that of the foundation fabrics. Other classes of decoration, drawn
work, appliqué, and the like, are not of great importance in
aboriginal art and need no additional attention here, as they have but
slight bearing upon the development of design.

[Illustration: FIG. 337. Feather embroidery of the ancient Peruvians,
showing the method of attaching the feathers.]

Attached or appended ornaments constitute a most important part of
decorative resource. They are less subject to the laws of
geometricity, being fixed to surfaces and margins without close
reference to the web and woof. They include fringes, tassels, and the
multitude of appendable objects, natural and artificial, with which
primitive races bedeck their garments and utensils. A somewhat
detailed study of this class of ornament is given at the end of the
preceding section.

_Adventitious features._--Ornament is applied to the surfaces of
fabrics by painting and by stamping. These methods of decoration were
employed in very early times and probably originated in other branches
of art. If the surface features of the textile upon which a design is
painted are strongly pronounced, the figures produced with the brush
or pencil will tend to follow them, giving a decidedly geometric
result. If the surface is smooth the hand is free to follow its
natural tendencies, and the results will be analogous in character to
designs painted upon pottery, rocks, or skins. In primitive times both
the texture of the textiles and the habits of the decorator, acquired
in textile work, tended towards the geometric style of delineation,
and we find that in work in which the fabric lines are not followed at
all the designs are still geometric, and geometric in the same way as