Nearly two feet tall, this model pole exhibits elongated figures and a huge volume of pierced area between its parts. The top figure is a beaver with very tall ears, shown as is usually the case gnawing on a hand-held stick. The stick is long and curved, with each end touching the upper arm on both sides. The beaver’s cross-hatched tail is long and slim, rising from between its feet to bend back and touch the chest. The beaver’s feet are standing on the tall ears of a very slim bear with a humanoid nose. The bear holds the tail end of a long flatfish, which appears to have both eyes on one side of its head, like a halibut or flounder. This may just be an adaptation to the thin width of the fish, unlike the body of a salmon, for instance, which is much taller than it is wide, with one eye on each side of the head. Salmon, of course, would be the more likely fish species to be caught in hand by bears, who usually fish in streams and not in salt water.

The bottom figure, on which the bear is standing, has a bear-like appearance, with a projecting snout and extended tongue. The surface of it and all the figures is very finely smoothed down, front, back and all over. The pole is supported by a square wooden base with the top corners deeply beveled off.

Steven C. Brown