Chapter Ten Killer Whale
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Totem Walk, Sitka, watercolor, 1907, 38.5 x 38.5 cm. Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
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They entered an alley of spruce with poles at regular intervals...She was swept
away by their depictive power and ingenuity. The more she learned about them,
the less bizarre they seemed....
She imagined Tlingit families loving the pole-to-come enough to travel great
distances in canoes to get the minerals, transporting the powders in painted
skin pouches cradled in hands that knew their worth. The thought made her
inexpressibly happy....
Ted scratched his bushy sideburn. "Which one do you want to paint?"
"Why not that diving killer whale? I like the way it's balanced on its nose."