Chapter XII: Section 3: Until July 4, 1870, all persons who voluntarily (2)

Before going any further with this description, it may be well to state that the description of the nature and character of the finish of the walls given here is substantiated by accounts of travelers in these parts as late as the end of the nineteenth century. Captain Boisragon, one of the two survivors of the ill-fated white expedition to Benin in 1897, in comparing the houses of Benin with those of another nearby city, says that "the chief of Gwatto's house was very much superior; the walls, which were very thick, being polished till they were nearly as smooth and shiny as glass."[11] Mr. Cyrl Punch, who traveled in Yorubaland in the eighties of the nineteenth century, gives us a hint of the widespread practice of this sort of wall polishing even so late as forty-five years ago, and furnishes us with a very interesting account of how the polished effect was produced. "For giving a high polish to the clay walls in Yorubaland," says Punch, "the leaves of the _Moringa pterygosperinia_ are mashed up and rubbed over the clay." Of a certain house in the town Brohemi he continues to say that "the walls were better polished than any in Benin. They were like marble."[12]

In comparing the earlier descriptions of Benin and other African cities in this general area with the descriptions of later writers, an important fact stands out, namely, that these cities had already reached their highest point of development before the coming of the white man; for in a description of Benin by another Dutchman, Nyendall, which appeared in 1704, we read the following: "Formerly the buildings in this village were very thick and very close together, and in a manner it was over-populated, which is yet visible from the ruins of the half remaining houses; but at present the houses stand like poor men's corn, widely apart from each other." His description otherwise is very similar to those previously given, yet his account does bring out an additional point which is worthy of note, namely, the reason for the use of clay in building. "The houses are large and handsome," he writes, "with clay walls; for there is not a stone in the whole country as large as a man's fist."[13] In the same connection, Legraing, who visited Benin in 1787, also hints at the reason for the extensive use of clay and wood as the principal structural materials. Around Benin, according to this observer, "the vestiges of an old earthen wall are still to be seen; the wall could hardly have been built of any other material, as we did not see a single stone in the whole journey up."[14]

The recent reports by Leo Frobenius on his findings further up into the interior, aside from giving us a picture of present-day conditions of cities which he believes to date back to pre-classical and pre-Christian times, also show the absence or scarcity of durable producing materials. But, most important of all, the report indicates the grandeur of African cities in ancient times. In discussing the buildings in the present-day city of Ilife, which he believes was the capital or center of an ancient African theocracy, he says: "There can be no doubt that the entire plan and style of architecture gives the city of Ilife a pleasantly dignified character. If, however, I am to summarize all the life and activities of this city of palms and divinities, I cannot, indeed, speak of anything great and sublime, because that lies buried too deep beneath the soil and debris of centuries, yet I can say that it has a dreamy respectability."

But speaking specifically upon the building which now serves as the palace of the great religious headman of Yorubaland, he says: "The edifice rests upon foundations not of sun dried, but of fine burnt brick." Taken as a whole, the present-day structure conveys "the impression of grandeur in decay." "Such," he says, "is a sketch of the city whose effect is heightened by the noble ruins of the palace of this Holiness and the consciousness of its traditional past."[15]

We may now turn for a brief consideration of those strange and most interesting structures of the Sudan, the tombs of their ancient dead. All through the Sudan, and especially in Nigeria, are to be found great conical dome-shaped structures of baked clay ranging in size from sixteen feet in height and sixty-six feet in basal diameter to seventy feet in height and two hundred and twenty feet in basal diameter.[15a] These structures were first mentioned by Lieutenant Louis Desplaynes in his report of _Une Mission archeologique au Sudan francais_,[16] but the first close study of these tombs was made by Frobenius in 1911. Frobenius tells us that these tombs are of three main types: first, a small size; second, an intermediate size; and third, a large size. This last type, he tells us, was an extraordinary large construction, averaging about seventy feet in height and six hundred and fifty to seven hundred feet in basal circumference. The external structure is connected with an underground structure composed of a number of subterranean chambers and compartments, extending in every direction of the compass, sufficient to accommodate the remains of a great number of notables and royal personages.

Frobenius states, regarding one of these subterranean chambers which he explored, that it contained a dome which was paneled and strengthened with wood from the borassus palm and the whole plastered with a sort of prepared clay.[17] Frobenius also believes that the external parts of the tombs, that is, the mound proper--was made layer by layer. Each layer of clay was first thoroughly worked, moulded, and baked. This process was repeated time and time again, until the mound was completed.

