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 ‘applique’ 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.
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.
