FANS OF PRIMITIVE PEOPLES
[Illustration]
In any survey of the industrial arts of the more primitive nations or
peoples, three facts must be taken into consideration: 1st, climatic
conditions; 2nd, the natural products indigenous to the country,
and the outcome of its climatic conditions; 3rd, the degree of the
intellectual development of its inhabitants.
The study of any particular branch of art presupposes some acquaintance
with the history of the people among whom the art was practised. In
considering, however, the art of primitive peoples, this matter of
history and association plays but a minor part. Pictorial storiation
is practically non-existent, individualism is lost in the collective
racial influence. Moreover, the raw material of industry is precisely
the kind readiest to hand, and generally demanding the minimum of skill
in its working.
The fans of primitive or more or less uncivilised peoples may therefore
be divided into three or four distinct types: 1st, the natural
palm-leaf fans, common in most palm-producing countries; 2nd, the
plaited rush-, grass-, or cane-fans, these being generally of the
spatula, or half-halberd shape; 3rd, hide-fans, which usually take the
form of round or oval screens; 4th, feather-fans, the character being
necessarily determined by the kind of feathers employed.
It will readily be perceived that the earliest and simplest forms are
those supplied ready to hand by Nature herself, viz. palm-leaf fans.
These may be divided into two great classes. In the one, the leaf is
set symmetrically on the stem; in the other, it is fixed laterally;
in both instances the natural stem forms the handle. An excellent
example of the first named is the large fan made from the leaf of the
_Pritchardia pacifica_, used only by the great chiefs of the Fiji
Islands. In this the leaf is cut to the shape of a reversed heart,
bound round the border by a wisp, the ends of the fronds being arranged
in tufts at intervals round the edge of the fan, forming an agreeable
contrast to the simple radiating lines of the leaf.
In the second class of palm-fan, one side of the leaf is either cut
away or bent laterally, the large leaves of the Palmyra or Talipot
palms being used, cut short, the edges worked round with an applied
border of thin strips of the leaf. This form appears to be ubiquitous;
it is common, not only to primitive peoples, but also to the more
civilised countries of the East. In India it appears both in the form
of the smaller hand-fans and the larger pankhás, often richly decorated
in colour, with inserted plaques of mica, or other ornamental device.
The art of plaiting with rush, straw, grass, cane, roots, and other
flexible materials is one of the very earliest practised by man; we
find it in constant use amongst savage tribes, who employ the process
for mats, baskets, various coverings for the person, and other articles
of personal and domestic use; both the technical skill and the æsthetic
effect being often of a very high order. It will at once be perceived
that this process is especially suited to the fan, which demands, above
all things, lightness of construction; the plaited fan is therefore the
most usual form in that vast group of islands known as Polynesia, as
well as in most other countries situated within the equatorial belt.
The principle of plaiting is to commence from the stick or handle,
which generally extends two-thirds of the distance along the blade or
leaf of the fan. The stick is generally of wood, occasionally of ivory,
and in some instances both substances are employed, the handle often
elaborately carved.
The most usual shape is that of a spear cut crosswise and shortened:
the ordinary principle of form-development is followed, from extreme
attenuation lengthwise, to extreme width and shortness, the form of
the lower border varying from an acute angle to a semicircle, the top
varying from straight line to arched or curved.
[Illustration]
The plaiting is of varying degrees of fineness according to the
character of the leaf, straw, cane, or fibre employed. The patterning
also varies, occasionally straw of a different colour (black or brown)
being introduced.
This type of fan is found in the Marquesas Islands (South Pacific),
the Hervey (Cook) Islands, Solomon Islands, Samoa, and the Hawaiian
or Sandwich Islands. A large plaited broad rush-fan appears in the
Horniman Museum, made and presented by Queen Kapiolani of the Hawaiian
Islands (illustrated p. 272); a similarly formed fan appears in the
same collection from Tahiti.
In some examples from Samoa in the British Museum collection, the
shapes are slightly more varied, remarkably so in one instance in which
the top border assumes a pointed or zigzag pattern. The kite shape also
is found in various forms. (Page 81, Nos. 1, 2, 3.)
[Illustration: HAWAIIAN ISLANDS]
In the Hawaiian group a spatula shape appears, this also being
developed to its utmost limit of breadth or width, the handles of
plaited hair, in two colours, forming a pattern.