The veteran Egyptologist, Flinders Petrie, in the great mass of evidence adduced by him to show the African origin of the spirit and substratum of early dynastic Egyptian culture, points out that there is a very close connection between the subterranean structures of these tombs and many of those of the Egyptian pyramids, the inference being that the idea of the pyramids very probably had its origin in Central Africa.

As interesting and important as are these structures in this connection, they, like those previously mentioned and those yet to be described, are of interest in another direction; they bespeak the sometime existence here of a mighty people with a glorious past, now lying sleeping within the bosom of the earth, the silent witnesses of a world that has perished.

Beginning about three hundred years ago, and going back to an unknown period, it is evident from the above comments and extracts that the cultural life of the Negro on the West Coast of Africa, especially from the point of view of his architectural and tomb-building proclivities, was of a much higher type than anything he has produced since his contact with the European during the last four hundred years. The quality and quantity of work accomplished by these ancient black builders is especially notable when it is remembered that the type of material which they were forced to use, and the climatic conditions surrounding them, were of a most discouraging sort. The manner in which these very serious difficulties were overcome is itself a durable testimony of the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the African builder and craftsman of earlier days. One can hardly avoid the speculation of what might have been the nature of their accomplishments, had they been provided with a more suitable and durable building material.

The more we study the cultural products of these people, the more pregnant such a speculation becomes; for in those fields of endeavor where they were less handicapped, or better, perhaps, where they were in a better position to overcome the destroying influence of the climate and the lack of suitable structural materials, we find the African artisan and the craftsman producing a wealth of objects of art of a very superior type. Some of these objects are notable not only in that they are of a superior type judged according to the standards of a so-called primitive art, but they compare, so far as technique and artistic qualities are concerned, very favorably with much of the best of ancient civilized art. The last generation has brought to light evidence which shows that the Negroes of the West Coast of Africa were producing hundreds and even perhaps thousands of years ago objects of art which, from the point of view of technique and artistic perfection, equal some of the best works of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and compares favorably with the best masterpieces of the Solons of the Italian Rennaissance.

As was above stated, it has been the study of the technique, originality and artistic qualities as expressed in these recently found and comparatively little known African objects that has been the premier force in producing the change of opinion regarding the capabilities of African folk and the cultural history of the great continent. In this connection, however, it is perhaps well again to remind one of the fact that this change of opinion is not yet public in its scope, but is rather restricted to academic and especially to anthropological circles.

For the sake of clearness, the whole collection of African arts and crafts may be classified under three main heads, namely, carved works, glass and porcelain objects, including terra cottas, and metal castings. It will, of course, be impossible to treat exhaustively of the objects in any one of these fields. A considerable amount of selection will, therefore, be necessary; and in the interest of fairness it may be stated at the outset that the treatment and descriptions for the most part will be of the finest and best specimens so far obtained. In doing this, of course, we follow the general and most usual method of those engaged in making cultural studies. There is, however, an additional and very special reason for such a procedure in this case. It is the opinion of Dalton, Read, Ling Roth and Frobenius--perhaps the leading authorities on the whole subject--that the best objects are likewise the oldest objects; and since this purports to be a study of the ancient and medieval cultures, our purpose in following the above method of selection is doubly clear.

Among the large number of carved works discovered at Benin by the British Punitive Expedition are a large number of huge and splendidly carved elephant tusks. These objects have been carefully studied by Ling Roth, and the following is an abbreviation of his description of them:[18]

"The tusks vary in length up to six feet and over, and are in
themselves magnificent specimens of ivory, speaking eloquently of
the peaceful life which the elephants must once have lived, in
order to produce such tusks. The ornamentation to which the large
tusks have been subjected while preserving their form is in two
grades: the one is severely plain, and the other extremely ornate
and decorative in effect. The former consists of a series of
three to five incised bands of a plait pattern, a design very
common in West Africa, placed at intervals, the bands
diminishing in width as they approach the tip of the tusk. The
embellishment is consequently plain, but elegant, and does not
call for further remark.

"The other grade consists in covering the whole tusk with a
succession of boldly carved grotesque figures--human, animal, and
symbolic--giving the tusk a rich embroidered-like look, the thick
ends being finished off with a suitable diamond pattern belt and
the tip finished with an equally appropriate series of carvings
in the shape of a mascle studded foolscap, or a capsule supported
by elongated cowries. The back appears to be cut to a uniform
depth, and in spite of the multiplicity of figures there is
neither overcrowding nor overloading."

