A WOMAN'S DRESS OF THE PLAINS INDIANS The Indian women of the Great Plains wore graceful dresses made from two deerskins. The decoration by beadwork and fringes grew naturally out of the construction. The lines of construction and decoration of garments as simple as this one contain suggestions of value to modern dressmakers Harry Collins A COMMUNITY OF INTEREST BETWEEN NEW YORK AND THE PHILIPPINES The Bagobo tribe of the Philippines make hempen jackets which they decorate with beads. A distinguished example showing how suggestions in primitive garments can be applied in the dress of today is seen in this graceful suit of brown cloth with decoration in brown beads. Note how the shape of the Bagobo jacket has been copied, as well as the little pockets, the strings in front that take the place of buttons, and the design that follows the edges and runs down the sleeves A. Beller & Co. A distinct field for development is to be found in the clothes of children. Here we see two little girls wearing adaptations of Guatemalan and Philippine models. The colors are pleasing and the designs unusual. The romance of design is one that children can understand better than grown-ups, at least in certain of its phases. Children live in a state of make-believe. Birds and beasts which never were on land or sea, but which appear in primitive designs and perform in primitive myths, appeal strongly to youthful imaginations. Geometric art gives the chords and scales of abstract beauty, realistic art pictures the things that exist in the world, while formal or conventional art, growing, as it does, out of strange religions and philosophies, results in the creation of forms that have no existence except in the mind of man J. Wise Co., Inc. Block printing and hand painting as means of decorating large surfaces in pictographic manner are finely developed in India. In the example we see a medley of more or less realistic details drawn out of all proportion to one another but with fine decorative effect M. D. C. Crawford An "Old Tramp" Among the Florida Keys By CHARLES T. SIMPSON 1 N days gone by the only way in which a naturalist could visit the Florida Keys was by boat, but since the completion of the extension of the Florida East Coast Railway he can get off the train at Jewfish on Cross Key, tramp to Largo, Long and Windlys islands, Upper and Lower Matacumbe keys, Long, Grassy, Crawl and Vaccas keys, Bahia Honda, Big Pine, Torch, Ramrod, Cudjoe, Sugarloaf and a number of other islands of lesser importance, until he finally reaches Key West. By following the track of the railroad he will visit most of the principal islands of this interesting chain and will cross many miles of the wonderful causeway built across the sea. The stupendous arches carry a singletrack railroad and are too narrow for a train and foot passenger to pass, but the company has built wooden cages hung out over the water at regular intervals along the viaduct, and the tramp can always reach one of these before the train passes. I have been familiar with the Florida Keys since 1882, having resided in Lower Florida the greater part of the time since that date and from time to time I have made collecting and exploring trips among them. Now, although more than threescore and ten, I cannot resist the temptation to visit them occasionally in order that I may study their natural history and the geographical distribution of their life. Such a trip I undertook the latter part of October, 1919, running from my home near Miami to Big Pine Key by rail and making that island my headquarters while I visited the keys near by in a small boat. My outfit consisted of two suits of khaki-including the one I wore, an old, narrow-brimmed slouch wool hat, the best thing for getting through the thick scrub, socks, a high pair of strong canvas shoes, a coat, toothbrush, and some small sacks for holding snails. Instead of a grip, which is an awkward thing to carry through thick, tangled growth, I put my things into a large sack which I hung over my shoulder. A blanket, mosquito netting, and two-quart water can completed my stock. Fresh water can be obtained en the keys only at the cisterns of the natives or at the railroad tanks. Meager as this outfit was, it became a heavy burden when one tramped long distances on the railroad or through the scrub on a hot day. The objects of my trip were to study the distribution of the tropical vegetation, make a list of the butterflies seen, and collect specimens of the large and beautiful arboreal snails belonging to the genera Orystyla and Liguus. The snails were once abundant in the hammock growth of nearly all the keys but of late years are becoming scarce or are in some cases exterminated. The shells of all are highly polished; those of the genus Orystyla are colored with various shades of brown; the Liguus are white, yellow, green, brown, black, orange and scarlet, while a few are tinted with violet or blue. All of our Liguus specimens have been derived from Cuba, having crossed the Florida Strait on floating timber, and are among the most wonderfully painted of any snails on earth. I wanted to observe the effects of the hurricane of early September, the one which wrecked Corpus Christi, Texas, and which had been 1 Collaborator. United States Department of Agriculture, author of works on mollusks, especially of the West Indies and Florida, and recently of a book on the Florida Keys, their geology, and the geographical distribution of their fauna and flora, entitled In Lower Florida Wilds, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons. |