ior of
food vessels, where it is commonly interpreted as a rain-cloud symbol.

[Illustration: FIG. 314--Crook, serrate end]

Of all patterns on ancient Tusayan ware, that of the terrace figures
most closely resemble the geometrical ornamentation of cliff-house
pottery, and there seems every reason to suppose that this form of
design admits of a like interpretation. The evolution of this pattern
from plaited basketry has been ably discussed by Holmes and
Nordenskioeld, whose works have already been quoted in this memoir.
The terraced forms from the exterior of food bowls here considered are
highly aberrent; they may be forms of survivals, motives of decoration
which have persisted from very early times. Whatever the origin of the
stepped figure in Pueblo art was, it is well to remember, as shown by
Holmes, that it is "impossible to show that any particular design of
the highly constituted kind was desired through a certain identifiable
series of progressive steps."

[Illustration: FIG. 315--Key pattern; rectangle and triangles]

[Illustration: FIG. 316--Rectangle and crook]

For some unknown reason the majority of the simple designs on the
exterior of food bowls from Tusayan are rectangular, triangular, or
linear in their character. Many can be reduced to simple or multiple
lines. Others were suggested by plaited ware.

[Illustration: FIG. 317--Crook and tail feathers]

In figure 312 is found one of the simplest of rectangular designs, a
simple band, key pattern in form, at one end, with a reentrant square
depression at the opposite extremity. In figure 313 is an equally
simple terrace pattern with stepped figures at the ends and in the
middle. These forms are common decorative elements on the exterior of
jars and vases, where they occur in many combinations, all of which
are reducible to these types. The simplest form of the key pattern is
shown in figure 314, and in figure 315 there is a second modification
of the same design a little more complicated. This becomes somewhat
changed in figure 316, not only by the modifications of the two
extremities, but also by the addition of a median geometric figure.

[Illustration: FIG. 318--Rectangle, triangle, and serrate spurs]

[Illustration: FIG. 319--W-pattern; terminal crooks]

[Illustration: FIG. 320--W-pattern; terminal rectangles]

The design in figure 317 is rectangular, showing a key pattern at one
end, with two long feathers at the opposite extremity. The f