There is another piece of carved ivory which appears to Ling Roth to be a piece of symbolic sculpture and which was probably used as a scepter. Roth says of this:

"The execution of the detail is rough--more rugged perhaps than
the carved tusks--nevertheless there is considerable originality
of design, and it is especially remarkable as showing an earlier
stage of the application of hammered metal to carved work."[19]

Among the carved works in ivory are many splendidly carved armlets. Ling Roth gives a description of one which is particularly interesting as showing the ingenuity of the Negro artisan.

"While at first sight it appears to depict only one carved
armlet, it is really two armlets, one being carved inside the
other out of the same piece of ivory with only the space of a
knife-blade thickness between them. When moved, the two armlets
rattle against each other. The ornamentation consists of four
figures: a king or chief belonging to the outer armlet, and four
sets of two hands placed between the human figures belonging to
the inner armlet. The whole shows skill and ingenuity on the part
of the artist who planned this difficult piece of work, so
remarkable from a technical point of view. But although the
beauty of design is not its chief attraction, it is nevertheless
a piece of work which can not fail to be admired from the
artistic standpoint also."

Another object of interest described by Ling Roth is a highly ornate fragment on an article which originally had the shape of a brass sistrum, consisting of two bell forms, a large and a small one, grafted onto one handle. Its delicate treatment is described as differing somewhat from the rugged workmanship of the objects above described, but it is said to err in its excessive elaboration.

"Yet there are good points," says Roth, "such as the blending of
the two bell forms into the common handle, the happy tapering of
the ornamentation into the Normian bird's beak; the increasing
size of the side cups as they rise to correspond to the enlarged
opening of the bell form; the truthfulness to nature in an
essential like the bust of the Negro, all of which betoken a fair
amount of artistic feeling. The craftsman who probably designed
execution of the smallest detail."[20]

It is the opinion of collectors that there existed in Benin at one time a very large amount of carved objects in wood, but, unfortunately, most of these must have been destroyed when the British burned the city in 1897. Very little of such work, therefore, has survived. What it may have been like cannot be definitely said, yet some hint might be gained from a few specimens that escaped the fire, though these specimens are probably modern in their execution.

One such object is a wooden casket in the form of a bullock's head, with two hands jutting out of the forehead and grasping the horns of the animal. The casket is supported by a pedestal of appropriate size and is decorated to represent cowries. "The ears of the bullock's head are covered with embossed brass work, and there are strips of brass of scroll pattern running down the bullock's face and fastened on with small brass staples."[21]

In this connection it might be mentioned that there are some carved coconut shell in which the Negro carver often expressed his ingenuity. These represent in their carving a varied number of forms, including human beings, animals and plants. The interest in these carvings, as Roth tells us, "lies in their demonstration of the adaptability of the native to perform creditably on a material very different from ivory. Fair ingenuity is displayed in the manner in which the figures are grouped on a confined surface without overcrowding. In fact, the feature of the work is the careful distribution and general freedom of treatment. The details of the carvings are throughout in low relief, remarkably clean and neat and of a uniform depth."[22]

So far no carved objects in stone, granite, marble, or the like, have come to view in the immediate Benin territory. This, of course, is natural enough when it is remembered, as has been pointed out, that there are no such materials to be found in the country. In 1911, however, Leo Frobenius discovered in his excavations of Ilife, a few hundred miles farther back in the interior, a number of carved stone objects which are interesting from several points of view. In the first place, might be considered the circumstance and position in which these objects were found. Many of these objects were dug up out of the earth at a depth of from eighteen to twenty feet, but several were found set up in tombs and isolated spots in the African forest. These forests are described by Frobenius as being sacred groves where the present-day natives worship their gods. Frobenius testifies that there were an extraordinary number and variety of these stone figures, and that they represent very different periods. Some show a coarse type of workmanship, but others represent a very superior grade of work. The following is, in the main, Frobenius's description of these objects:

"When, on leaving the main road, we arrived at the first small
palm plantation, a group of quite coarse little stone pillars
about waist high came into view. They are angular, roundish, and
at all events roughly hewn or chipped off, absolutely bare of any
detail. Going forward we came to another, rather more to the
left. Here there is a wilderness of weeds, a mass of roof battens
and the straw of a collapsed thatch, surmounted by a few stakes
and climbers amidst which rises a stone image. This is about
thirty-two inches high, roughly executed and defaced. It has one
chain around its neck and another hangs over an apron skirt down
to the hands folded over the stomach. On its left side it has a
peculiar hanger, something like the tassels of a Houssa
sword."[23]

