154 
THE ORIGIN OF DECORATIVE ART. 
July, 1890. 
express certain of the less prominent features is extremely 
common, and the greater the use of this form of giving 
expression, the less the need of representation in the solid or 
bold relief. This may have by degrees suggested that the 
entire object might by means of lines be represented upon a 
flat surface. Be this as it may, nearly all savage races 
down to the lowest, are accustomed to draw outline or filled- 
in figures of men and animals upon such surfaces as bark of 
trees, stones, and walls of caves. The designs are for the 
most part rude, and partake of the necessary character of the 
decorated surface, viz. flatness, as light and shade have not 
entered into the pictorial art of the lower savage races. 
The use of colour is extremely ancient, and of its origin 
we have no record. Already, in the French caves of the 
Palaeolithic period, the use of colour is evidenced by the dis¬ 
covery of shells full of red haematite, or oxide of manganese, 
which has been ground to a powder. It is not known whether 
the colouring matters were then used for “ painting pictures,” 
or whether, as is very likely, they were used for daubing over 
the bodies of the inhabitants of the caves. This latter is a 
custom dating from remote antiquity, and one which is very 
prevalent in most savage races, existing, too, in a “ refined 
form ” even in the most civilised nations of the globe. No 
doubt, too, the use of pigments in the decorative arts is also 
of great antiquity. All savages, or nearly all, apply colour 
to this purpose ; such colouring matters as red ochre, haema¬ 
tite, lime, charcoal, the juices of some plants, and others, are 
commonly used as paint by the lowest races, often mixed with 
grease or oil as a medium, and these must readily have sug¬ 
gested themselves for decorative use other than that of 
personal adornment. 
I have already described a simple way in which a primitive 
form of decoration applied to a flat surface has suggested 
itself, when I mentioned the “ boomerang ” with the knots 
stained black to throw them into greater prominence. Many 
other instances might be given to show how a natural 
peculiarity, when slightly intensified, gives a decorative effect 
to a useful object. The joints or nodes of reeds and bamboos 
are by many savages scraped so as to represent bands at 
regular intervals. These may be also picked out in colours, 
or, in the hands of more laborious artists the scraped bands 
may give way to bands composed of finely incised lines ; but it 
is clear that these forms of decoration have owed their origin 
to a desire to improve upon the natural decorative effect of 
the nodes. 
Occasionally various objects used in the manufacture of 
different articles of use suggest a form of ornamentation, as 
