DECORATIVE SYMBOLISM. 



521 



of one of the extremities and by streak-like decorations, we have a de- 

 cided suggestion of the animal paunch or bladder and of the visible 

 veins on its surface when distended. 



Fig. 5G4. — Porcupine-quill decoration. 



If these conjectures be accepted as approximately correct, even in 

 tendency, we may hope by a patient study of the ceramic remains of a 

 people, no matter where situated, to discover what was the type <»t 

 their pre-ceramic vessels, and thereby we might also learn whether, at 

 the time of the origin of the potter's art or during its development, 

 they had, like the Pueblos, been indigenous to the areas in which they 

 were found, or whether they had, like some of the Central Americans, 

 (to make a concrete example and judge it by this method) apparently im- 

 migrated in part from desert North America, in part from the wilderness 

 of au equatorial region in South America. 