In another nearby spot he describes the find of a smaller statue:

"When I first made its acquaintance," he writes, "it was housed
in a badly damaged little hut whose thatch almost hid it. It is a
granite figure about thirty-six inches high above ground level. I
could not find out whether its feet were covered by the earth. It
is exactly like the other figure, with the hands over the belly,
aproned and ornately tasseled on its left. It has armlets and a
ruff-like ornament round its neck. The interesting part of the
statuette is most decidedly its head, which had been knocked off
and only insecurely replaced, when I first set eyes on it. The
thick-lipped, broad-nosed face is negroid in type.... The
treatment of the hair in this granite head is especially of the
very greatest interest. The hair is represented by little iron
pegs inserted in small holes; here, for the first time, we come
upon this singular use of iron, which metal, as we shall see,
played a quite extraordinary part in the realm of Ilifian
antiquities."[24]

Under these same circumstances, he continues,

"a group of all kinds of well-preserved relics is met with in a
carelessly constructed hut in the fourth and last enclosure.
Symmetrically placed there is a stone crocodile to the right and
left in front of a stone block artificially rounded and set on
end. These vary but little in shape between a drop and an egg or
onion, always inclining toward the first, so that I would like to
call them 'drop stones,' ... before such of these drop stones,
the more oval of which is twenty-four, and the more conical one
nineteen and a quarter inches high, there is a crocodile. The
larger and better finished of the two is twenty-four and three
eighths and the other twenty-one and a quarter inches long."[25]

Frobenius further states that he had seen several other similar objects, made both of quartz granite and of other kinds of stone. In another sacred grove he reports finding several other very interesting stone objects:

"Here within a small space surrounded by a low wall there is a
ring of holy stones," he writes, "some of them very valuable.
Firstly, there is a twenty-nine and a half inch long sandstone
block of no very remarkable general aspect, weather-worn and
abraded, but ending in a jagged crowned head of some such animal
as a fish. The second is a block of quartz, like the drum of a
column, damaged in places by exposure, but still recognizable as
a fine piece of antique work."

Finally, we come to what Frobenius calls the stone "stools," of which "there are quite a number." According to Frobenius, these stools very much resemble the stools made and used by the present-day Negroes and remind one of "negro stools with carriers." He says further:

"These are stumpy columns from fourteen to twenty-four inches
high. Sometimes the flat surfaces have a ring between them and
sometimes not. Both quartz and granite examples are characterized
by extraordinary uniformity of shape and surface polish. Their
single handles at the side, mostly broken off, is the strangest
part."

Frobenius comments especially upon the tendency of these objects to "monumental form." In this connection he says:

"Following the lines of everything taught us in the development
of historical art, I can not well help drawing the inference that
this idea of working in stone was introduced by a people who felt
themselves impelled to monumental expression."[26]

The origin and variety of these carved objects in stone offer us a very interesting point, yet one may reasonably infer from his other statements that here in the Ilife, as in the Benin region, granite, quartz and hard stone materials are in their natural state very, very limited, if not altogether absent. Like Benin, Ilife is in the Niger delta region, and, as Frobenius points, is of rather a swampy character. It is a geological fact that hard stone in any quantity is seldom to be found in such regions. In addition to this, Frobenius, as was pointed out above, states that the foundations of the ancient buildings are of burnt brick rather than sun-dried brick or stone. It is very reasonable to suppose that hard stone, had it been in any way common to this area, would certainly have been used for building operations. One seems more or less justified in concluding, then, that the materials out of which the above-described objects were made were not of local origin. This circumstance is very important, for it seems to indicate that either these materials were imported from a distance and fashioned on the spot or else they were imported already in their finished form. If the first view be accepted, it would seem in a measure to account, on the one hand, for the obvious lack of skill on the part of the African artist as expressed in the archaic human and animal forms; but, on the other hand, it would, as is seen in the case of the "stools" mentioned above, seem to indicate a rather remarkable liberty and grace on the part of the Negro artist, implying his ability to become a master even when working with a comparatively unfamiliar material. For as Frobenius says, "the dexterity acquired in treating quartz and granite is very considerable. There is a quantity of eminently beautiful examples of such skill in this country."[27]

If we accept the latter view, namely, that the objects were imported ready made, it would seem to indicate that there must have been a rather extensive trade with some other Negro folk having a rather advanced form of culture, for it is obviously apparent from the distinctively Negro features of the statuettes and the undoubted Negro influence as expressed in the style of the "stools" that these objects must have been the products of a Negro people. A slight hint for such an origin may be gleaned from the finding by Frobenius of the handle of an antique cup, of which he testifies that the carved figure thereon resembles very much the effigy of the Ethiopian or Nubian god Bes,[28] and which, according to Budge,[29] is held to have been of Sudanese origin.

