CH APTER XI. 



ART. 



Every Papuan possesses a certain artistic sensé, and ail are accustomed to apply 

 it. It is for this reason that no member of Papuan society makes art his sole means of 

 existence. But it has already been pointed out above, that entire villages may possess a 

 kind of monopoly of producing articles of native, technical art. Music, singing and dancing 

 are dealt with in Chapter XII, consequently only a few remarks find their place hère, 

 regarding plastic art. 



A thorough knowledge can, after ail, only be obtained, as remarked by VON LUSCHAN 

 [1897, j6, Si], after prolonged résidence and by a complète mastery of the language. 

 UHLE [1886, 5], HADDON [1894, 250], PREUSS [1897, 81] and others are of the same opinion 

 with regard to the often mythological meaning of the ornaments, which hâve, moreover, a 

 définitive relation to the flora, and especially to the fauna of the country. With the ornaments 

 of primitive races even the most simple form has its spécial meaning (VoN DEN STEINEN 

 [1904, 126]); this has been proved conclusively with the tattooing in H. B. (see p. 46), and 

 one may therefore call it a kind of writing (PREUSS [1897, 83]), though difiicult to translate, 

 firstly because the figure generally déviâtes much from the natural form of the subject it 

 represents, whilst another difficulty is to find out what mental ideas are hidden in the illustration. 

 Xot the form, but the meaning is the most interesting part (HADDON [1894, 271], PREUSS 

 [1897, 82]). A thorough knowledge is necessary in order to understand why certain figures 

 constantly recur on certain objects. The difficulty is only evaded by talking of an ornamental 

 ,adat" (LOEBER [1903, 6g]). 



That the Papuan is quite familiar with the idea of writing became évident to me, 

 when, writing a letter on a certain evening at Asé, I had explained to an enquiring Papuan, 

 who was looking on, that distant relations would be able to make out from my scribbling, 

 that I was at Asé and how I was getting on. From the animated explanation which the man 

 at once gave to his companions, I heard how he indicated my writing with the word "âne", 

 which was always used for ornament, also for the carved or painted ornament. The con- 



