Excerpt from Tales From the Totems of the Hidery, Vol. 2
James Deans, the collector of these tales from the Hidery, is widely known as a geologist, ethnologist and anthropologist. He is a Scotchman by nativity, but he has lived for many years on the northwest coast of America., having been sent by the Hudson Bay Company, forty-five years ago, to Fort Victoria on the south end of Vancouver Island, which was the most remote of the trading posts of that company. Mr. Deans has made an intimate study of the natives of the northwest region, and he is probably the only man in the world who is able to translate their tales and interpret their totem marks and crests.
In 1892 Mr. Deans prepared an anthropologic exhibit for the World's Fair, which consisted of one of the ancient native houses and its totem post, found at Skidegat, Queen Charlotte Island, and a reproduction of an entire village of the Haida in model form, with specimens of the utensils, implements, dress, etc., of the people. This exhibit may now be seen at the Field Columbian Museum in Chicago. As a guide to this collection, the present volume will be found of great value. In the appendix is reprinted from the American Antiquarian, a paper of Mr. Deans', describing the totem postsat the Fair.
This publication makes the first authentic collection of Hidery tales in volume form. Mr. Deans has published other accounts of the people and versions of their stories in the American Antiquarian, whose files may be consulted by those interested. But the present volume contains practically all that has been published elsewhere. The references to the Antiquarian are hereby appended: How the Whullemooch Got Fire. Vol. VIII., p. 41; How the Mountain Sheep Originated. Vol. VIII., p. 115; Yicsack, or the Hat. Vol. VIII., p. 170; Haidah Land. Vol. IX., p. 238; Inside View of a Haidah Dwelling. Vol. IX., p. 309; The Worship of Priapus among the Indians of British Columbia. Vol. IX., p. 368; A Strange Way of Preserving peace amongst Neighbors. Vol. X., p. 42; The Raven in the Mythology of Northwest America.
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