in peoples, as I have shown in a paper on ancient
Pueblo art. From it we have not only a great variety of surface
ornamentation produced by simple treatment of the coil in place, but
probably many forms suggested by the use of the coil in vessel building,
as, for instance, the spiral formed in beginning the base of a coiled
vessel, Fig. 478 _a_, from which the double scroll _b_, as a separate
feature, could readily be derived, and finally the chain of scrolls so
often seen in border and zone decoration. This familiarity with the use
of fillets or ropes of clay would also lead to a great variety of
applied ornament, examples of which, from Pueblo art, are given in Fig.
479. The sinuous forms assumed by a rope of clay so employed would
readily suggest to the Indian the form of the serpent and the means of
representing it, and might thus lead to the introduction of this much
revered creature into art.

[Illustration: FIG. 479.--Ornamental use of fillets.]

Of the various classes of utensils associated closely with the ceramic
art, there are none so characteristically marked by constructional
features as nets and wicker baskets. The twisting, interlacing,
knotting, and stitching of filaments give relieved figures that by
contact in manufacture impress themselves upon the plastic clay. Such
impressions come in time to be regarded as pleasing features, and when
free-hand methods of reproducing are finally acquired they and their
derivatives become essentials of decoration. At a later stage these
characters of basketry influence ceramic decoration in a somewhat
different way. By the use of variously-colored fillets the woven surface
displays figures in color corresponding to those in relief and varying
with every new combination. Many striking patterns are thus produced,
and the potter who has learned to decorate his wares by the stylus or
brush reproduces these patterns by free-hand methods. We find pottery in
all countries ornamented with patterns, painted, incised, stamped, and
relieved, certainly derived from this source. So well is this fact known
that I need hardly go into details.

In the higher stages of art the constructional characters of
architecture give rise to many notions of decoration which afterwards
descend to other arts, taking greatly divergent forms. Aboriginal
architecture in some parts of America had reached a development capable
of wielding a strong influence. This is not true, however, of any part
o