Such, then, is an abbreviated account of the carved works which during the last generation have been discovered to have been produced by black folk on the West Coast of Africa in ancient and medieval times.

We shall next turn for a brief consideration to the glass and porcelain objects, including terra cottas. So far as can be determined, very little or no work of importance which can be classed under this head had come from the Benin country. By stretching the category, however, one might include under this head the finely polished marble-like walls which have been described in connection with the houses of the Benin territory. One might also include under this head the benches which were seen in the Benin houses in former times. The typical character of these benches may be noted from the brief description given by Captain Jas. Fawckner,[30] who visited the country in 1825. After describing the houses, he says that "in the center is a bench formed of brown clay, which by frequent rubbing with a piece of coconut shell and wet cloths has received a polish, and, when dry, looks like marble."

A few hundred miles to the West, in the Gold Coast region, is the home of the famous "aggry" beads. These beads, the manufacture of which is now a lost art, were found in the possession of natives by the earliest European explorers.[31] The beads are of two kinds, a plain type and a variegated. "The plain aggry beads," say Bowdich, who made a careful study of them, "are blue, yellow, green or a dull red; the variegated consist of many colors and shades; the variegated strata of the aggry bead are so firmly united and so imperceptibly blended that the perfection seems superior to art. Some resemble mosaic work; the surface of others is covered with flowers and regular patterns so very minute and the shades so delicately softened one into the other and into the ground of the bead that nothing but the finest touch of the pen could equal them. The agate parts disclose flowers and patterns deep in the body of the bead and thin shafts of opaque colors running from the center to the surface. The coloring matter of the blue bead has been proved by experiment to be iron; that of the yellow, without doubt, is lead and antimony, with a trifling quantity of copper, though this latter is not essential to the production of the color. The generality of these beads appears to be produced from clays colored in thin layers, afterwards twisted together into a spiral form, and then cut across; also from different colored clays raked together without blending. How the flowers and delicate patterns on the body and on the surface of the rarer beads have been produced cannot be so well explained."[32]

In the earlier days, when much less was known of the technical and artistic ability of the African, the origin of these beads was quite a problem. The fact that similar beads were sometimes found in tombs in North Africa and in the graves and tombs of ancient Egypt and India led some to suppose them of probable Phoenician origin. Such a theory implies the existence of a rather extensive trade between the ancient Phoenicians and the ancient Africans of the West Coast. This may have been the case, for from Herodotus, and from the fragments of Hanno from the Temple of Milcarth in Carthage, we learn that frequent voyages were made beyond the Straits of Gibraltar and to the Gold Coast hundreds of years before Christ by Phoenicians as well as the Egyptians. This theory would, however, imply an act of conservation and preservation of minute objects over a period of thousands of years on the part of African "savages," which, to say the least, would be very remarkable. It is likely, in the light of recent research upon the subject, that the Phoenician theory will have to be made with caution; for, as will be pointed out, there is now available much evidence which seems to indicate that these beads were of indigenous African origin.

Further up in the interior of the Ilifian region a number of important glass objects have been found. Frobenius, commenting on the find of this character made as a result of his excavation in the neighborhood of the ancient "Holy City," testifies that "these furnish proof that at some remote era glass was made and moulded in this very land, and that the nation which here of old held rule was brilliant exponents of apt dexterity in the production of terra cotta images."[33] The spot where the objects were excavated is "located about a mile or more to the north of Ilife and undoubtedly marks the impression of an ancient cemetery." It is located today in what is a vast forest, and "is about half a mile broad, did hide and still in fact hides quite unique treasure." Frobenius in describing the excavations here, planned by himself and executed under the direction of Martins, the engineer of the expedition, gives the following account:

"We went down some eighteen feet or so, near the ground water,
and can report as follows, viz., the top layer consisted of about
two and a half feet of extraordinary hard and compacted soil.
Even in this we turned up several glazed potsherds.... At about
six and a half feet we found pottery. But the actual adit
averaged about eighteen feet below the surface. For we came upon
charcoal and ash heaps at this depth. This thoroughly verified
the native statements as to the finding of either pearl jars or
ashes so far down.[34] The old excavations made by the
inhabitants reached from twelve to twenty-four feet or
thereabouts."

