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.