PREHISTORIC ART. 411 



American Indians is well known. The works of Ool. Garrick Mallery 

 on "Picture writing of the American Indians," of Dr. Washington 

 Matthews on the Navajos, of Dr. W. J. Hoffman, Dr. J. W. Fewkes, 

 Mr. F. H. Cashing, Col. J. J. and Mrs. Stevenson, and others, are filled 

 with illustrations of the use of color by these savages. One has only 

 to call to mind the descriptions and representations of the early trav- 

 elers, or the pictures of Catlin, whose "Gallery of Indian portraits" is 

 in the National Museum' to recognize the fact. These instances, while 

 perhaps all historic, are representative of culture beginning before the 

 advent of the white man. 



The Peruvians and the Mexicans were adepts in placing the colors 

 upon their cloths. The colors were so well fixed that they were not 

 even modified by the decomposition of the dead bodies, and the wrap- 

 pings of mummies buried centuries ago retain their primitive colors, 

 even when the original fabric is decayed to shreds. 



The Mexicans probably obtained the remarkably brilliant coloring of 

 their pictographs by somewhat analogous processes. These picto- 

 graphs in manuscript, of which only a small number have reached us, 

 embrace tbe history of the country, its national traditions, the geneal- 

 ogies of its kings and nobles, the rolls of i)rovincial tributes, the laws, 

 the calendar, religious festivals, and the education of the children — a 

 complete summary, in fact, of all that concerns the manners, customs, 

 and life of the people. They were painted in various colors on cotton 

 cloth, on prepared skin, or on a strong and tough paper made from the 

 fibers of the agave. At times the artist depicts scenes from real life. 

 At other times he records facts by means of hieroglyphic, symbolic, 

 or other characters — conventional signs that have been handed down 

 for generations, and on which innovation is prohibited. Another series 

 of pictures illustrates the education of children, their food and pun- 

 ishments. The father teaches his son to carry burdens, to steer a 

 canoe, or to manage the fishing tackle. The mother instructs her 

 daughter in domestic duties; she sweeps the house, prepares tortillas, 

 and weaves cloths. These pictures present the distinct outlines and 

 bright colors which the Americans sought most of all. Evidently we 

 must not ask them for models of decorative painting. Their complete 

 ignorance of ^proportions and the laws of perspective demonstrates 

 that their art was the exclusive product of their own genius or of the 

 instinct of their race, and that they had not been subject to any foreign 

 intiuence. 



The region of piedrafi ir'mtadas (painted stones) in South America 

 extends from Guiana to Patagonia. They are found in the wilds of 

 Brazil and La Pla-ta as well as in the more civilized districts of Peru 

 and Chili, and they betray everywhere a remarkable analogy. In the 

 solitudes of Para and Pianhy, Brazil, are numerous intaglio sculp- 

 tures executed by unknown peoples. They represent animals, birds, 



1 Report of the U. S. National Museum, 1885. 