Frobenius, in describing the objects discovered by this expedition, says: "The substance of the pots is a sort of cement or stoneware. They are from fourteen to twenty four inches high and from three and three quarters to sixteen inches in diameter; they are generally uniform. The aperture is at the under and upper ends of the walls from about three quarters to one and a quarter inches thick. The upper of these portions is covered with an irregular glaze, varying from one thirty sixth to one eighteenth of an inch thick inside. They were similarly glazed outside as the edges proved, but this has perished. A convexly carved plate or cupola in which there are three or four holes for finger holds seem to have been lids. Inside the pots are glass beads, rings, irregular bits of glass tubing, and always at the bottom a mass of fused bits of glass from one eighth to one quarter of an inch in depth. The colors of the beads and the glaze on the jars vary from light green, greenish white, dark red, brown and blue." Frobenius, commenting upon these finds, concludes that "the great mass of potsherds, lumps of glass, heaps of slag, etc., which we found proves at all events that the glass industry flourished in this locality in ages past. It is plain that the glass beads found to have been so common in Africa were not imported, but were actually manufactured in great quantities at home."[35]

In addition to these objects of stoneware and glass, there were a large variety of terra cotta objects which range from the "simplest little pots and saucers to the most artistic shapes and portraits." To appreciate the real significance of these objects in view of the inability to see the originals themselves, one should make a special effort to see the drawings and photographs of these objects as contained in Frobenius's _Der Afrika Sprach_, or its English translation, _The Voice of Africa_. Accompanying these illustrations there are a few brief descriptions of the more important objects. There is, for instance, "a specimen which seems to be the mouth or collar of an urn. On its inner edge there is a mouth below, an ear on either side, and a pair of eyes.... It looks as if this might have been a portion of a tube which might have been put over a grave, through which offerings might have been made to the dead beneath."[36] This explanation for the original purpose of this object is very plausible, as a study of the burial customs of various parts of Africa will show.

Frobenius is of the opinion that the dress of these ancient peoples "must have been very rich and handsome." A terra cotta truss brought to light by these excavations is described as showing a "noteworthy completeness. In the holes scattered on the breast plate and shoulder piece there were formerly inserted metal or iron pegs as ornaments. The end of the garment which is thrown over the shoulder is patterned like the old textures,"[37] which Frobenius believed had reached a very high degree of development. "Among our terra cottas," continues Frobenius, "some may have served as pedestals for the heads or busts." He describes a peculiar "fragment belonging possibly to some sort of vessel; on one side is seen an owl, whose hooked beak is badly damaged; on the other a complete figure holding a weapon." Like the beautifully carved stone handle mentioned above, Frobenius testifies that this object also resembles the ancient Sudanese and Ethiopian god Bes,[37a] and hints of an ancient connection between these two countries.

Another object, not dug up in the cemetery, but in the town of Ilife proper, is a "fired," square thin plaque showing a crocodile in the shape of the letter S, so shaped that it seems to finish in a tightly bound head. The details are not easily seen, but the position of the legs seems to indicate that the beast is bound there with cords and is meant to seem fastened to the surface, with a sort of hood over the eyes ending in a string work and tassels as if in a cunningly made basket. Frobenius and his associates were of the opinion that this object is that of a tile which in ages past formed part of the decorative design of one of the ancient buildings.[38]

Passing over a list of similar objects, we finally come to the world-famed terra cotta heads. Like the other terra cotta objects, these are fully illustrated in the above-named work. They are of "infinite variety" and "every observer may well see that they are patently portraits." They represent many varieties of Central Africans, from the restricted minority group of prognathous flat-nosed, thick-lipped type of the coast to the more delicate and sharper featured types to which the majority of Africans belong. In other words, these terra cottas represent almost every African type suggesting, therefore, a civil life very cosmopolitan in character and the probable existence of a _jus commercii_ as well as a _jus connubii_, which in turn argues well for the existence of a demogenic form of association of a very great age. Frobenius testifies that these heads are of "great beauty and amazing to those who inspect them." Commenting upon these terra cottas in general, he says: "I do not think that there can be the least doubt but that we are faced with a local form of art whose perfection is absolutely astounding," and commenting upon one particular head which he calls _mia_ after the native term for it, he concludes that it "must be regarded as the most important object hitherto found on African ground and as the finest work of art so far discovered outside the narrow Nile valley, on the further side of the old Roman jurisdiction."[39]

