28 



PRIMITIVE ART 



Painted decorations are much rarer among these tribes than 

 among those of the Great Plains. In place of the hide bags, 

 which are so common among all the Prairie tribes, hide trunks 





are used which are painted with patterns similar to those de- 

 scribed before. Probably these hide trunks are modem forms of 

 I ncient bark boxes. 



It is interesting to note that in the modem woven bead- 

 wori. of these tribes the realistic flower designs which have been 

 in v6fe'ie for a considerable period tend to assume geometrical 

 shapes. The series of beaded belts exhibited in Case 28 h brings 

 out clearly the fact that the leaves and fruits tend to assume 

 the forms of diamonds, while the flowers tend to develop in the 

 direction of crosses. The two beaded belts, illustrated above, 

 show types of conventionalization of modem flower designs. 



