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CARVED WOODEN MASK OF A HUMAN FACE WITH A METAL RING THROUGH THE SEPTUM AND A NAIL PROTRUDING THROUGH THE LOWER LIP. THE HAIR & EYEBROWS ARE PAINTED BLACK, & THERE IS A BLACK BORDER AROUND THE CHIN. THERE ARE ALSO SOME RED LINES ACROSS THE NOSE AND BROW. MARKS: "THE WOMEN OF A TRIBE NEAR FORT SIMPSON ON THE NW COAST OF AMERICA; LAT. 54°, 30." COLLECTOR CAPTAIN MCNEAL, HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY. PUBLICATION: "MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS," BY VIOLA & MARGOLIS, 1985, ILLUS. P. 141. EXHIBITED MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURALHISTORY, 1985-86. EXHIBITED SITES "MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS,"1987-89.Provenience note, in 1841 Oregon Territory encompassed the land from Russian Alaska to Spanish California and from the Pacific to the Continental Divide. The U.S. Exploring Expedition did not go to Canada, but did reach Oregon Territory in 1841, and carried out a hydrographic survey of the Columbia River from its mouth to the Cascades, as well as doing some surveying inland.They had dealings with Hudson's Bay Company staff during that time, and it is probable that the HBC is the source of a number of the Northwest Coast artifacts collected by the expedition.FROM CARD: "INSCRIBED ON THE FRONT "THE WOMEN OF A TRIBE NEAR FORT SIMPSON ON THE NW COAST OF AMERICA; LAT. 54° 30"."ILLUS. FIG. 33, P.59, DISCUSSED P. 58, IN DOWN FROM THE SHIMMERING SKY BY PETER MACNAIR, VANCOUVER ART GALLERY, 1998. IDENTIFIED THERE BY PETER MACNAIR AS MASK REPRESENTING YOUNG WOMAN WITH NOSE RING, KAIGANI HAIDA."Captain McNeal" of the Hudson's Bay Company may refer to William Henry McNeill, who did meet Wilkes/the U.S. Exploring Expedition in 1841. At the time of the expedition McNeill was Captain of the Hudson's Bay Company vessel S.S. Beaver, the first steamship on the Pacific coast,