Notes on a Collection of Fac-Simile Bushman Drawings.Author(s): Mark HutchinsonSource: The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 12(1883), pp. 464-465Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2841683 .

Accessed: 15/06/2014 19:07

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserveand extend access to The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:07:39 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

464 MARK HUTCHINSON.-OOn a Collection of Bushman Drawings.

Mr. W. L. DISTANT exhibited, on belief of Mr. Mark Hutch- inson, a large collection of copies of Bushman drawings, and communicated the following notes:

NOTES on a COLLECTION of fac-simile BUSHMAN DRAWINGS.

By MARK HUTCHINSON, Esq.

THE originals of these drawings were found in a series of caves at a great elevation on the Drakensberg Mountains, Natal, South Africa. The fac-similes are the result of three separate visits to the caves, and are copied with the greatest care, so as to represent faithfully the defects, as well as the merits, of the originals. Especial care has been taken by myself and son to avoid giving any feeling of our own, and to reproduce with absolute accuracy the drawing and colouring of the Bushmans.

There is no particular reason to believe that the originals are of aniy great age. They are painted on the rocks forming the sides of the caves, and it is known that the caves were in- habited by Bushmans within the last twenty years.

The pigments used are apparently earths, stones, and blood, ground up with fat. It is not known what description of brush was used. The drawings are evidently the work of many different hands, of varied degrees of skill. Many are suggestive of being boys' work, and are very rude and careless.

The drawings differ much in aim and character. A large proportion are of the caricature class, rudely, but very- spiritedly, drawn in black paint.

I have made a point of obtaining good specimens of each representative class. The only class I have omitted is that of an obscene character, which is not a large one. The class represent- ing fights and hunts is a large and interesting one. It will be noticed that many of the drawings are representative of figures and incidents among white people, also of other native tribes. Some even suggest actual portraiture. The ornamentation of the head-dresses (feathers, beads, tassels, &c.) seems to have claimed much care, and to have given the native artist great pleasure in delineation.

The higher class of Bushman drawings will be seen to in- dicate correct appreciatioh of the actual appearance of objects, and evinces very remarkable powers of observation and skill in delineation. Perspective and foreshortening are found correctly rendered. One of the drawings, " Hind view of an ox, or eland," is so remarkable in this respect as to suggest being a lesson or illustration given to a student.

It will be interesting to compare their realisations in respect

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:07:39 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

List of Presents. 465

of perspective and foreshortening with those of other aboriginal or early artists (e.g., early Greeks, Egyptians, Aztecs, &c.).

The best example in drawing and colouring is the. large hunted eland; I copied this one with specially scrupulous fidelity. I found the drawing so remarkable that I procured a very careful examination and verification of it and my copy, on the spot, from a professional artist (Mr. Edwin Rawlins, formerly of London), who decided that, though substantially accurate, a slight advantage in spirit of outline still remained in the original. It will be seen that shading occurs in this example. There is no attempt at texture or effects of light in this or any other case.

Mr. R. DAY, F.S.A., exhibited a very fine jade adze, from New Zealand; a thin jade axe, pierced with two holes, from Wanganui, N.Z.; a jade Mere, or pattoo-pattoo, taken from a Maori during the war of 1871-5; and an ivory celt, found in Island Magee, co. Antrim, Ireland, exhibited on behalf of Lieut.-Colonel Abbott.

NOVEMBER 14TH, 1882.

HYDE CLARKE., Esq., Vice-President, in the Chair. The Minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. The following presents were announced, and thanks voted to

the respective donors:-

FOR THE LIBRARY.

From W. L. DISTANT, Esq.-Beitriige zur Zoologie, gesammelt auf einer Reise um die Erde. Dritte Abhandlung: Menschen- Ra9en. By Dr. F. G. F. Meyen.

From D. C. F. MOODIE, Esq.-The Victorian Review. No. 32. From Dr. EMIL HOLUB.-Separat-Abdruck aus der Augsburger

Allgemeinen Zeitung, vom 2, 3, und 4, September, 1882. By 0. Kienitz.

From the AUTHOR.-Gli Angoli dati dal Goniometro faciale laterale sono da correggere. By E. Regalia. Separat-abdruck aus dem Berichte iiber die Versammlung 6sterreichischer Anthropologen und Urgeschichtsforscher am 12 und 13 August, 1881; zu Salzburg. By Professor Schaaff- hausen.

- The Assyrian Numerals. By G. Bertin.

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.41 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 19:07:39 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions