70 LAUFER, THE DECORATIVE ART OF THE AMUR TRIBES. 



Another fish proceeding from a wave-line is k. Here the semicircular hook on 

 the head, continuing the line of the gill, is placed toward the outside. The two 

 outlines making up the body do not unite to form the tail, but run parallel to 

 each other. Another group of fishes is connected with spirals, as, for instance, 

 in /. They are used as continuations of two facing spirals, together with which 

 they are enclosed in a figure. In m seems to occur a fish-cock, as the two hook- 

 like offshoots from the head of the fish appear to show ; perhaps the same is the 

 case in n. In o the fish joining the spiral is not completely drawn, as its outer 

 edge line remains parallel to the winding of the spiral. The most conventional 

 ized design of all is/, the characteristics of which afford insufficient ground for 

 explaining it positively as fish or cock. 



The cock a in Fig. 2, Plate xxx, is composed in a striking way. It holds 

 a triskeles-formed fish in its beak ; its body is shaped like a fish. Its pinion is 

 represented as a cock-beak with a circle under the throat. The tail consists of two 

 sections. The upper circular curve is combined with two conventionalized fishes 

 (not visible in the illustration) ; the lower part is a cock-beak holding a fish, both 

 so connected that they enclose a small circle. In the same way is built up the cock 

 b, which is placed sideways. In c a conventionalized cock joins a spiral, d and 

 e are designs constructed from single ingredients of the cock and fish ornaments, 

 /shows in the interior two confronting bipartite fishes in an upright position and 

 two bipartite fishes proceeding from the scrolls on the outside. In g two con 

 ventionalized combatant cocks unite in an ornamental device in the pointed upper 

 structure. The figure h below is identical with c. In i we observe four coiled 

 fishes grouped around a central lozenge. Their bodies are scaled like that of the 

 dragon. Just as here, so in/ we meet with two scaled, very realistically formed 

 fishes in the concavities of the wave-line. At its terminus sits a dragon (/) with 

 open jaws and two three-clawed feet. Its tail is a fish. In form it is like two 

 combined triskeles. 



The back of the garment in Fig. 3, Plate xxx, is covered with a series of 

 more compact figures. The single ingredients of the same are generally to be 

 traced back to cock-ornaments. In a the heads of the two cocks side by side are 

 turned away from each other, and a circular object is held in each of their beaks ; 

 while in b the beaks are turned toward each other, and between them are two 

 objects, just as in c, where the tails are better characterized, d is composed of 

 two pairs of superposed cocks, the lower of which are surrounded by border 

 lines. In the figures e, f, and g the principle of the four spirals grouped around 

 a lozenge comes into play. In /two lateral cocks are added to the under spirals ; 

 and underneath, two opponent cocks with conventionalized fishes in their beaks. 

 Fig. // is identical with d. An odder variation of the fish-cock is visible in i. 

 There is here a spirally wound fish with a bipartite crest. It terminates in a 

 spiral tail, and has two cock feet placed as if in the act of walking ; j is a distorted 

 cock in which the principle of misplacement is conspicuous. 



The whole design of Fig. 4, Plate xxx, is built up of vertical and horizontal 