In British Guiana a curious fan (warri warri) is used, formed of strips
of the Ita palm, having no stem, but simply a rolled edge, either
single or double (crosswise), forming a finish to the leaf or blade,
and affording a grip for the hand. The size of these fans varies from
six to fifteen inches. A development of the above form is used as
bellows by the natives of Ecuador and Peru; the double handle slightly
longer, the forms varied to leaf and shield shape. In India, also, the
two-handled bellows-fan is used, made of strips of the leaf-stalk of
the Tucuma palm.
In the British Museum is a curious little fan having only a loop for
handle, formed of plaited reed (Iturite) of two colours, brown and
black. (Page 81, No. 8.)
In the hide-fans common on the western border of Africa, the form
approaches that of a circular screen, set on a wooden handle. In these
the ornamentation is either formed of the natural markings of the
hide, or an ‘appliqué’ of leather, painted white, and cut to various
perforated patterns, so as to show a bright vermilion feather stuff
in the perforations; the three colours, the brown or black of the
hide, the white leather, and the vermilion perforations forming a
very effective contrast. Examples from Nigeria appear in the British
Museum collection. A smaller fan of goatskin is in the Horniman Museum.
These hide-fans form part of the fantastic death-dance costumes of Old
Calabar.
[Illustration:
1, 2, 3, 11, 12. SAMOA.
4, 5. BRITISH GUIANA.
6, 7, 8. ECUADOR AND PERU.
9, 10. SOUTH-EASTERN PACIFIC.]
Feathers, although constantly employed as ornaments to the person,
are less commonly used for fans than might generally be supposed,
especially in countries where bird life is abundant.
Amongst the Blackfoot nation of North American Indians, eagles’
feathers were used as a standard of valour at the advent of the white
man, and the capture of eagles was regarded as a sacred ceremony. In
the British Museum is a fan of these eagles’ feathers, with a handle
covered with coarse linen of a printed pattern; to the tip of each
feather is affixed a small pink fluffy feather, thus forming a pink
border to the top of the fan, the border being repeated at the top of
the handle. This was procured from ‘Little Ears,’ a Blood Indian. A
similar fan, minus the handle, appears in the same collection; in this
instance the tips of the feathers are ornamented with little tails made
of hair, varied at the lower ends by white fur. In consequence of a
dream that appeared to a Blood chief named Bears’ Lodge, a dance was
instituted in which these fans were waved, and whistles made of eagles’
bones were carried and used. (Illustrated opposite.)
Ceremonial fans were employed by the Indians of the Great West; we have
an account of the visit of a Taensas chief on the banks of the Lower
Mississippi to Le Sieur de La Salle in 1682: ‘The Chief condescended to
visit La Salle at his camp; a favour which he would by no means have
granted, had the visitors been Indians. A master of ceremonies and six
attendants preceded him, to clear the path and prepare the place of
meeting. When all was ready, he was seen advancing clothed in a white
robe, and preceded by two men bearing _white fans_, while a third
displayed a disc of burnished copper, doubtless to represent the
Sun, his ancestor, or, as others will have it, his elder brother.’[62]
It is safe to assume that these fans were of feathers, and the
incident is an evidence that the use of the fan in high ceremonial was
universal, and common to both East and West.
[Illustration:
Two small Palm Fans. West Africa.
Fly Whisks, Tahiti.
Cockade Fan, with inscription.
Fan of Eagles Feathers, North American Indian.]
There still remains the cockade form of fan, found amongst the West
African tribes; an example appearing in the British Museum collection,
of paper, with primitive painted ornaments in black, red, and yellow,
alternated with inscription; the fan measuring some twenty inches in
diameter.
A most interesting example of hide appears in the Horniman Museum,
taken from the king’s palace at Benin in 1897. This, doubtless, from
its size and the cumbrous nature of its material, as well as the
foregoing example, was waved by the attendants of some highly placed
personage, probably the king.
[Illustration]
The square or oblong flag-fan is made by the natives of the Niger
settlements of West Africa. An example in the Victoria and Albert
Museum is of plaited grass with strips of the natural shades of brown
and yellow, and others stained red and black; the handle is covered
with reddish-brown leather, fringed along the side of the leaf, the fan
edged with the same material.
