We now pass through the Asiatic Saloon to reach the East Gallery, which is occupied by the Ethnographical Collections, representing the weapons, utensils, ornaments, and worships of the primitive races. These, where uninfluenced by civilized peoples, correspond in the main to the Neolithic Age of Europe. The similarity of the ideas of widely separated peoples in the same stage of civilization suggests that by studying them we can infer what were the life and ideas of our own ancestors of the Neolithic Age.
The first bay contains specimens from Central Asia, India, and the East Indies. From Ceylon, where primitive beliefs still linger, come the masks in which 'devil-dancers' drive away diseases; from Nicobar a series of charms, including a necklace made of the bones of the wearer's dead relatives. Part of the first bay is occupied (for the present) by the older objects from America, including remarkable antiquities from Peru and Mexico, where the Inca and Aztec civilizations had reached a fair pitch when the Spaniards found it in the 16th century. In the Wall Cases to the left are artistic pots from Peru, in the shape chiefly of squatting men. One of the Floor Cases contains a priceless collection of turquoise and malachite mosaics from Mexico (some almost certainly presented by Cortes to Charles V.), a skull carved in rock-crystal, and a flint knife used for cutting out the heart of the victims of human sacrifices.
The black races of Australia and Melanesia are represented in the next bay. Characteristic are the boomerangs and devices for throwing spears invented by the bushmen of Australia, one of the most backward of modern races, who have no knowledge of the bow. The tortoiseshell masks from the Torres Straits are worn to give success in hunting (the main preoccupation of nearly all primitive peoples). On screens in the centre of the room are large photographs of pile-dwellings in New Guinea, which may throw light on the lake-villages found in Switzerland, Somerset, and elsewhere. The central room of the gallery is devoted to the brown races of Polynesia. Here we may note the canoes from the Solomon Islands, the feather-work cloaks from the Hawaian Islands, and the Maori collections from New Zealand, including a remarkable series of the jade axes and ornaments that are passed on as heirlooms in Maori families.
The fourth room or bay is devoted to Africa. Here we may note the traces of civilized influence, from Arabs and others, on the races of North and Central Africa; e.g. in various collections from Abyssinia, the carved portraits of kings from the Central Congo, and the bronze figures from Benin (some representing European soldiers of the 16th century). The carved ivory tusks should be noticed.
The last room illustrates modern America. It contains north American Indian costumes, including head-dresses of feathers, weapons, Esquimaux articles, etc. On the wall to the right (East) is a fine piece of tapestry from Peru (17th century ?), with a European coat-of-arms in the centre.
From the 4th Egyptian Room a corridor, containing a facsimile of the long Papyrus of Ani (Book of the Dead), leads past the head of the new staircase, to the King Edward VII. Galleries. The UPPER GALLERY contains, in the east half, the Students' Room of the Department of Prints and Drawings (students' tickets on application at the Director's Office), and in the west half, the Exhibition Gallery of Prints and Drawings.
The exhibition (changed from time to time) represents (1) European prints of various processes, drawings, and water-colours of various schools (15-19th century); (2) contemporary (mainly British) prints and drawings; (3) Oriental, especially Chinese and Japanese (including Chinese paintings on silk); (4) Recent acquisitions.
