68 LAUFER, THE DECORATIVE ART OF THE AMUR TRIBES. 



composition of two adjoining beaks, at the end of which is a two-lobed leaf. The 

 form of the tail deviates from all other hitherto known forms, and is merely the 

 product of a purely ornamental assimilation to the given space. The pattern 

 d deals in a striking way with the subject of the two combatant cocks. The 

 heads are distorted, and have shrunk into scrolls, including the circles attached to 

 them. The wing-feathers placed under the heads are symbolized by spirals, each 

 with a lateral process ; i. e., the spiral-triskeles ; but the symbolic expression of 

 the tails claims an undue amount of space, quite out of proportion to that occu 

 pied by the parts just described. Four exaggeratedly long tail-feathers are indi 

 cated on either side, the space between them being filled with a pair of united 

 triskeles, and under them a hook-formed figure. In the interior of the figure 

 suggestive of an ornamental tree, below the cock a, we observe two realistic fishes 

 (e), whose eyes and gills are characterized in the usual way ; on their bodies 

 is a conventionalized bipartite fish, the tail extending out into a compound 

 triskeles, one of the arms of which is continued into a scroll. The figure which 

 separates these fishes contains in its negative parts two upright bipartite fishes, 

 which occur also on the sides of the design f in the familiar R-form. In the 

 middle of_/&quot;are two naturalistic fishes rampant, without any spirals on their bodies, 

 but marked with two parallel ventral fins. The R-formed fishes are also to 

 be found under the two facing triskeles marked^; In // two triskeles are con 

 ceived of as two combatant cocks, chiefly characterized by the two combined 

 circles, one of them being held by each. The large figures marked i are com 

 pound, rather complicated, ornamental arrangements, which are built up of 

 spirals, trigrams, leaves, and conventionalized fishes, and elements of the cock- 

 ornaments. 



The garment represented in Fig. 3, Plate xxix, in general resembles very 

 much that in the preceding figure. There is a perching cock (a) with open beak 

 and trichotomous wing and tail feathers. At the end of the fish-shaped body is 

 a spiral, and on the under outline a small solid circle. The enclosed cock (b) with 

 fish-body and oddly ornamental tail tallies exactly with the bird in c, Fig. 2. 

 There are two inverted fish-cocks in c, a pair of fish-spirals in d. A very graceful 

 group of four fishes is placed in the form of a spiral around a quadrifoil (e). 

 Inside of f lie two fishes united in a horizontal position over a pair of facing 

 spirals, the upper outline of the fishes forming a brace. In g\ fishes of the same 

 type are situated under the spirals ; further, in the upper part are two opposite 

 fishes rampant. Here as well as in h occur two-lobed leaves. There are two con 

 ventionalized lateral cocks in the design h. i should be compared with d in the 

 preceding figure. The tail and wing feathers are ornamentally fashioned by the 

 aid of spirals, triskeles, and leaves. 



Whereas the ornamentation of the garments in Figs. 2 and 3, Plate xxix, 

 is based on two horizontal rows, that of Fig. 4 of the same plate is composed of 

 three rows. The cock a holds a distinctly marked fish in its beak ; furthermore, 

 a conventionalized fish is designed on its body, and another added to one division 



