As a typical example of lack of relation between the symbols composing the ornament may be mentioned an Arapaho knife scabbard[58] (fig. 100). “The green lines forming a square at the top represent rivers. The figure within is an eagle. The two larger dark portions of this figure are also cattle-tracks. The two rows of triangles on the body of the scabbard represent arrow-points. The squares in the middle are boxes, and the lines between them are the conventional morning-star cross. The small squares on the pendant attached to the point of the scabbard are cattle-tracks.” [58] Kroeber, The Arapaho, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. 18, p. 87. [Illustration: Fig. 100. Embroidered knife sheath, Arapaho.] [Illustration: Fig. 101. Painted board, Neu-Mecklenburg.] [Illustration: Fig. 102. Decorated paddle, Neu-Mecklenburg.] As another example I select a decorated object from New Ireland described by Stephan. In fig. 101 (_a_) represents a frigate bird, (_b_) fish bones, (_c_) buttons for strings of shell money, (_d_) men’s arms, and (_e_) a fish head. On a paddle (fig. 102) the spirals represent the opercula of a snail; the connected triangles, the wings of the frigate bird. On other specimens the spirals represent young fern fronds. [Illustration: Fig. 103. Blanket of mountain-goat wool, Tlingit. Alaska.] In the art of the North Pacific coast a definite totemic meaning is given to conventional figures. There is no general agreement as to their significance, but to many forms is assigned a meaning according to the totemic affiliation of the owner for whom it thus attains a value based on its meaning. Explanations of a blanket design (fig. 103) obtained by G. T. Emmons and John R. Swanton, may serve as an example. According to Emmons the design represents a whale diving, in the lateral fields are ravens sitting. The head with nostrils and mouth is shown below. The central face represents the body, the inverted eyes along the upper border, the tail. According to Swanton the design represents a wolf with young. The head is shown below. The hind legs and hip joints are represented by the two large inverted eyes and the adjoining ornament along the upper border. The two dark segments just above the eyes are explained as the feet. The face in the middle of the design represents, as usual, the body of the animal. The small eye designs, with adjoining ear and wing feathers, in the middle on each side of the body, are interpreted as forelegs and feet. The designs in the lateral panels are explained as young wolves sitting. It seems likely that wherever varied interpretations of the same form, or of closely allied forms occur within the same social unit, conditions of this kind prevail.