Evening star., 1900-10-20

carven walls. One feels very little in the
midst of these huge emblems of passed
religious mysteries.
All this Is reconstructed from the Indo-
China of old, in the days when certain
HindOos Of the north were driven over the
mountains and founded the new race. about
the time when solomon was sitting on the
Jewish throne. They ruled there till about
the time the Greeks rose to the full perfec-
tion of their artistic period then they began
to fail as ruling race, decay set in and has
been going on ever since. But even today
the lndC-ChineSe that one sees in scores
about their exposition fine type. 1t
is curious to see them, clearly marked, the
blend Of the two races, Hindoo plus Chi
| nese, clean limbed, sturdy, sinewy, compact
like the little fierce hill men that have so
long troubled the English with Chinese
cheeks and eyes almost oblique as those
OF the Celestia.s, but very frank and pleas
ant All around the temple are reproduc-
ticns of their houses and shops, elegantly
designed, with curving decorated roofs and
propped always on high pillars off the
ground. Here they sell all kinds of things
sweetmeats, tea, toys and lacquered cabi-
nets. Marvellous carvers of wood and stone
are they still, these sturdy little brown
folk, who are so intelligent and attractive.
1t looks as if one day, and before long, they
would be very effective rivals Of the Japan
ese to whom, by the way, they seem men
tally If not facially akin.
Fine Specimens of Humanity.
or all the other peoples whose work and
ways and homelands so admirably IL
lustrated here, in this fascinating end Of
the exposition, it would obviously be quite
impossible to write at length. The semi
sayages Of Dahomey, the clever, perhaps
! somewhat Semitic craftsmen and vendors
fl ON TuniSie. the superb negroes from the
Soudan and the Congo and Madagascar, all
these have countless points of interest and
Of all them one could tax for hours from
the material afforded byan afternoons stroll
| among their pavilions and villages ana
meeting places.
Even the garments these people have de-
signed for themselves are ideal No Byzan-
tine emperor was ever so Superply clau DIS
are these African savages. In costume they
have not merely love of color, but they
have a most delicate sense of the comblna-
tons of color. Their robes are gorgeous al
ways, but gaudy never. They walk like
kings in more than kingly garments, and
we civilized artistcally cultivated whites
are mean and sordid by the side of them.
1t is certain that We VIII never consent to
go to the savage and learn to clothe our
selves, but it is equally certain that We
ought to. We may perhaps arrive one day
at working in ivory and rich woods and in
lacquer well as the natives of NADIA
gascar or Indo-China, but 1t is quite GER
tain that today we cannot. We think too
highly of our own civilization, not recOg-
| niZing that in certain ways and things 1t
is inferior to that of distant brethren, If in
other ways 1t Is immeasurabIy more per-
feet. 1t is one of the merits of this colonial
exposition that II shows and with admirable
and most fas cinating circumstance that in
far ends of the EARTH without asking our
counsel or our leave. black men and yellow
men and bronze men have attained to Won
derful skill in beautiful arts and crafts
making the sum total of the worlds artistic
effort much greater than We have sus-
pected
Just one word to finish with. The colonial
office has conceived and arranged all this
vast object lesson with what / feel tempted
to call a rare recognition of the human ma
ture of the average man. 1t is not dry
scientific" on the contrary, 1t is full OF
i life and color and beauty The story is
necessarily told in part by exhibits in glass
cases. but 1t is also told by characteristic
architecture by handsome gardens laid out
! after the manner OF each country or prov.