On the other hand it is very probable that the erotic element in primitive art has often been overrated. It seems doubtful whether the expressions “improper” and “indecent,” as used by the travellers in descriptions of dances and dramas, are always intended to signify that the representations in question were of an erotic nature.[377] And even when, for the civilised spectator, a pantomime appears to be most immoral, this impression may be due to a misunderstanding of its real meaning. No doubt, ignorance of the language and the customs of the various tribes has often occasioned false interpretations. Mr. Reeves, who warns us against uncritical belief in travellers’ tales, has been able to adduce from his own experience a most telling example of such a mistake. When witnessing a performance of short dramas, “mekes,” in Samoa, he and his party felt extremely shocked by the indecent action of one of the interludes. Afterwards, however, he learned from the natives that the objectionable pantomime was only intended to represent the movements of a woman gathering fishes in a basket.[378] In a descriptive account of primitive art it would, of course, be necessary to reckon with all these inadequacies of ethnological evidence. The general results, such as are wanted for a philosophical treatment, would not be affected by corrections in single instances. The probability is that in every tribe, independently of its social state and of its forms of sexual selection, erotic feelings have always expressed themselves in some way or other. With varying conditions of life these modes of expression have, of course, acquired greater or less importance for art. Where war occupies the attention of the tribe to an exclusive degree, erotic motives can never occupy a prominent place in art. Where, as is alleged to be the case among some Australian tribes, notions of decorum forbid any expression of the feelings of affection and love, love songs and dances will hardly be publicly acknowledged in public art.[379] On the other hand, an erotic literature will be prominent in such communities as that of Tahiti.[380] And when, as in Kamschatka, poems generally are composed by women, it is only natural that their subjects should be chiefly “love, hate, grief, and hope.”[381] These facts are all so self-evident that there is no need to argue upon them.