SECOND FLOOR, HALL 202. 
On the second floor are found collections from California and 
Mexico which illustrate some of the characteristics of the decora- 
tive art of these regions. 
CASES 1-6. 
CALIFORNIA InpDIANS.—The decorative art of the California 
Indians, more particularly that of the Indians of southern Cali- 
fornia, is almost entirely confined to basketry. Their baskets 
are mostly round, rather rarely oblong, many of them quite shal- 
low: consequently we find a tendency to arrange the decorative 
designs in radial groups or in spirals. The designs themselves 
are rarely realistic, but consist always of more or less intricate 
geometrical designs. The similarity of these designs on various 
baskets is quite striking. Their interpretations, however, differ 
considerably. A collection illustrating the similarity of design 
and the diversity of their meaning has been assembled in Case 
2 a, b. There we find on one basket a design representing a 
squirrel’s foot. A similar design on another basket represents 
mountains and pine-cones; on still another, the bear’s foot; and 
on a fourth the owl’s claw. 
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