Artificial Curiosities from the Northwest Coast of America; Native American Artefacts in the British Museum collected on the Third Voyage of Captain James Cook and acquired through Sir Joseph Banks by J.C.H. King (review)

REVIEWS 249 blackandwhitephotographs of thepieces on exhibit.The catalogue isprecededbytwenty -six pages ofnarrativeconcerning thefur tradein generaland the importanceof trade silverto the fur trade between•76o and •86•. This narrativeisamplyillustrated. A shortbibliography ismadeup of secondary sources, primarilyarticles, with theexception of the published papersof Sir WilliamJohnsonand one setof publisheddocuments dealingwith Indian relations. Astheauthorsnote,themostimportantpublications on the subject are included. Notwithstanding thepress release, thenarrativeisnotintendedfor aprofessional audience andit does notmakeamajorscholarly contribution. Rather,it is a well-written, often informative statement that should constitute for the generalreader a helpful historicalbackgroundto the displaypieces.The authors, whoalsoputtogethertheexhibition,havesomeinteresting thingsto sayabouttradesilverandthefur trade,andtheirphotographs areexcellent. The significance of tradesilvertothefur tradeisoverstated, butthatisunderstandable giventheperspective oftheexhibit. Thisisnotahistory book. PETER T.SHERRILL University ofArkamas atLittleRock Artificial Curiosities fromtheNorthwest Coast ofAmerica; Native American Artefacts in the British Museum collected ontheThirdVoyage ofCaptain James Cook andacquired through SirJoseph Banks. J.½.H.KING.London, British MuseumPublications, •98•. PP.•9, illus.œ45. A recentpreoccupation amongethnologists andethnohisorians of thePacific hasbeentoverifyasprecisely aspossible thenativeobjects gatheredfrom the earliest voyages tothatvastocean, itsinnumerable islands, anditsthenscantlyknownrim . Erna Gunther's IndianLifeontheNorthwest Coast ofNorthAmerica 0 97•) madeextensive useof artefacts collected atthetimeof earlycontact and includeda lengthyappendixlistingeighteenth-century objects in European museums. Her introductorystatement, that 'asfar asisknown,no intensive study hasbeenmadeof theartefacts stillavailable fromtheeighteenth-century expeditions' (xiii),wasalreadybeingpartiallydisproven. AdrienneL. Kaeppier ,thenof theBerniceP.BishopMuseumin Honolulu,waswellalongin the research whichmaturedintoher •978 'ArtificialCuriosities' exhibitionandits exquisite 3oo-page catalogue. Dr Kaeppler's personal interest liesinearlyPolynesia ,especially Tonga,but sheextendedher research to all areasof Captain James Cook's threevoyages, including theNorthwest Coast ofAmerica.Kaeppierwroteof 'tracking down'ethnographic materialandGuntherhadearlier described herownworkasbeingthatof 'anacademic detective.' In thisrecent publication Jonathan King's investigation of theBritishMuseum's eighteenthcentury Northwest Coast items takes ontheflavourofacute Holmesian deduction . The Museum of Mankind'scollectioncontains•7 articlesreputedly 250 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW collected on Cook's third voyage aswellasa numberof otherpieces linkedto Cook,George Vancouver, orotherearlyvoyages whichtouched ontheNorthwestCoast .The centralproblem,however,isthelackor loss of documentation for mostpieces. In theeighteenth andmuchofthenineteenth centuries registrationandcataloguing werehaphazard whentheyhappened atall;labels have beenlost,othersare of dubiousaccuracy. Later attributionsare of doubtful reliability. King,assistant keeperattheBritishMuseum's Museumof Mankind andin chargeof itsNorthAmericancollection, nowlaysouttheevidence in an excellentand carefullyworkedcatalogue. The approachisunusual.In consecutive chapters onthemuseum's eighteenth-century accessions, itsregistration procedures,and on later accessions containingeighteenth-century artefacts, heputsforwardboththeproblems ofandtheevidence oreachpiece, leavingdoubtfulpieces doubtful,but by processes of elimination, deduction, andcircumstance, providingrangesof probabilities. He gives, for example,a tablelisting'artefacts possibly deriving fromCook's Voyage, arranged intonine groups, t,-x, indescending orderofprobability,' withamaximum numberof83. He isinclinedto accept groupst, throughx•, or 54objects, asalmost certainly Cook.In thiswayheincludes in the Cookcorpusa largernumberof British Museumpieces thanKaepplerallowed,thoughontermsthatdonotnecessarily refute her ownthresholdof acceptable evidence. With the 29 artefacts of groupsG, vi,and x,King leavesthe issuedoubtful,but it isclearhow much evidence thereis(orisnot)in eachcase tosupportaCookprovenance. Theultimate justification forsuch careful weighting ofevidence, Kingfeels, is'the centralimportance of artifactscollected at the timeof firstEuropean contact.' These 'provide a bridge betweenarchaeology and ethnography,' illuminatetheformandfunctionof particular objects andthewrittenrecordof later visitorsand anthropologists, and directlyilluminatemyths02). The ethnohistorian 'isableto fill in the earlyaccounts of aboriginallife and later collections of mythswithanotherdimension,thatof materialculture'(7). Catalogues suchasthisprovideanotherfunctiontoo.They tell usa great dealaboutmuseums. It isprofoundlydisturbingthatof •o2itemsin theMenziescollection fromtheVancouver voyage, only•9cannowbedefinitely traced. Of 8 Dixonpieces, only3 canbefound.Manyof theremaindersurvive, but withoutthedocumentation whichprovides muchoftheirvalue.Othersarelost - todecomposition, tovermin,toexchanges, andtosales. Mostof thiskindof loss occurredlongago,butasrecentlyas•949perhaps thefinest exampleof an eighteenth-century Salishrattle had to be disposed of as 'duplicate'(fortunately to another museum).We are reminded, too, that the Bruce Arctic collection at Chicagohaslost2o9 of 735 pieces. The sameChicago museum disposed of a dozenNorthwestCoasttotempoles,houseposts, and potlach figuresin •934 to a boys' camp.The Museumof theAmericanIndian/Heye Foundation's deaccessions became soscandalous thattheNewYorkstategovernmentintervened . Somesuchlosses areunavoidable, butmostaresimply inexcusable. Catalogues of thequalityof thisoneproclaim thescholarly value REVIEWS 251 of theartefact,andremindusof thepriceless heritagewhichweentrusttoour museums. DOVGLAS COLE Simon Fraser University The Journals ofSamuel Kirkland: 18thCentury Missionary totheIroquois, Government Agent, Father ofHamilton College. Edited by WALTER PILKINGTON. Clinton, NY, HamiltonCollege,•98o.Pp.xii,459.$•7.95. From •764 to •8o8 SamuelKirkland wasa Presbyterian missionary to the Iroquois,for a shorttime to the Seneca,but primarily to the Oneida and Tuscarora.Asa boyhe hadbeeneducatedasa whitestudentat More'sIndian CharitySchool wherefromafriend,Joseph Brant,hebegan tolearnMohawk. Prior to the American Revolution, however, he broke with Brant and Sir WilliamJohnson , whohadhelpedhimwithhisearlyworkamongtheSeneca, to leadtheOneidatosidewiththeAmerican cause. Duringthewar- although the journalsdo notexistfor thisperiod- hewaschaplainanddirectorof Indian scouts in theAmericanarmy.After independence wasachieved he servedas adviserto...