330 COILED BASKETRY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA _[erm. any. 41 
tain names for designs of general character which are at least for any 
given region well understood by all the people, probably men in- 
cluded. Everyone knows what a snake, mouth, hammer, or any other 
such pattern is, if the individual be at all informed about the art of 
basketry. As has been explained before, the general term may be 
modified by any number of descriptive phrases and terms, by 
means of which a perfectly definite impression may be gained. 
There are probably some designs the mere names of which settle the 
character of the arrangement at once, but these are probably not 
numerous. So many variations have been introduced from time to 
time that now such old, well-known names as snake, necklace, bead, 
dentalia, fly, etc., suggest many possibilities in the way of minor 
differences which must be specified by the addition of descriptive 
terms, and these the people are perfectly well able to supply in 
almost infinite quantity and shades of meaning; in fact, so many 
are they that no attempt has been made to coHect all of them. 
DESIGNS WHICH ARE EITHER GEOMETRIC OR 
REALISTIC 
In glancing over the sketches of figures which have been classified 
as strongly conventionalized and probably originally realistic, 
621 to 784 (pl. 90-93), the reader will note several which are practi- 
cally duplicated in the table of geometric patterns. In these cases 
the derivation is extremely doubtful and it seemed best to represent 
the same forms in both classes. It can not safely be contended that 
because in each case the pattern bears a name identical with a term 
for a realistic figure which these designs closely resemble, the more 
conventionalized forms are necessarily modified realistic representa- 
tions. The resemblance between a purely geometric pattern and the 
accurate picture of an object may at times be sufficiently noticeable 
to evoke the same response from every individual to whom it may be 
shown, and thus account for a general term being prevalent over the 
entire region where such an object is known. : 
The same conditions control the application of names to conven- 
tionalized patterns as with the geometric figures. Probably general 
shape is here more important, since, if it were ignored, even a similar 
surface appearance would in most instances be insufficient to suggest 
the objects. 
A study of the sketches will make more intelligible the difference in 
character between the two sets. 
REALISTIC DESIGNS 
The realistic designs speak for themselves. They are rarely given 
more than one interpretation and when this occurs the second term is 
usually merely an elaboration of the first, perhaps making the expla- 
nation a little clearer. They are nothing more than pictures. 
