DECORATIVE ART OF THE INDIANS. 



493 



signs; only the Shoslione see in tliom pictures of forts and stones piled 

 np in memory of battles; only the Arapaho recognize in them prayers 

 for life directed to the morning star. 



We find, therefore, that in this area the same style of art is widely 

 distributed, while the stylo of explanation (lifTtM's materially among 

 its various tribes. 



It may be worth wdiile to review briefly the distribution of the 

 style of art here discussed. On the whole, it is confined to the Plains 

 Indians, west of the eastern wooded area. It would seem that it has 

 been carried into the plateau region rather recently, where, however. 





1'*^. 



M 





Exa 





-^rf^ J 



Fig. 9. Decorative Motives of the Pueblo 

 Indians. (After Dr. W. F. Fewkes.*) 



Fig. 10 Woven Bag of the \ez Perces. 



it has affected almost all the tribes east of the Cascade Eange and of the 

 Sierra Nevada. We find the acute triangle with small supporting 

 triangles, and the obtuse triangle with enclosed rectangle, in the char- 

 acteristic arrangement of the parfieches, on a bag of the Nez Perces 

 (Fig. 10) collected by Dr. Livingston Farrand. At first glance, the art 

 of the Pueblos seems quite different from the one that we are discussing 

 here; but I believe that an intimate association of the two may be 

 traced. The old pottery described by Dr. Fewkes, for instance, shows 

 a number of the peculiar triangle and square motives which are so 

 characteristic of the art of the Indians of the Plains. The same tri- 

 angle wdth supporting lines, the same triangle with the enclosed 

 square (Fig. 10), is found here. It seems very plain to my mind that 

 the transfer of this art from pottery to embroidery and painting on 

 flat surfaces has brought about the introduction of the triangular 



* From specimens in the U. S. National Museum. 



