282 



AN ANALYSIS OF THE 



Section^ III. The ethnic value of Desiyn. Having defined two distinct bases 

 for design, the natural and artificial, and concluding that the former is by far the 

 more frequent, it would yet be unsafe to deduce the tempting theory that peoples may 

 be graded by the choice of one or the other of them. Prescott* truly says "coinci- 

 dences natiu'ally spring up among different nations under the same phase of civiliza- 

 tion." May we not go farther and say that coincidences spring up as well under differ- 

 ent phases of civilization ? Tribes upon the same level may differ widely in their art 

 methods, as well as in the love for the art performance. Wallacef found the Papuans ex- 

 cellent carvers in wood, yet living in a state little better than Andamanders — proba- 

 bly the lowest of men. The Tahitians when discovered by Cook were found using 

 none but stone implements. LubbockJ considers that we have in this people a fair ex- 

 ample of one living in an age of stone. ]^ow among the remains of the people of the 

 stone age in Eiu'ope have been found fragments of bone covered with etchings. In 

 instituting a comparison of the art-products of these two races so far removed in time 

 and location, yet restricted to the use of the same tools, we find striking contrasts. 

 The Tahitian was content to repeat indefinitely a simple pattei'u composed of oblique 

 lines, zigzags and lozenges, a thing over-wrought and tasteless, without a trace of the 

 gracefulness of the life-forms which were so abundant about him; while the pre-historic 

 designer drew what he saw so accurately that his limnings have scientific value. 

 Prof. Owen§ informs us that some of the charactei's of the horse, employed by zool- 

 ogists to distinguish this animal from its congeners, to wit: the small pointed ears, the 

 bushy tail, the beard-like hairs in the stallion, are all faithfully represented in etchings 

 on bones found in the cavern of Bruniquel. The same authority says that the reindeer 

 is recognizable among similar pre-historic drawings. See also the deer (Fig. 1). 



Surely, while w^e should make every allowance for the differences in motive, these 

 two people were far removed in their inclinations as well as theii- ability to execute. 

 But how could it be shown which was the more advanced? In no way we think with 

 ceitainty, though conceding the accuracy of the statement, that picture-painting leads 

 to alphabet making, a tribe early evincing a tendency to copy accurately from nature 

 ]^ossesses a higher capacity for development than another in which such tendency is 

 imperfectly manifested. 



Many illustrations have been given by travelers of the dullness of perception of 

 the savage to artistic forms, a defect brought out in strong contrast to the well-known 



* History of Conquest of Peru., I, 175. 



f TheMalay Archipelago, A. R. Wallace, New York, 1869, p. 21. 

 X Lubbock, Ibid, 1865, 372. 



g Description of the Cavern of Bruniquel and its Organic Remains. Phil. Trans., L )nd., 1869, Part 11,553. 

 Ibid, Part I, 1864. 



