DECOBATIVE ART OF THE INDIANS. 



489 



nectecl with a bar on ilio instep, from which arise at each end two 

 bliort lines. These di'siuiis are so complex that evidently they must 

 have bad a common orii^in. Tt is of ijreat importance to note tbat 

 nevertheless the explanations given by the various tribes arc quite 

 different. The design is interpreted by the Arapaho as the morning 

 star; the bar on the instep, as the horizon; the short lines, as the 

 twinkling of the star. To the mind of the Sioux the design conveys 

 the idea of feathers, when ap])lied to a Avoman's moccasin; when 

 found on a man's moccasin, it syml^olizes the sacred shield suspended 

 from tont-pnlos. The identical design was explained bv the Shoshone 



A li C 



Fig. 5. Moccasins; A. Shoshone; B- Sioux; C. Sioux and Akapaho. 



US signifying the sun (the circle) and its rays; but also the thunder- 

 bird, the cross-arms of the cross evidently being the wings; the part 

 nearest the toe, the tail, and the upper part, the neck with two 

 strongly conventionalized heads attached. If these are the ideas con- 

 veyed by this design to the weavers, it is clear that they must have 

 developed after the invention or introduction of the design; that the 

 design is primary, the idea secondary, and that the idea has nothing 

 to do with the historical development of the design itself. 



It may be well to give a few additional examples of such similarity 

 of design and difference of symbolism. One of the typical designs 



