Even such an abstract idea as the Principle of Life, or Vital Energy,
has been indicated in decorative art. “On every class of food- and
water-vessels, in collections of both ancient and modern Pueblo pottery
(except on pitchers and some sacred receptacles), it may be observed as
a singular, yet almost constant feature, that encircling lines, often
even ornamental zones, are left open or not, as it were, closed at
the ends,” writes Cushing[57] (p. 510), who adds, “I asked the Indian
women, when I saw them making these little spaces with great care, why
they took so much pains to leave them open. They replied that to close
them was ‘fearful!’—that this little space through the line or zone
on a vessel was the ‘exit trail of life or being.’ How it came to be
first left open, and why regarded as the ‘exit trail,’ they could not
tell. When a woman has made and painted a vessel she will tell you with
an air of relief that it is a ‘Made Being’; as she places the vessel
in the kiln, she also places in and beside it food. The noise made
by a pot when struck or when simmering on the fire is supposed to be
the voice of its associated being. The clang of a pot when it breaks
or suddenly cracks in burning is the cry of this being as it escapes
or separates from the vessel. That it has departed is argued from the
fact that the vase when cracked never resounds as it did when whole.
This vague existence never cries out violently unprovoked; but it is
supposed to acquire the power of doing so by imitation; hence, no one
sings, whistles, or makes other strange or musical sounds resembling
those of earthenware under the circumstances above described during
the smoothing, polishing, painting, or other processes of finishing.
The being thus incited, they think, would surely strive to come out,
and would break the vessel in so doing.” In their native philosophy
and worship of water, the latter is supposed to contain the source
of continued life, hence life also dwells in a vessel containing
water, and having once held water, and in virtue of having done so, it
contains the source of life. “If the encircling lines inside of the
eating bowl, outside of the water jar, were closed, there would be no
exit trail for this invisible source of life, or for its influence
or breath.” In attempting to arrive at the origin of this, Cushing
points out that it is very “difficult to smoothly join a line incised
around a clay pot while still soft, and that this difficulty is greater
when the ornamental band is laid on in relief. It would be a natural
outgrowth of this predicament to leave the ends unjoined, which indeed
the savage often did. When paint instead of incision or relief come to
be the decorative agent, the lines or bands would be left unjoined in
imitation. As those acquainted with Tylor’s _Early History of Mankind_
will realise, a ‘myth of observation’ like the above would come to be
assigned in after ages.”
[57] F. H. Cushing, “A Study of Pueblo Pottery as illustrative
of Zuñi Culture Growth,” _Fourth Ann. Rep. Bureau Ethnol._,
1882-83. Washington, 1886.
[Illustration: FIG. 68.—Pueblo water-jar; after Cushing.]
The soul or spirit as it is supposed to emerge from a person at death
is often represented in Christian art as a miniature man or as a winged
monstrosity, as a butterfly by the ancient Greeks, or in various ways
by different peoples. Souls of deceased persons may be enshrined in
living fruit-eating bats,[58] frigate-birds,[59] crocodiles,[60]
lizards,[61] sharks,[62] or other animals. Under certain conditions the
representation of any of these forms would be emblematic of the soul.
[58] According to a legend collected by the author in Torres
Straits.
[59] Dr. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, p. 126.
[60] M. Uhle, “Holz- und Bambus-Geräthe aus N.W. Neu Guinea,”
_K. Eth. Mus., Dresden_, vi., 1886, p. 6.
[61] M. D’Estrey, “Étude ethnographique sur le Lézard chez les
Peuples Malais et Polynésiens,” _L’Anthropologie_, iii., 1892,
p. 711.
[62] Dr. Codrington, _The Melanesians_, p. 126.
The dove, flames (or tongues) of fire, wind, and other emblems are
symbolic of spirit in Christian art.