Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-11-27


i1uskin said Il. or did not say H. The
evolution Of men and houses began to-
scther and most probably Il will COM
tinue to 60 on together. For there is
always room for Improvement Since
men first learned 90 think in wood and
bricks and TO speak in tin roofs and as
phalt Sidewalks, their speech and
thought have become of enduring In
terest. because they prove the evolution
Of dual raco-of mon and OF houses.
Speaking strictly, houses are not so
much dead weight OF lumber. or bricks.
or mortar They are the living child
Of mans brain The Australian Aborig-
ines are witness 20 the truth Of this.
They have no brains Therefore they
have no houses They are human Efo,
before evolution got hold Of Il and de-
Veloped II into men and houses
From an old portfolio. crammed with
rough sketches, smudged In with crude
colors, the Colonial submits some half
dozen pictures. which he gathered Up
az he saw them. They may help 70
bear out that which was truth before
Ruskin said II
Two poles upthrust In the sand with n
third pole laid athwart them Slabs OF
varying bark slantlng 70 the cross bar.
a hro OF dead gum-leaves and sticks
with snake or an iguana or a rat
roasting in itl A couple OF things, with
long. unclean hair and half clothed
bodies daubed with red ochre crouched
near; and, behind and before and all
round tan gray gums, where the loose
bark flaps on the bole. farstretching
pakedness OF gray sand. clumps OF fat
leavod pricklypear, a brazen sky,
slantinB to distant bush-ranges
The long-haired things claw the burnt
meat from the ashes. They stun Il
down like men feeding a furnace Then
they gather up their tattered blanket.
their billy and tomahawk and make
tracks for the run In the ranges. where
they will beg tucker from the hut-cook
Behind them the wind moving slowly
sits tho sand over the fre-ashcs; IL
lays the 'maimai" fiat as a dead thing
and the ever-shhting sand gives IL de-
cent burial A sinking dlngo snuffs up
tho trail OF food. finds neither promise
nor fulhlment, and sinks of again
the whole is mirage in the quivering
heat a thing that was and Is not The
aborigine will pass from this earth like
mirage He leaves nothing behind
yea very truly nothing, for he Is a
most earnest thief He Is the beginning
or evolution. the preface TO the book
Inc uncut page which has never been
read. and which win never be under
stood. He is the first stage OF man
PAPUAN HOMES.
Inside the coral reef. among The mud
OF the mangrove-roots and the stencil
OF dead fish. with the sea vivid as iigbt-
ning-fashes beyond and the air heavy
with the breath Of the hulloing forest
thick mountain behind. the Papuana
build their houses. They build them
this way, and no man knows why
Rough sticks are set up IN the mud
any size, any angle, any position. More
rough sticks are dashed across them
halfway up. Occasional lianos are laced
through walls and floor and stretched
over the top. Broad banana and cocoa
nut leaves make the roof and the folk
OF the village scramble through theis
branching rooms in clothes careless a.
the houses
Here life aud thought are communls.
nc Anything that man can steal by
his long-taloned hand or his ever
prompt big toe and curling little ones
Is his. Anything that a man does not
want goes down through the cracks ia
the flooring to feed the fishes. Life
and thought are yet at their simplest
Humans swing through their tree
houses like monkeys: their talk is
harsh as the chatter OF the gold and
scarlet parrots that flash In the dull,
greens OF the bush. their skin is hairy
as an animals. II Is possible that they
themselves are yet uncertain whether
they be animal or bird, for their
houses are hybrid of bird s-nest and
rabbit warren. II Is told that back IN
hose sullen New Guinea mountains
stili UNEMPLOYED, still mysterious--the
allied man yet swings In his tree-tops
md bites at his kind with animal spite
There is clogging sensuOusness in
he HfFRs aaft inc of a.
moisture from the thick-leaved flowers
ana the trees; mingling Of the waking
intellect Of man with the lrresponsi ble
screams OF the gaudy parrots and tn.
iaceidity of the dull-eyed fishes. There
Is the belief that nature Is trying new
experiments here in her own private
laboratory ON one OF the least known
stands q earth, and there is a sense
u CHASTITY suggestion such as leaves
ne ordinary man humbly doubtful %
1is own bcglnnings
All the world over the present-day
man tries 20 revolutionize evolution
That is why most OF the Australian
aborisines die out In shopmade suits
ana tin houses that admit OF no ven
tllaton. IL Is why the Papuan has
chiefly len his bird s-nest where the
fire water OF the white man rem
dered him liable to fan through the
cracks into the sea and now herds with
uls KIM IN iOk shaCks ana IL no more
moral or happy than he used to be n
. why the Fijian goes out 10 work
with a spade and a loin-clOth and AN
umbrella and ruins his beautiful palm
leaf huts with occasional Tin roofs and
GLASS windows. But--always il is eNo-
luton.
IN FIJI
The phrase eternal summer ha
been used once before. But II belongs
10 FIJI still; 10 the warmest. purest
bluest sea In an the world 60 the pulls.
Ing hot sense ~ life and color and scent
ana sound and mystery: 20 the slender
rdgeG cocoa palms lifting their perfect
crowns 10 the vivid sky. 10 the ripp'r
Of shining water along the cleaning
reefs. o. the warm, calm, uno hanging
sunlight and the green and brown
palm built houses deolted 10 the yers
rldgc-p0le with flowers And ID hc'
longs 10 the people, 10 the brown, say
irresponsible people; slender, sufficient
Ton the day and caring for nothing
beyond Il; deckcd. even az their houses
with the purple clots Of the bougain-
villa ana the suarlet-lipped poinssttia
and the great white water-hlios. They
are built alike. these mon and houses
for the eternal summer for eternal
sun. eternal content Beauty laz
harm, ftagIity of constitution fnl
house and man. But, because IL d. Il
house, made with slWn upriRhts and
laced together, Arm and four-square
II De- the beginning of architecture And