LAUFER, THE DECORATIVE ART OF THE AMUR TRIBES. 73 



the nose. On the specimen, Fig. 6, were three incised open-carved seals, one 

 of which is unfortunately broken off : that in the middle is floating on the surface 

 of the sea, which is symbolized by diagonally cross-hatched lines ; the other two 

 animals are resting on shore, the beach being shown by parallel oblique lines on 

 either side, enclosed in segments. Fig. 7 was interpreted as the representation 

 of a landscape. All hatched parts signify mountains ; the hatchings themselves, 

 grass and wood ; and the serpentine lines, valleys and roads. From a merely 

 ornamental point of view, an irregular interlacement of bands is here presented, 

 the negative parts of which are taken up with parallel lines. On the lower half 

 of Fig. 8 is a netting-needle, above it the picture of a sturgeon. Its head is 

 represented in raised work in the form of a long rectangle. The eye is in the 

 middle, and the extended head with jaws is reproduced rather naturally in spite 

 of the geometric treatment. The body is symbolized by a spiral, adjoining which 

 is the tail, a rather realistic design with four rings and two crosses. Fig. 9 

 portrays two sledges driving over the ice, one behind the other. The back parts 

 of the sledges rise over the stick in open-work carving. In the centre there is a 

 quadrifoil, the upper outlines of which are connected by means of a band with 

 a sledge above it. From the mere consideration of these five mustache-lifters 

 it may be seen that the Ainu have a predilection for open-work sculpture, and 

 use for representations the fauna of their surroundings and other objects familiar 

 to them. Moreover, it becomes clear that the forms are partially the same as 

 with the Amur peoples, and that these very same forms are made to serve as the 

 basis for a symbolical interpretation. The explanations of these ikimi are of a 

 purely personal character, being kept in the same family and handed down 

 together with the ceremonial sticks ; so that under certain circumstances the same 

 pattern might have different explanations in different families. The pieces from 

 Yezo (Figs. 10-20), in the collection of Mr. A. C. James, are given place here 

 partly for comparison with those from Saghalin, partly as an incentive to further 

 research regarding the peculiar ornamentation of these sticks, and in general of 

 that of the Ainu. There is certainly no specimen among those from Japan that 

 shows so realistic and characteristic a mould as ours from Saghalin. Particularly 

 Figs, ii, 13, 15, 16, 17, and 18 show a strongly geometrical cast, owing to the 

 continuous repetition of the same forms; while others, like Figs. 10, 12, and 14, 

 seem to tend towards realistic conventionalizations. Chain-bands occur very 

 frequently on drinking-sticks. There are two such running side by side in open 

 carving in Fig. 19. On the stick, Fig. 20, from the lower left side proceeds a 

 natural scion ; very interesting are four trefoils on it, the forms of which exactly 

 agree with those on our Amur ornaments. 



COLORING. As already stated, a great number of the decorated specimens 

 are very rich, and even extravagant, in the variety of their colors, which reaches 

 its climax in the embroideries, since here the most beautiful dyed Chinese em 

 broidery-silks are at the disposal of the artist. These silks abound in all imaginable 



