display were the woodcarvings. Almost any boy of my generation has whittled something of wood with his pocketknife. I got my first knife when I was five-years-old. It was a gift. Many of the carvings here are huge, such as The Raven and the First Men by Bill Reid. This carving depicts the First Nations creation story. The raven found the first men in a clamshell, unlike the Native Americans of the American southwest whose story says man came from a deep opening in the earth.
"Wow, this wood sculpture is really something," I said.
"There is no doubt they were men," observed Claudette.
"Yea, and I know I've seen this design somewhere before and recently. But where?" I asked.
"I know," she said.
"Okay, Miss smarty-pants. Where?"
"On the twenty dollar bills we used to buy tickets, she replied"
"See, you make it go through my hands so fast I don't notice what's on it!"
There is also a carving of a large Haida Bear, part of which is seen in my sketch below. Some of the carvings are modern interpretations of First nations art or reproductions of original works. The wood is western red cedar. This wood is soft and straight grained and, like cypress, withstands the weather rather well. The First Nations people built their lodging as well as boats from the abundant wood. Prior to the introduction of metal tools all carving was done with shell, bone, or stone tools. The First Nations people probably obtained metal tools from the English. The English explorer and sea captain James Cook visited this area on his last voyage in the eighteenth century. The Hawaiians later killed him, terminating his exploratory feats. The oldest carved wooden totem pole in the museum is from the 1880's.
"Let's go outside," I said as we looked through the thirty-six foot high glass floor-to-ceiling windows at the rear of the museum.
"I see totem poles," said she.
"You know the first ones were short about head-high. People had 'em in their houses."
"These are certainly taller than head-high," she observed.
Totem poles are an integral part of the landscape of the Pacific Northwest. They are always carved of western red cedar and tell the story of a family or clan. The carvings can represent actual events as well as legends. They are a thing of folklore as well as history. I noticed that many of those in southern Alaska had a white man with a top hat on the top of the totem pole. I asked a local shopkeeper why and he said that it was Secretary of State Seward who negotiated the purchase of Alaska in 1867. There are several totem poles outside the museum, along with a lodge building, as well. The lodge building was built of massive cedar timbers and is decorated with carvings similar to the totems. I find much of the First Nations art not unlike that of the Maoris of New Zealand and other natives of the Pacific islands. The trickster of First Nations folklore, the raven, adorns most totems and other decorative carving. Indeed the birds themselves are on the gravel path we follow.
"I wonder what kind of food the First Nations people ate," mused Claudette.
"They ate a lot of seafood, especially salmon. As a matter of fact when the Lewis and Clark reached the northwest Pacific coast the natives fed them so much fish that the white men got tired of eating it," I explained.
"So, what did they eat?"
"Believe it or not they preferred the natives' dogs!"
After exploring the outdoors a bit we went back inside and enjoyed the exhibits of native textiles, primitive tools, and other items of First Nations culture. It was an afternoon well spent learning about an unfamiliar culture. We left, leaving thousands of artifacts unseen by us, but we needed to get to Seattle and a good cup of coffee.
