This pipe, apparently from the 1830s, is unfinished. The six figures represented are very difficult to identify, partly because during the period when the piece was carved Haida artists frequently used creatures that combined attributes of different animls as subjects for their work. Also of interest is the fact that some details, particulalry in the whale-like figure protruding from the bowl end of the pipe, are executed in a much later style. Perhaps the very early, unfinished piece came into the hands of an artist of the 1890 period who decided to continue the carving. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

The paint is red and black.

The feather is flicker. The whisker is sea lion.

The paper is buff. The ink is black and red.

In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, carvers began to produce compact sculptural groups of figures of animals and men. Some of them are very complex, with many figures crowded together in contorted positions. Incidents from myths were often depicted. This group has the bear as its main figure, holding a man in its jaws and a cub on its lap. The meaning of the various figures is not clear, but it is likely that the group illustrates incidents from the "Bear Mother" myth. (Holm, Crooked Beak of Heaven, 1972)

The paint is black.

The paper is white. The ink is dark blue, light blue, red, and yellow.