1902.] Dixon, Basketry Designs of California Indians. 13 



signs in use in the northern area with those in the southern ; 

 still, allowing for the scant population and the probability that 

 as a consequence several designs have here become locally ex 

 tinct, there seems to be a difference between the two areas. 

 The total number of designs found north of the Yuba River 

 is twenty-two (or twenty-four, including the two doubtful 

 instances); of these, ten are representations of animals, five 

 of plants, and seven of natural or artificial objects. South of 

 the Yuba, only sixteen designs were found, of which eight 

 represent animals; three, plants; and five, natural or artificial 

 objects. These figures would seem to show a slightly greater 

 paucity of designs in the southern section, with about the 

 same relative proportion of the different types of design. The 

 total number of designs in use by the stock as a whole amounts 

 to something over forty. 



Taken as a whole, the designs of this stock would seem to be 

 characterized by a considerable conventionalization. In most 

 cases the intent of the design is not clear from mere inspection, 

 but must be explained before it can be understood. There are 

 one or two designs, however, which, in so far as the nature of 

 the material and the art will allow, are almost as realistic 

 representations of the objects as one could expect. Such, 

 for example, are the quail-tip, fish-teeth, milleped, feather, 

 etc. Here, however, the object is, as a rule, so extremely 

 simple, that, even although the design is a moderately good 

 representation, it might pass equally well as the representa 

 tion of something else. This "obscure realism," as it might 

 be rather contradictorily termed, seems to be of moderate 

 frequency in the designs. 



In several instances, as, for example, in the linked parallelo 

 grams, what is virtually the same design receives different 

 explanations among different members of the stock. Such 

 designs are usually the most simple ones, and might be classed 

 with the obscurely realistic designs just referred to. The 

 bearing of these cases on the general problems of design will 

 be referred to again later. 



One of the most striking characteristics of the Maidu, as 

 compared with other stocks, is the very strong tendency to 



, 



