5i: 



NA TURE 



{_Scpt. 30, 1 8 80 



Drums were derived from bamboos, being at first 

 simple pieces of bamboo open at both ends and beat 

 on the ground as now at Fiji. Wooden logs are then 

 hollowed out to imitate them, and hence the large 

 erect wooden drums of New Guinea and Melanesia 

 generally, and the horizontal canoe-like drums, "lali," of 

 Fiji. But these hollow wooden drums without a tense 

 membrane are more justly classed with bells, and metal 



FiC.3. 



Fi?. <•. 



A tense membrane having been added to one end of a 

 bamboo, the real drum was reached, and from this is 

 derived the Papuan drum, which is long and pipe-like in 

 form, and has a membrane of lizard skin (Hydrosaurus) 

 at one end. It is often shaped like a crocodile's head at 

 the open end, is somewhat dice-bo.x-shaped, and is used 

 in dancing. 



Another series is devoted to the growth of the art of 

 pottery. Amongst savages the Fijians are 

 pre-eminent for the excellence of their pottery 

 and for the variety and grace of the forms of 

 the vessels which they manufacture. The 

 common simpler flask-shaped form made by 

 them is said to have been suggested by that 

 of the nest of a wasp (Polistcs, sp.) common 

 in the islands. They glaze their pottery, and 

 make vessels in the shapes of animals such as 

 tuitles, in all kinds of forms, even in double 

 and triple clusters, recalling to mind the 

 pottery of ancient Peru. 



Yet another series exhibits the extent to 

 which various races of mankind have suc- 

 ceeded in representing the human figure in 

 wood, stone, or i\-ory carving, or models, or 

 in pottery. It is interesting to trace here the 

 steps by which the art of sculpture has grown. 

 Sculpture grew by the most gradual steps to 

 its civilised excellence. When savages pro- 

 duce the excessively rude representations of 

 men which commonly do duty as gods, the 

 faults in the work are not due to an absence of 

 power to execute better carvings, but simply 

 to an absence of accumulated experience as 

 to how the human figure should be repre- 

 sented. It is remarkable how extremely well 

 some savages copy European carvings when 

 once they get the chance of a little teaching. 

 .'\s an example of this sort of work General 

 Pitt Rivers displays a carving of the Virgin 

 and Child executed' by the Qua Qua Indians 

 of the North-west American coast. The piece 

 might pass muster as an example of modern 

 Swiss work. Besides this specimen are three 

 sitting figures in the old unassisted native 

 style, carved by the Vancouver Islanders. 

 They are very difterent indeed in execution, 

 and rude, but they still show a certain amount 

 of artistic feeling. Indeed, the whole of the 

 Indians of the Upper ' North-West Pacific 

 coast, and especially the Haidahs, are con- 

 spicuous for very advanced artistic powers as 

 savages. Savages vary immensely in their 

 artistic development. Many, such as the Hot- 

 tentots and South .African races generally, 

 appear never to have made any representa- 

 tions of the human figure. Those who do 

 make such figures always adopt a conven- 

 tional form for them, which is so well marked 

 that an experienced eye can detect at once 

 by what race any particular figure has been 

 made. Perhaps the most curious figures are 

 those of Easter Island, with shrunken abdo- 

 PLATEs-Ornnmentations copied from a series of canoe paddles from New Irel.->nd. showing mens and prominent ribs. The figures seem 

 thegradualdegener.itionof the represent.ition of tlie human form into a crcscent-sliaped copied from halt dried-up Corpses, ana were 

 ornament. perhaps copied from the dead originally. 



Some Peruvian human faces are extremely 

 bells were probably derived from them through the good ; but the Japanese and Chinese seem never to have 

 wooden bells such as those used in Japan. The clapper is a ' idealised the human countenance, except perhaps in their 

 late addition to the bell, which does not exist in Japan or | representations of Buddhist gods, the faces of which are 

 China. It is worthy of note that the large wooden drums ' however more or less Indian in type, so that the idea 

 of Fiji and Papua are used for the same purpose as bells, was probably derived, with the religion, from extraneous 

 to summon large meetings and communicate general , sources. 



warnings or similar intelligence. Dr. Michlucho Maclay | A considerable series is devoted to the development of 

 has given a fulfaccount of their use in New Guinea. religious properties of various kinds from different parts of 



