THE EARLIEST MEN 193 



as were used by primitive man, and he will find 

 his respect for the craftsman of bygone days 

 enormously raised as the result of his own failures to 

 accomplish anything like what his far-off ancestor 

 was able to achieve. The same fact is impressed 

 upon us by the remarkable discoveries which have 

 been made in connection with the artistic capaci- 

 ties of some of the earliest races of mankind. 



Of the art of the earliest peoples known to us, 

 we have at present no knowledge. Perhaps they 

 lived in too strenuous times, and had too severe 

 a struggle to maintain their existence, to devote 

 any time to what is after all not a necessity of life, 

 namely, art. For, as will be readily understood, 

 the pursuit of art connotes a certain relief from 

 extreme strain. When a man takes the trouble to 

 decorate his weapons, it means that he has mo- 

 ments when he can feel sure that he will not be 

 called upon to use them for their primary purpose. 

 At any rate, it is only towards the later Palaeo- 

 lithic Period that we begin to find undoubted and 

 extensive evidence of a love for and a great skill 

 in pictorial art. This again is not a matter over 

 which it is possible here to linger, but those who 

 take the trouble to examine the numerous repro- 

 ductions of this early art which are now available, 

 will be struck by its excellence, its spirit, and its 

 admirable reproduction of the great beasts and 

 creatures amongst which man lived, with which 

 he had to war, and of which he made his food. 



Finally it may be said, that as far as we go back 

 amongst the races to which allusion is now being 

 made, we discover undoubted evidence of a belief 



