3O Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XVII, 



such an extent that one must needs be told their significance 

 before he can form any idea as to the object intended to be 

 represented, yet one or two designs occur within this area, 

 in which the figures of men, of horses, dogs, etc., are repre 

 sented with sufficient realism to be recognized almost at a 

 glance. Others, on the other hand, as for example the flying 

 birds (particularly the form shown in Fig. 318),' are conven 

 tionalized so slightly, that one notices the accuracy of repre 

 sentation when once the meaning and intent of the design is 

 explained. In such case it would seem that the realistic ten 

 dency is greater than in Arapaho art ; the purely decorative 

 factor being less conspicuous, although by no means absent. 



The designs here shown, I am tempted to regard as occupy- 

 a place about midway between the balance of Arapaho 

 art and the somewhat preponderant realism of the Salish 

 designs. We do not find here any such realistic figures as 

 those of the men, dogs, and horses found farther north; but 

 I believe we may class a few of the California designs with the 

 flying-bird type, where, once the intent is known, the accuracy 

 of representation (always bearing in mind the limitations 

 of material) is quite striking. Thus, in the case of the 

 Maidu, the quail-tip, fish-teeth, milleped, flower, and feather 

 have been so little conventionalized, that, although each and 

 all are repeated and joined to form a pattern clearly decorative 

 in character, once the significance of the design is given, one 

 cannot but observe the all but realistic manner in which the 

 object is portrayed. Many of the other designs are to some 

 extent of a similar character; while others, of course, are so 

 thoroughly conventionalized that any resemblance they may 

 once have had to the object they are declared to represent 

 has completely disappeared. 



This tendency to what might be called a "hidden" or 

 "obscure realism " seems more characteristic of the Maidu than 

 of the other stocks here discussed, all of which, it would seem, 

 show a greater conventionalization. It is possible that the 

 fact of the Maidu having so astonishingly large a number of 

 designs, and so large a proportion of animal and plant motives , 



1 Basketry Designs of the Salish Indians, p. 304, Figs. 317, 318. 



