KEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 61 



ture; and the opjiortimity was seized to arrange for ol)taining through his cooperation 

 such photograi)hs and other data of ethnologic character as he might Ije able to dis- 

 cover in connection with his other duties. The arrangement yielded material of 

 value. 



Office RESEARcn. 



WORK IX ESTHETOLOCiY. 



In the course of a reconnoissance of the Greater Antilles, the Director and Profes- 

 sor Holmes enjoyed moderate opportunities for observing (chiefly in local collections) 

 artifacts of the class commonly regarded as displaying traces of Caribbean influence; 

 and while neither time nor opportunity permitted exhaustive study, a few interesting 

 generalizations were made. One of these relates to the relative abundance of festhetic 

 and industrial motives among those artifacts displajdng traces of a Southern influ- 

 ence. On comparing the objects and special features in connection with those from 

 Florida and other portions of southern United States, it was noted that the presum- 

 ably imported or accultural features are predominantly esthetic, and only subordi- 

 nately of technical or industrial character — i. e., it would appear from the collections 

 that esthetic motives travel more freely, or are interchanged more readily, than 

 purely utilitarian motives among primitive peoples. The relation is of course com- 

 plicated liy the relative abundance of fiducial or other sophic motives, which often 

 blend with both aesthetic and industrial motives in puzzling fashion; but even after 

 these motives are weighed or eliminated, the general relation remains unchanged. 

 The generalization promises to be of service as a guide in the study of that affiliation 

 of tribes, or integration of peoples, which complicates every ethnologic problem. The 

 inquiries were greatly facilitated by Professor Holmes's artistic training and his 

 extended familiarity with both the esthetic and the industrial motives of aboriginal 

 artifacts; nor could the generalization have been made without the aid of IVIr. Gush- 

 ing, and the oi^portunity of examining his remarkaVjle collection of artifacts of wood 

 and shell from the muck beds of western Florida, of which a consideraljle part is now 

 in the National IMuseum. The details of the work are reserved for later reports. 



Throughout the fiscal year Mr. W J McGee was occupied primarily with adminis- 

 trative duties as Ethnologist in Charge in the office, but partly in the preparation of 

 reports on field researches of previous years. One of his subjects of study was the 

 esthetic status of the Seri Indians of Tiburon Island and adjacent territory. The 

 tribe is notably primitive in several respects, as indicated in previous reports, and 

 this primitive character is well displayed in their meager esthetic. One of the con- 

 si^icuous customs of the tribe is that of face painting, the paint being applied uni- 

 formly in definite patterns, of which nearly a dozen were observed. The custom is 

 practically limited to the women, though male children are sometimes painted with 

 their mothers' devices. On inquiry into the uses and purposes of the designs it was 

 found that each pertains to and denotes a matronymic group or clan, and that the 

 more prominent designs, at least, are symbols of zoic tutelaries — e. g., Turtle, Peli- 

 can, etc. It thus appears that the painted devices are primarily symbolic rather 

 than decorative, though comparison of the devices used by different members of tlie 

 same clan or by the same female at different times, indicates that the sematic func- 

 tion does not stand in the way of minor modification or embellishment of the device 

 through the exercise of a personal feeling for decoration. The investigation is of 

 interest in that it establishes the symbolic basis of aesthetic concepts along a new line, 

 and it is of even deeper interest in that it seems to reveal nascent notions of decora- 

 tion, and thus aids to define the beginning of purely artistic activities. The sym- 

 bolic devices themselves are of much significance as indices to the social organization 

 on the one hand, and to the prevailing belief of the tribe on the other hand. The 

 restriction of the painted symbols to the females and the especially conspicuous use 

 of them by matrons betoken the strength and exclusiveness of that sense of maternal 



