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Show n6 BASIS OP AMERICAN HISTORY [ 1900 that the process of conventionalization of decorative patterns has not led, except in the case of Tlingit basketry, 1 to geometric designs,, but to curiously conventionalized animal motives. N The well- known totem poles and the carving and painting of house-posts, boxes, dishes, spoons, and implements of all sorts are examples of the process. \ The aim seems to be to portray as much of the pattern animal as possible; and in the adaptation of the design to surfaces of all shapes there has arisen a mode of conventional dissection and elimination of parts which is unique among primitive peoples.* From Vancouver Island south to the Columbia River is a group of tribes of which the Nootka of the Wakashan family and numerous Salishan peoples about Puget Sound are the most conspicuous. They form a sort of transition in type between people of the north Pacific coast and the tribes of California, and do not demand extended description. The important factors to note are the rapid breaking- up of the close clan organization of society, the disappearance of the peculiar art mentioned above, the further development of certain industries, notably whaling, and the modification of the religious ceremonials and mythology by southern influence. 1 Emmons, " Basketry of the Tlingit" ( Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Memoirs, III., 263). 3 Boas, " Decorative Art of the Indians of the North Pacific Coast" ( Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Bulletins, IX.)., |