i9°2.] Kroeber, The Arapaho. 1 49 



minor part. Of natural objects, mountains and hills, singly 

 and in ranges, are very frequent. Rocks, earth, vegetation, 

 ravines, and the world are also found often. Representa- 

 tions of water are less frequent than the preceding; but 

 rivers, creeks, lakes, and springs are all not rare. Of celestial 

 objects, the sun, moon, clouds, sky (except as denoted by 

 color alone), rainbow, and inilky way are all represented in- 

 frequently. Stars, and especially the morning star, whose 

 name and symbol is the cross, one of the simplest and most 

 obvious geometric figures, are exceedingly abundant. Paths 

 are common symbols. Of objects of human use or manufac- 

 ture, tents are most frequently represented. Of symbols of 

 abstract ideas, the hiiteni, which seems to signify life and 

 abundance, is the most common. 



The symbolism of colors irrespective of forms is generally 

 the following. Red represents most commonly blood, man, 

 paint, earth, sunset, or rocks. Yellow denotes sunlight or 

 day, or earth. Green usually symbolizes vegetation. Blue 

 represents the sky; haze, mist, fog, or smoke; distant moun- 

 tains; rocks; and night. White is the normal background; 

 when it has any signification, it denotes snow, sand, earth, or 

 water. Black and brown rarely have any color significance; 

 they are practically not used in Arapaho decorative art ex- 

 cept to give sharpness of outline to colored areas, and occa- 

 sionally in very minute figures. Water does not seem to be 

 associated very strongly with any color. Clouds are as rarely 

 sjmibolized by color as by forms. 



The symbolic decoration that has been described is of 

 course far from pictography. A pictog^aph serves as a means 

 of record or communication, and is normally not decorative; 

 while this art is too decorative to allow of being read. Yet 

 there is considerable similarity in the symbols used in both 

 systems. Moreover, the significance of a piece of decoration 

 is at times as extended and coherent as that of a pictograph. 



There is a class of ceremonial objects, used especially in the 

 modem ghost-dance and related ceremonies, whose form and 

 decoration are not fixed and prescribed, but depend upon the 

 taste and desire of their owner. Many of these objects are 



