42 LAUFER, THE DECORATIVE ART OF THE AMUR TRIBES. 



musk-deer in crouching attitude, and invested with cocks crests. The feet unite 

 below in a trefoil. On their bodies are fishes, gracefully outlined. Each deer 

 runs out into a fish-body, the forked tail of which is visible, and to which a 

 collateral fin is attached. The style of execution of these fishes is such, that 

 the space between them and the body of the musk-deer remains the usual con 

 ventional form of the fish. 



ANIMAL PIECKS. Of other animals which occur in the ornamentation of 

 these tribes, aside from those hitherto noted, the following deserve mention : wild 

 duck, wild goose, swan, eagle, swallow, elk, reindeer, roe, fox, dog, crucian, lizard, 

 frog, snake, and insects. The following animal pieces demonstrate the supreme 

 degree of zoophily innate in the minds of these people, who display such a 

 wonderful amount of creative power in these productions so full of freak and 

 fancy. 



Fig. 4, Plate xiv, shows a pattern cut out of paper, which is divided by 

 winding curves into ornamental fields. The birds marked a were explained as 

 wild clucks. In form they can hardly be distinguished from the cock. The bird 

 seems to be conceived of by the artist as swimming. On its head is a horn 

 like piece, formed on the one side by a conventionalized fish, on the other by two 

 parallel pikes. A conventionalized fish, consisting of two separate parts, is cut 

 into the body as in the cock. The wing-feather is a scroll ; the tail, of the 

 conventional fish-form. The figures b are two circle-ornaments to which are at 

 tached, above and below, birds heads. 



In the paper pattern, Fig. 5, Plate xiv, we see a very remarkable, graceful 

 combination of various animals. In the centre, four musk-deer (a) are grouped 

 around a lozenge-shaped figure. The head is formed in exactly the same style as 

 that in Fig. 3 of this plate. The body looks very odd, because it is moulded like 

 that of a fish, to the head of which cock-spurs are added to indicate the feet of the 

 deer. In the heart-shaped fields above and below are two frogs (V) with four 

 outstretched legs formed like fishes, and with two fishes indicated on their bodies. 

 At the extreme ends are four crucians (&amp;lt;$), covered with triangular scales. Between 

 these and the musk-deer are placed four pairs of wild swans, each pair having one 

 body in common, but distinct necks and heads, one naturalistic head turned 

 inward, whose gracefully arched neck rests on a wave-line, giving at the same 

 time the outline for the bird s body ; the other head, turned outward, being 

 ornamentally conventionalized. 



Fig. 6, Plate xiv, represents a paper pattern showing a design for embroi 

 dering a shirt. In the centre is a circle, around which are grouped four tortoises 

 (a), strongly conventionalized. Around it, on both sides, two bands forming 

 four circles and two ellipses are symmetrically arranged. In every circle there 

 is a roe (Cervus capreolus L.), b ; two snakes (muiki), d ; and a bird (c], called 

 tewerko, the species of which I have not yet been able to determine. Each 

 ellipse contains a frog (Rana temporaria L.), e ; two spiders (atkomama), f; 

 and two gadflies (shigaxfd), g. Outside of these figures a number of animals are 



