Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

396 DECORA TIVE ART part i
The Flower-theory of Vaughan- Stevens.
The sandy foundation to which I refer, and on
which so airy a superstructure has been built, is
Vaughan -Stevens' so-called "flower-theory," which
has been regarded by many as a species of master-key
for unlocking the innermost secret recesses of Negrito
art in the Peninsula. This astounding theory, or
tissue of begged questions, for it is nothing less,
sets out by ascribing to one of the most backward and
undeveloped races of mankind — a race of lifelong
nomads, who go almost stark naked and live upon the
victims of their bow and spear—a system of decorative
art based upon scientific principles which would not
discredit a text-book of botany.
Certainly it was not without reason that one of
Vaughan-Stevens' own editors speaks of the " extraordinary
intellectual force of the primitive human
race " which alone could have evolved the '* firmly
welded flower-system " (" discovered " by Vaughan-
Stevens himself in the Semang comb patterns), as
meriting that a monument should be erected to it by
way of recognition !
In order to explain what we are asked to believe
in the case of this flower-theory of Vaughan-Stevens,
one of the bamboo back- combs which the Semang
women wear in their hair must be taken, and the
entire pattern with which the solid part of the comb
is decorated carefully copied on to paper. The solid
part, as will then be seen, is divided by means of
straight lines running horizontally into a number of
separate panels. The number of these panels differs
as between comb and comb, but we may take the one
chosen by Vaughan-Stevens, which has eight panels
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