be resolved into one or more of these double-curve brackets with 
interior ornamental fillings. An attempt to analyse the highly 
complex curve designs which appear in intricate combination 
upon decorated surfaces from this region at first generally results 
in confusion to the eye, the curved interlacing figures taking on 
definite outlines only after the underlying unit element has been 
determined. We find the brackets in different positions, some- 
times on end, sometimes in doubles back to back, and sometimes 
upright. This complexity in the general character of the figures 
throughout the whole area, appears in the series of plates accom- 
panying this paper (Plates I-X) illustrated from the collection of 
the Geological Survey of Canada and the Heye collection. 
If we accept the double-curve as the primary element in the 
art of the region, then the floral designs and geometrical figures 
form a class subordinate in importance, which we may term the 
secondary class. The realistic floral patterns and the geometrical 
designs run with great similarity through the whole northeastern 
region. The former include the three lobed figure, the blossom, 
bud, leaf, and tendril. The latter include the cross-hatched 
diamond, circle, oval, zigzag, rectangle, and serrated border. 
Both classes are easily recognizable in practically all the tribes 
of the group, incidentally showing, in the geometrical patterns, 
not a little resemblance to characteristic Eskimo forms. 
In some tribes of the northeastern group, particularly the 
Naskapi, our primary or double-curve element is found almost 
exclusively, while as we proceed westward the floral elements 
appear, as among the Montagnais, gradually growing in impor- 
tance until we reach the Great Lakes region, where the secondary 
floral forms take up almost the whole field. So, too, south of the 
St. Lawrence the primary and the floral elements merge, the 
former losing character and the latter taking on more prominence 
with each succeeding tribe to the westward. 
This transition shows quite clearly in a comparison of the 
figure groups from the different tribes. It will be seen that among 
the tribes west of an approximately direct line from the lower 
end of Hudson bay to New England,the double-curve as a primary 
motive gives place to the realistic floral designs and becomes 
merely secondary or extremely modified. 
What the origin and history of the double-curve design may 
have been it seems unsafe to say. It occurs most abundantly 
