EVOLUTION IN ORNAMENT. 



271 



of art, or of the work of a bungler. When the lines are not drawn 

 to the centre, they may be joined as in B, and this form of fret was 

 much cultivated in America ; but it is objectionable, apparently on 

 account of the obliquity of the units, and it is vastly inferior to the 

 fret, Fig. 1, A, where lines, drawn past the middle, are united in a 

 similar way. This last is the true Greek fret, though it occurs a,lso in 



Fig. 7. 



Fig. 8. 



in i5i [mi 



hlh 



B 



American aboriginal art. The units may be made more or less in- 

 volved, as in Fig. 7, but the simple forms are the more pleasing. 



I have observed that in Brazil, and elsewhere in America, the ar- 

 tist has often taken care to separate the units in this fret from one 

 another, either by drawing lines between them, as in Fig. 8, A, or by 

 placing them in cartouches, B. The addition of the line in A en- 

 hances the beauty of the series by breaking up the monotony and 

 introducing a pleasing alternation. The attempt to separate the units 

 resulted, however, in bringing about their firm union ; for it was ob- 



Fig. 9. 



served that, by obliterating the dotted spaces in Fig. 9, the whole 

 series could be drawn without lifting the hand, and thus arose the 

 current fret, Fig. 10. Examples of the modification of ornaments by 

 obliteration of parts, in this way, are common, not only in aboriginal, 

 but also in classic and modern civilized art. The bounding lines, 

 Fig. 10, were afterward added, and greatly heighten the beauty of 



Fig. 10. 



^15~L^L51^L 



the border. The current fret is not only agreeable to run the eye over, 

 but it is pleasant to trace with the hand. Current frets may of course 

 be more or less involved. 



Unless care is taken in drawing a current fret, one is apt to round 

 down the angles, and, in running the eye over this ornament, there is 

 a tendency not to follow lines down to the angles, but to swerve from 

 one line to another, avoiding the corners the muscular movements 



