6 SMITHSOx\IAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 76 



might be either a rabbit stick or snake, shown in figure 5 ; but until 

 we have more detailed material we cannot regard this as more than a 

 suggestion. It does not, of course, follow, even if this man is carrying 

 a snake, that there was an elaborate snake dance among the 

 IMimbreiios. 



Figures of snakes are rare, but Mrs. Watson, of Pinos Altos, has 

 a bowl with two coiled designs resembling snakes but without an 

 accompanying human figure ; the author has elsewhere ^ figured a 

 horned snake from this region. 



The posture of the well-drawn figure of a man in figure 6 (Eisele 

 Collection) is peculiar. Arms and legs are extended and the upper 

 part of the head and nose is black ; cheeks white. 



The two human beings shown in figure 7 are remarkable. They 

 suggest a child riding on the back of his parent, holding on literally 

 by the hair of his head. This interpretation does not explain the fish 

 attached to the nose of the smaller figure, leading to the belief that 

 there must be some unknown legend back of this figure. The fish has 

 the two ventral fins and the two pectorals. There is also an anal fin 

 but no dorsal. The fins that are represented are longer and more 

 pointed than is usually the case ; and the crescent that ordinarily 

 represents the gill opening and operculum is missing, its place being 

 occupied by an unusual black object depicted on a white ground. 



The small figure is apparently clothed in one of those jacket-like 

 garments worn by figures of hunters shown in a former article.^ This 

 garment is held in place by a woven belt whose ends appear in the 

 figure, tied around the body. There is no indication of clothing on 

 the larger figure, whose head, body, arms and legs are black, the 

 customary color in representing nude figures. The attitude of the 

 arms suggests an ancient Egyptian at prayer. The profiles of the 

 faces in both figures have a certain likeness. 



Whether figure 8 represents fishermen who have captured a large 

 fish, some fish legend or a ceremony connected with fishing, is unknown, 

 but each of the four participants has a line connected with the fish's 

 mouth and above the group is an upright pole with feathers attached 

 at intervals. Every man has a different attitude and the faces of all 

 are painted white with black crowns. The cheeks are crossed with 

 parallel lines which also extend lengthwise on the fish. The operculum 



^ Archaeology of the Lower Mimbres Valley, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., Vol. 

 63, No. 10, fig. 28, 1914- 



- Archaeology of the Lower Mimbres Valley, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., Vol. 



63, No. 10, fig. 13. 1914- 



