878 The Northernmost Inhabitants of the Earth, [September 
ceed the limits of these pages. Whoever desires to become : 
familiar with the legendary treasures of the Eskimo will find — 
the Eskimo.” The traditions given by him readily prove that 
the mental power of this primitive people is by no means of an 
inferior order. Vivid as their imagination is, they endow with — 
genius and life the rigid rock and the soughing wind, the twink- 
ling stars and the flashing aurora, in short, the various astral 
telluric phenomena. 
Inasmuch as this psychological process involves one 
leading principles of beauty, it may not be without interest 
to examine in what manner the conception of beauty m 
itself among the Eskimo. 
e discussion of this question is rendered the more im 
if we remember the remarkable similarity between the weap0t 
and utensils of the reindeer petiod of Europe and those oF 
Eskimos, Still more importance must be granted considel 
fact that the extinct race of Europe existed under analogot 
cumstances, And we may regard it as an indisputable $ 
like causes produce like effects. a 
At the present time the question whether the engra 
carvings of the Palzolithic period found in Southern Fi : 
Switzerland are genuine, has become one of great 
Since it has been found that some of the Thayingen 
are counterfeits, the tendency has prevailed to deny the 
tion of beauty to all so-called primitive people. pa H 
larly doss this apply to their ability to depicture animal | 
To the advocates of this view it seems difficult to conceive ® 
people able only to manufacture rude stone impian 
the requisite talent to engrave upon horn and g 
figures of animals bearing a certain artistic character both ; 
line and disposition. hi toric 
A view like this may partly be justified since, in PR i gd 
times, the ability to make pictorial representations id e 
denly and just as suddenly was lost. It remains to be é spe 
ever, that up to the present day but a very small number st begut 
imens of this kind have been found, indeed we have J™ 
to unearth them. The deterioration of this soch a pat 
art is in itself no matter of surprise, and it is not W! 
allel. 
