In primitive life gaining is involved with music and graphic art. The Australian natives tie a thin and slightly curved billet of wood to the end of a cord attached to a handle as a whip to the stock, and by whirling it through the air produce a. lugubrious wail; this is used cere monially as an invocation, and efficiency is im puted to it in proportion to the volume and weirdness of the sound; it appears to represent an avian tutelary, and to form the prototype of the boomerang. Certain Amerind tribes possess a related device, though its use in America seems decadent. Several California tribes use in their divinatory ceremonies a prototype of the drum, consisting merely of an upright log beaten rhythmically with a war-club or stall'; when in stalled for the purpose, a hollow log is chosen. Practically the beating is a signal for the tribes men to gather, though putatively it gives notice to tutelaries that a ceremony in their honor is in progress; and the rhythmic sound is conceived to represent mighty footfalls. The woodland tribes use a stick rattle U.e. a notched stick of hard wood over which a smaller dry stick is drawn to produce a rasping sound) and the plains tribes a gourd-and-seed rattle in rude harmony with the drum, to symbolize the sound of the move ments of the tutelary whose footfalls are marked by the drum-beats, and incidentally to deepen the naïve illusion of the auditors that the powers are present. The stick rattle played a leading ride in the development of instrumental music; traced along one line it passed into the musical bow (which in :Mexico and elsewhere was combined with the gourd) and then through the enlarge ment and hollowing of the wood into various Ori ental types, and eventually into the violin. The gourd and deer-hoof rattles also underwent suc cessive modifications in which the original form and emblemism Were lost. Another early type of instrument is the horn or trumpet; its distribu tion in the manifestly primal form and certain analogies indicate that it was first used in Eurasia to symbolize the voices of trine while still they were regarded as tutelaries. Among certain coastwise tribes sea-shells (especially the conch) were similarly used. The- substitu tion of metal for the bovine horn began with the Bronze Age in the Old World, though the origi nal type persists wherever horned cattle exist; while most of the variants were developed dar ing the historical period. The flute arose in regions of bamboo or cane, and vestiges in Euro pean and American lore and in Egyptian and Grecian mythology connect it with plant cults. There are some indications that the human voice may have antedated the mechanical device as a source of music. The primitive vocal renditions are ceremonial wailings of invocatory or depre catory character; thus the Australian natives manifest little individual grief over the death of a clan-fellow, but at intervals chosen members of the group wail in rude concert; in the Seri tribe the death of a matron is mourned by re peated nocturnal wailings: and numerous primi tive tribes maintain classes of mourners to pla cate the manes or otherwise appeal to the powers by grewsome renditions in concert. In Eastern Mexico vocalization accompanies the divinatory dances and games, the performers chanting or singing in a falsetto voice simulating the lan guage of the tutelaries; among the Eskimo the angekok (or 'medicine man') communes with his nature deities in a broken falsetto speech or chant, perhaps in archaic terms. The falsetto chant throws light on the mortuary wailing; in both the voice is changed in order the better to reach the comprehension and favor of the mystical potencies. The primitive renditions may be far from musical, indeed are sometimes purposely discordant : yet under the mimetic instinct there is a tendency toward harmonious attunement which is strengthened when voices and instru ments are used in concert. In the development of music, the initial stage is that of rhythm, usually expressed by drum and rattle; in the next instrumental and vocal rhythms are so superposed as to produce melody; the third stage is that of melodious instruments and voices and the combination of melodies in harmony; while the final stage is the modern one of blending har monies iu symphony or antiphony.
Both the gaming devices and the musical in struments of primitive men commonly bear em blematic markings designed to connote and in voke the tutelaries to which the devices are consecrated; though incidentally they may serve to identify the objects with their human owners or custodians. Similar emblematic devices oc
cur on other artifacts; the stone axe of Mexico and the tomahawk and calumet of the Northern Amerinds bear animal symbols: among the Eski mo emblematic inscriptions abound on weapons and implements and reveal a real artistic sense; among the plains tribes inscriptions on skins and bark are common. some of these being emble matic and others historical or calendric, and thus forming the germ of writing. In like manner primitive tribesmen are given to markings on trees, rocks, and other natural objects; these may he range records. yet are commonly totemic. while the petroglyphs of treeless regions may also record episodes of tribal or family interest (capture of quarry, victorious battle. etc.). The petroglyphs are strikingly similar wherever found ; those of Arizona, Chile. Australia, Africa represent human figures or hands and animal forms on like scales and in similarly battered lines supplemented by simple paints, so that the glyphic groups are almost indis tinguishable save by the totems of local animals. Related graphic devices are those of face-paint ing. tattooing, and scarification. In the Seri tribe face-painting is confined to females, who are deemed the sole blood-earriers for the clans: and it is the solemn duty of each matron (par ticularly the Elderwoman, i.e. the seeress and vicar of the tutelary) to see that the daughters and girl children of the clan are properly em blazoned, and that the paint is promptly renewed when worn off or washed away. The devices are emblems of the respective clan tutelaries—Gray Pelican, Red Pelican (a mythical bird), Green Turtle, Rattlesnake, etc. According to the lights of the lowly believers, the figures are perpetual invocations to the highest potencies recognized by the tribe; and the original application, and in some measure each renewal, is a sacrament. Yet the patterns and colors are not absolutely fixed, some latitude being permitted, especially to the nubile maiden or to the young matron for her self and her first girl child; and in this way spon taneity arises and festhetic faculty develops. Among many tribes the painting extends to males and to the body, and early in patriarchy the de vices are especially allotted to warriors and largely denied to women, who in that stage tend to become chattels or slaves. Still higher in cul ture the emblems are introduced in costumery or emblazoned on shields, through which the art matures in heraldry. In various regions the primitive face-painting is supplemented by tat tooing. Various tribesmen tattoo their totemic symbol on the breast as a shield or on the arm as a token of strength; and some aborigines of Eastern North America tattooed invucative symbols on the hack as a protection against un seen enemies, while they relied on their own prowess to repulse the foe iu front. In the elaborate tattooing of the Maori in New Zea land and of various Pacific islanders there are clear indications that the devices were primarily totemic and akin in purpose to those of the American aborigines, with a wider latitude for individual taste. Closely related to tattooing is scarification of the body and limbs. In the Mandan tribe of the Missouri, permanent scars were produced in the terrible torture attending initiation into the warrior class, and theneefor ward stood as tangible insignia of courage and fortitude: among the Papago the legs of youths were scarred longitudinally in mimicry of thorn scratches. first (through the inverted reasoning of primitive thought) to give them speed and en durance in footraeing, and then to remain as evi dence of these qualities. It may he questionable whether personal emblazonment preceded emble matic inscription on artifacts (as the example of the Seri would indicate) , or whether in certain districts the inscription of emblems prepared the way for face-painting and tattooing; the essential facts are that both were ceremonial and collec tive. and that spontaneity and individuality were introduced slowly as the arts advanced and ex tended to the ever-multiplying possessions of advancing culture—the sacramental decoration of basketry, the emblematic embellishment of pottery, the symbolic ornamentation of woven fabrics, etc., which merged with the convent ions of early historical times and thus opened the way for arbitrary characters on the one hand and for the free idealization of modern art on the other.