The appearance of similar decorative _motifs_ in countries widely
separate opens up an interesting field of speculation. Some
explanation, however, of the fact of the cockade (though in itself,
together with the flag form, a simple device) appearing among the
West African tribes, may be found in the fact that the natives of the
interior of West Africa were long exposed to the influence of the
Mohammedan culture of the Western Sudan; the races were to some extent
intermingled, and a close commercial relationship has been maintained
during a long period.
Fly-whisks are obviously articles of necessity throughout the countries
of the Torrid Zone.[63] These are formed either of feathers, of
vegetable fibre, of the hair of the larger animals, of hempen string,
or other materials.
These instruments occasionally acquire a sacred significance; Blondel
affirms that they were common in Peru and Mexico before the Spanish
conquest, and, together with the fan, were used also as a symbol
of authority, the handles being adorned with the precious stone
‘theoatz-ehuaquetzalli.’
A species of fly-whisk, formed of dried grass, is used as a war
fetish by the natives of the Gold Coast; in some instances an iron
bell is attached, carried and rung by the magician in front of the
warriors. Sticks and also fan handles bound with feathers are used as
propitiatory offerings to the gods by the natives of the South-Eastern
Pacific. (Page 81, Nos. 9, 10.)
In the Hawaiian Islands feather wands (Kahili) are carried as a
symbol of rank; these appear to have been originally fly-whisks, and
are formed of the tail feathers of various birds. Six examples are
included in the British Museum collection, the handles formed of ivory
alternated with horn, the extremity of the handle being formed of the
bone of an enemy.
A long fly-whisk from Hawaii appears in the same collection, formed of
the neck feathers of the cock, of varying colours, white, orange, and
brown, with black tip; the handle of wood, bound round with black and
buff cane.
The most primitive form of fly-whisk is that from the Andaman Islands
in the Bay of Bengal, made of grass fibre, bound to a stick, and
resembling a rough besom.
[Illustration]
Vegetable fibre of various kinds would appear, indeed, to be the
material most commonly employed for these articles, being, doubtless,
the readiest substance to hand. A remarkable series of fly-whisks from
Tahiti, formed of fibre, were presented to the British Museum by Sir W.
C. Trevelyan, Bart.; in these, the handles (of wood) are finely plaited
half-way with fibre of two colours, the rest of the handle of a spiral
form, the head carved to a fantastic shape.
[Illustration]
An interesting fly-whisk from the Tonga Islands is formed of cocoa-nut
fibre, finely plaited at its junction with the wooden handle; small
turquoise, black, and white beads, are affixed to the plaited portion,
these forming an extremely effective contrast to the rich red brown of
the fibre. In Samoa, enormous fly-whisks are formed of this material,
sometimes affixed to a handle of wood, and occasionally bound round
with the same material to form the handle. (Page 81, Nos. 11, 12.)
A curious fly-whisk from Tahiti is of twisted fibre, the handle being
formed of two birds’ wing-bones bound together, with a portion of
plaited fibre in two colours forming the extremity of the stem at its
junction with the whisk.
The Matabeles employ fly-whisks of horse-hair, both white and black.
An example of white horse-hair bound with brass, fixed in a handle of
cane, and also one of black hair, with the handle formed of plaited
brass wire, are to be seen in the British Museum.
A similar fly-whisk of black horse-hair is in the same collection; the
handle of steel wire, bound round a double leather thong, the extremity
forming a loop ornamented by blue glass beads. These are used by the
elders (Elmoru) of the East African Protectorate.
[Illustration]
Black horse-hair forms the material of fly-whisks used by the natives
of the Upper Nile. In the example illustrated the hair is set in an
open-shaped piece of leather, with a long bone handle.
[Illustration]
In Abyssinia, also, fly-whisks formed of the tails of the smaller
animals are employed. An example occurs in the India Museum, the hair
dyed red and yellow, the handle of silver parcel-gilt.
Probably the most curious of all fans and fan-like objects in use
among primitive peoples is the so-called Ghost Fan of South Celebes
(Malay Archipelago). This mysterious object consists of a triangular
arrangement at the end of a stick, of fine spun red stuff embellished
with a bordering of gold tinsel, together with spangles or hanging
ornaments along its lower edge. Around the stick is tightly twisted a
piece of paper, probably containing an incantation. An example occurs
in the Ethnological Museum, Berlin, referred to and illustrated in _Der
Fächer_, Georg Buss. (See p. 106.)
[Illustration: The Tournament, by E. Moreau. Ivory brisé, painted &
gilt.
Victoria & Albert Museum.]