Boas, Franz: Primitive art (Oslo , Leipzig [u.a.], 1927)

Symbolism

91

explained as animals; some
identified by their form,
others imitating the pattern
of the skin or being sug-
gestive of parts of the body.
There are also a number
of plant representations (figs.
81, 82). In some of these
the meaning of the form is
readily recognized as in the
snake pursuing a frog (fig.
81 a) or in the human form
(fig. 81 b). The body of the
snake " is represented by a
broad meander, its head by
a triangle. To the right of
the head is the frog. Less
evident is the dog shown
in fig. 81 c. The interpreta-
tion of the designs in figs.
81 d, e and / and 82 seems
quite arbitrary. The me-
anders fig. 81 d—f represent
the wild nutmeg. In e the
vertical connecting bar of
the double T represents the
main branches, the horizontal
one the secondary branches.
Fig 82 a is called the centipede, b savanna grass, c—f periwinkles,
g butterflies, and the three designs h—j represent snakes. The square
in the pattern in the left hand lower corner of j is the head of the snake.
Ehrenreich was the first to observe the highly developed symbol-
ism of the North American Indians and his observation gave the
impetus to the studies of North American art which were largely


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Fig. 82. Basketry patterns from British Guyana;
a, Centiped; b, Savannah grass; c—/, Periwink-
les; g, Butterflies; h—j, Snakes.