1 4" Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. X\' 1 1 1, 



a class quite apart from the more personal ordinary orna- 

 mentation. For instance, the seven sacred work-bags that 

 have been mentioned, and the ceremonies connected with 

 them, are used only in the making of the "tribal" ornaments. 

 This endless variety and absence of direct copying are com- 

 mon in American Indian art. Dr. Boas has seen only very 

 few pieces of art of the North Pacific coast that were dupli- 

 cates. In California the author has found that, unless baskets 

 are made for sale, a basket is rarely reproduced exactly 

 by the same woman, and just as rarely by another. The 

 same seems to be true of the pottery of the Southwest. 

 Everywhere each piece is made independently, though always 

 under the influence of the tribal style. 



Conventionality of decoration has been referred to repeat- 

 edly in descriptions of specimens. It can often be followed 

 out into minute detail. A glance at Plates i, xx, xxi, and 

 Figs, s, 23-28, 32-34, will show to what extent it obtains. 



The conventionality of symbolism which has been men- 

 tioned appears most clearly in the frequency of certain classes 

 of objects in the symbolism, and the almost total absence of 

 others. The scope of this symbolism may be briefly described 

 as follows. 



Plants are very rare in representation; human beings are 

 not abundant; while animals, in comparison with these two 

 classes, are numerous. Of plants, trees are most frequently 

 represented, flowers not at all. Of animals, the larger mam- 

 mals are rare. Only the buffalo and wolves and coyotes have 

 been found, and these generally represented in a very simple 

 manner, as by dots or small rectangles. Deer, elk, horses, 

 and dogs are not represented. Almost all the animal repre- 

 sentations are of small animals,— the reptiles, fish, rats, and 

 especially insects and invertebrates in considerable variety. 

 It may be remembered that paint-pouches, navel-amulets, 

 knife-cases, and other articles which are representative in 

 their entirety, generally represent small animals. Of parts 

 of the body, of man, the navel is the most frequent in sym- 

 bolism; of animals, the foot or track. Of the total number 

 of symbols, animal representations, however, form only a 



