THE ORIGIN OF PAINTING. 107 



was pacific. Broca calls these raen " peaceful hunters/' and at- 

 tributes a gentle character to them. He remarks that an examina- 

 tion of their arsenal very rarely brings out warlike arms, and that 

 we can thus satisfy ourselves of their peaceful character. The 

 Belgian archaeologist, M. Dupont, observes that the cave-dwellers 

 of his country had no idea of war. And, if we have a right to 

 compare the existing savage with primitive man, we find that the 

 Eskimo, who is nearest like him, is quiet and peaceful. The Eski- 

 mo whom Ross met on the shores of Baffin's Bay could not be 

 made to understand what war is, and possessed no warlike weap- 

 ons. Wliile, then, we may believe that the cave men rarely raised 

 their hands against one another, it nevertheless remains deter- 

 mined that they waged a bitter and relentless war against animals. 

 Hence they rarely had occasion to exercise themselves in drawing 

 the human form ; and hence the imperfect character of their hu- 

 man images as compared with those of animals. As to the forms 

 of plants, it may be remarked that the boreal flora of that epoch, 

 not being at all threatening, could furnish little food for supersti- 

 tion ; and no drawings of plants are found in the caves. 



In short, the condition of the art of drawing with primitive 

 man seems to be in complete harmony with the meaning which 

 we have attributed to drawing itself, of its being inspired by be- 

 lief in the existence of a material relation between a being and its 

 image and in the possibility of acting on the first through the sec- 

 ond. Consequently, the principle of painting can not be found in 

 a natural tendency of primitive man to the artificial imitation of 

 living Nature, but seems rather to be derived from the desire of 

 subjecting that Nature to its needs, and of subjugating it. In the 

 course of its progressive improvements, the art of drawing has 

 gradually lost its primitive significance and original meaning, till 

 it has become what it is now. It does not differ much, however, 

 from what it was originally ; for, while the primitive man expected 

 to reach the living being in its image, it is still life which the civ- 

 ilized man seeks to-day in works of art. — Translated for the Popu- 

 lar Science Monthly from the Revue Scientifique. 



Dr. Peters, the African traveler, believes that the Waganda, or people of 

 Uganda, are descended from the ancient Egyptians; and some color is apparently 

 lent to his view by the burial of their kings in mounds, the custom of embalm- 

 ing, and the existence of ancient rock excavations. But the Waganda might 

 have borrowed these things from their northern neighbors. Dr. Peters observes 

 that they undoubtedly excel every other African nation in the development of 

 llieir intelligence, and that, in contrast to all other negro tribes, they feel the need 

 of progress. It is believed that in the oldest of the burial mounds are interred 

 records of the dead sovereigns that will explain the origin of the race; but at 

 present the "Waganda will not allow a search to be made. 



