1 46 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XV 1 1 1, 



specimens whose symbolism has been described, there are 

 some whose owners were not their makers, and had never 

 given a thought to the significance of their decorations pre- 

 vious to the occasion on which they explained these decora- 

 tions at the request of the author. That this should not have 

 happened, can hardly be expected; but in all such cases, 

 these persons undoubtedly fell back upon the common con- 

 ventional symbolism that is current in the tribe. This is 

 shown by the fact that all the decorative symbolism that 

 was learned runs along certain lines. For instance, tents 

 are very frequently represented; but in only one single 

 case was a house, such as the Indians now largely live in, 

 represented by the decorations. Hence there seems to be 

 a conventional system of symbolism, a fairly distinct and 

 characteristic tribal manner of viewing and thinking about 

 decoration. What this way of thought is among the Arapa- 

 ho, it has been the purpose of the preceding pages to show 

 by bringing together as large a mass of individual cases of 

 decorative symbolism as possible. That here and there an 

 interpretation may be poor, even from the Indian's stand- 

 point, or another untrustworthy, is of little moment. As has 

 been said, no interpretation of a design can be considered 

 really right or wrong. If the explanations of decorated 

 objects, taken all together, illustrate one method of thinking, 

 and are evidences of one system of symbolism, the purpose 

 of their presentation will have been achieved. 



The lack of desire or attempt to represent realistically in 

 art which is in any degree decorative, and the accompanying 

 lack of absolute or fixed meaning of designs, are not new and 

 unparalleled phenomena. On the northwest coast of America, 

 Dr. F. Boas has told the author, an Indian is often unable 

 to state what a carving or painting represents, unless he has 

 made or is using the object. This is really a more remarkable 

 case than among the Arapaho, for the art of the North Pacific 

 coast is far more realistic than that of the Plains Indians. 

 While highly conventionalized and always decorative, it 

 remains sufficiently realistic to enable a white man to see in 

 nearly every case that a representation of something is in- 



