XII BUREAU (IF AMERICAN KTHNOLOCtY 



form of the object, the method employed in execution, 

 and the purpose in view. 



In selecting the exhibits only the most important sym- 

 bolic concepts of the tribes represented were chosen, 

 and for each of these concepts a group of exhibits was 

 assembled, consisting of a limited number of specimens 

 of native workmanship in carving, modeling, painting, 

 and engraving, and a series of the native designs drawn 

 out in colors on a fiat surface and associated with the 

 specimens in the exhibit as a means of further elucidating 

 the strange modifications everywhere displayed. 



The series of motives selected to illustrate the symbolic 

 decoration of the Zuiii include the bird, the butterfl}^, the 

 cornflower insect, the dragon-fly, the serpent, the tadpole 

 and the frog, and the mountain lion ; the human form and 

 variovis monsters ; vegetal forms ; and sundry cosmic phe - 

 nomena, such as clouds, lightning, rain, sun, moon, stars, 

 and the jdanets. Doctor S wanton selected from the art 

 of the Northwest coast tribes a series of interesting sub - 

 jects, including the killer-whale, the hawk, the eagle, the 

 thunderbird, and other monsters of land and sea. Doctor 

 Fewkes |)resented the artistic symbolism of the ancient 

 Hopi of Arizona in series of illustrations, including the 

 human form, the serpent, the mountain lion, the tadpole 

 and frog, the butterfly, the bird, the sunflower, and the 

 heavenly bodies. 



These exhibits were supx>lemented by a series of designs 

 and objects selected by Dr Franz Boas to illustrate the 

 varied symbolism associated with a given motive or design 

 by ditferent tribes and peoples. 



In addition to these systematic exhibits, two other im- 

 portant collections were presented. The archeological 

 researches by Doctor Fewkes in the West Indies were 

 rei)resented by a large series of typical relics of art in 

 stone, bone, shell, wood, and clay, selected from the ex- 

 tensive collections made during three winters' research 

 among these islands. This series is without question the 

 most complete yet lirought together to represent the i)re- 

 cohimbian culture of the Carib and Arawak jieoples, who 



