Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-07-28
SCIENTISTS PUZZLED.
How did Earbarous Tribes Get the Art
Wsri.i. of Civilized People?


TLsre Is a eu, ,tion which constantly
hsur,s the antiquarian mind like ghost
in an Old hotiae That question il. How did
trifiiug mHtt. fs-h song. story, game,
toy. come tn be scattered widely among
he most remote nnd ignorant peopleS' In
he caSt of customs and Of myths we may
often deem that the mind Of man reacts
alike te the ..r.:c impulses from nature or
from human ute1~-
An ancestor If t,ihbop, who was herald
and had lteH blue mantle, retired to Amer
lea in the -,NrHtctuth century, and there
he found b,r,!d;c bearings among the red
men u' Njf-. ,,it. The savage dancers were
PAIN l. .,pr purity per pail '9ut and
sal titc 'larty per fesse' n the same
ole. - vtr;Ict Edward Gibbon inferred
That ueraIdry was engrafted naturally into
he sc;i-,' CF tha human race, That is,
heraldrr j. Hl innate idea rs Mr. Max
Muller re,nar,>, IA his 'Lectures-on 1heos-
ophy' we can no lcn.:er accept this theory
Of innate idt.,f Aul Il party per Jesse, or
crests. As reHuY lDade f'lrts of the human
intellect CCr,}i,l arrangements of colors.
certain indications of lineage by crests. are
attrartivra1l convenient 80 they have been
adopted ever Nuccc
IL il NOR, lH4ziiu'. when we find what is
called IL iudli tr '~vastlka,' n cross with
legs at ri zh, ~, H. to the nInn limbs, not
only exist In. 3t. f. sacred emblem in lnUia,
hut carved o;t .oue, IN South America
This do,.- not -t,t,n 70 have an obvious orig
inai uIeani,i., rs a symbol l. it merely AT
ornamental design to which the Indian
mind later attarhed a sacred sense 1t is
found on pottery from iEssarlik, DR. Schlie-
maifi's Trut. aud on old Mexican pottery,
II il is only a niece of decoration Ike the
Gree K key pattern and wave pattern, also
found in old Perm, we may perhaps decide
thnt the human mind naturally Is on some
simple patteriis like the sprals of Myce-
neat art, f,htud also in the ruined palace OF
kueusten, IN Egypt, and in New Zealand
and Celtic art We can conceive that the
pattern spread from Egypt to Greece and
thence to the Norsemen and the Celts. but
we can scarce imagine that it was carried
in prehistoric times TO New Zealand. Again.
Mr. rylor hH. traced an oriental form IF
back eanuou to Mexico and we cannot be
certain whrtaer Il rather complicated game
reached Arm, RIGA from Asia or was indie
pen,eutlv Invented by the Aztecs.
A very curiniI. example of this class of
problem has iren discovered by Mr.. L. ).
',ofse and is published in The Bulletin OF
the Essex Institute. Salem, Mass. In the
Ashmolean museum at oxford may be seen
an old Egyptian toy found by Mi Flinders
petrie in tie cemetery OF uawara. 1t Is
engraved in his work uu Havana. Beahmu
and Arsiuoe cities Of the Fayoum The
cemetery of lIawara il only about as old as
our era which is metiern for Egypt The
toy is of wood and represents bird on
wheels In the neck is hole, through
which Il :, ring WIS tied, and some child OF
Hawar,, led his toy shSut by the string.
Tbi, is not "a very obvious Kind of toy. for
the movement uf the W heels is not like the
hop Of a bird In modern toy shops dogs
set on wheeled boards are common. In the
Egyptian example there is no board but
the wheels are under the wings and level
with the body. The Egyptians of course
A. a civilized people had for thousands of
wears been familiar with wheels, and the
TOW though rare in kind has nothing to
arouse curiosity.
Bat 1t Is another matter when Mr.. Morse
discovers precisely similar AiDotoy, prob
sbly some 80 years old The Amos are
peculiarly hairy race, who have fable that
they are descended from bears, which they
ignorsntly worship. They are. or very late
ly were. savases in q low grade, and with
wheels they have no acquaintance any
more than Liddesdale had before Scott
drove the first dogcart through the region.
Mr. Morse decides that the bird, which he
engraves. is not OF japanese work-the
wheels have the popularity Of being ''ir-
regularly ovste, rather than circular" The
hole for the string is in the tail, and the
rp,r ka r.d bow
II Is dragged Here, then. we find rare
form of Egyptian toy. about 30 A D.. and
at the ends OF the earth. among the hairy
Ainos, a similar toy, remarkable for pos
sessing wheels. otherwise unused by the
AinosL The problem is. Has the pattern fl
tered far east in some unknown manner, or
has il been Independently invented. wheels
and all, by some Aino genius, who never
carried his valuable invention any further,
-Londop News