[40] Clark Wissler, Structural Basis to the Decoration of Costumes among the Plains Indians, Anthrop. Papers Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. 17, pp. 93 et seq. [Illustration: Fig. 53. Pottery vessel, Molkenberg type, Megalithic period.] [Illustration: Fig. 54. Pouch, Arapaho.] [Illustration: Fig. 55. Embroidered moccasin, Apache.] The tripartite division of the decorative field of Alaskan woven blankets is determined by the position of the blanket. The wider middle field is on the back of the wearer, the narrower, lateral fields are in front of the body (see figs. 269 et seq., pp. 259 et seq.). In garments made of single pieces of fabric, or in sewed basketry (fig. 56) we find the seams sometimes decorated so that the seam becomes a decorative element. In other cases seams are accompanied by decorative bands. In leggings and shirts of American Indians the seams are often emphasized by the attachment of fringes. In other objects prominent places are elaborated by the addition of decorative elements. [Illustration: Fig. 56. Birchbark vessels; _a_, _b_, _c_, Eastern Indians; _d_, Koryak.] [Illustration: Fig. 57. Pottery vessel, Arkansas.] In clay pots, the handles are so treated (fig. 57). On shields the central knob becomes an object of decoration. The handles of canes or other knob-like terminations are often elaborated as decorative elements. Sometimes fields without natural breaks, such as wall surfaces, are treated as units. Examples of this kind are our modern wall papers, or the painted walls of ancient Egyptian buildings. Often the tendency to break up the decorative field is so strong, that even where a natural division is not given it may be broken up into smaller parts. We may notice particularly that the marginal lines which emphasize or limit the form, develop exuberantly and thus encroach more and more upon the body of the object. In baskets from the interior of British Columbia the marginal pattern has grown to such an extent that it occupies the whole upper half or even more of the basket and is itself subdivided into a number of fields that follow the outline of the margin (fig. 58). Similar conditions are found on the margins of blankets of the New Zealanders (see Plate VIII, p. 182) and on the bronze work of ancient Scandinavia. [Illustration: Fig. 58. Imbricated basket, Chilcotin, British Columbia.]