We may now turn for a brief study of what is beyond all doubt the most important division of the whole group of African arts and crafts--the metal castings. As was mentioned in the Introduction, the conquest of the city of Benin by the British in 1897 opened up to the knowledge of the white world a hitherto unknown field of Negro art, "the productions of which," according to Ling Roth, "will hold their own among some of the finest specimens of antiquity or modern times."[40] The excavations of Frobenius's expedition discovered in the heart of this part of Negro-land, aside from the terra cottas already described, metal works which are characterized as being "indeed like the finest Roman examples."[41]

The amount and variety of these works are tremendous and they have been carefully studied and reported upon by various writers. The following extracts, taken from the most noted among them, will give some idea of the nature and character of these objects. The chief feature of the personal ornaments, according to Ling Roth, is their variety. Another feature is their play upon patterns. For example, the same pattern which is seen in one bracelet is so adapted and reduced in another as to produce a very different effect. Spirals as a basis of design are not uncommon. "And they are often so twisted and interwoven that they produce quite a novel effect." Some of the bracelets are furnished with studs set with agate or coral. Some gold-plated ornaments have been found, among them a "bracelet formed by a double-headed snake grasping between its jaws a decapitated human head and a snake about four inches long." Ling Roth, commenting upon the workmanship of these smaller objects, says that generally speaking it is good, but "it is not as a rule equal to that of the large Benin metal workings; this is no doubt due to the greater difficulty presented by the smaller surfaces on which the artisans have had to work."[42]

Speaking of what he calls a curious class of objects, namely, the long armlets and leglets "so fashionable in West Africa," Ling Roth declares them to be "elegantly finished productions and good examples of Benin art.... They are provided with loops for hawk bills, which turn up everywhere in unexpected places through Benin metal work." In describing one such bracelet, which, however, is of modern make, he says that it is "interesting as exhibiting a conventionalized leopard's face on the top, as well as a European's face on the bottom, likewise developing into a form of ornament ... the fertility in design is in all of these forms manifest indeed; it is a feature in the art of Benin natives which any of our jewelers might do well to copy."[43]

Passing to a consideration of some of the larger forms of metal casting, we have the following description by Ling Roth of a bronze vase "whose ornamentation consists of four mask-like faces in high relief, two plain and two ribbed, set alternately; above each of the ribbed masks there is a flat spiral on which rests an ornamental triangle on its apex. Between the heads are placed bands of very plain guilloche, each band consisting of alternate three or four rows each, above and below concentric circles of imitation (coral?) bead work, all in low relief, and helping to fill in the ground. The whole arrangement forms a combination of decidedly artistic effect. There is no enchasing or punching of any sort, nor is there much ornamentation, but what ornamentation there is, is designed in such a spirited manner as to produce a result which hardly can be surpassed by Europeans at the present day."[44]

As another example of this same sort of thing, we may take the description of another object, a curious metal casket brought to Europe by a member of the Punitive Expedition. In design, according to Ling Roth, this casket "is bold and artistic; the high relief of the bizarre face and the zigzag conventionalized serpents and tadpoles being well thrown up by enchasing of the ground work. The proportions are all good, and this is especially the case with an enchasing of the enclosed lines." Ling Roth says that the relief portions are somewhat roughly cast, and the enchasing sometimes irregular, but, "on the other hand," he continues, "the great variety of objects exhibited without any over-crowding, the general grouping, the tones background, the real beauty" of the major portion of the design show that the artist was "a man of considerable taste, judged not only as a Negro, but as a man of culture."[45]

Another object which Ling Roth mentions as being especially remarkable for its technique is that which he has ventured to call a _sistrum_. It consists of what appears to be two brass bell bodies, a larger and a smaller welded together at the tapering ends. On the face of the larger bell is represented the now well-known group of a king or chief with a sort of Persian head-dress, with a harpoon-like projection at the top. He is supported on both sides by similarly dressed individuals; somewhat above the level of his head the chief is flanked by two tablets, each upheld by a hand emerging from the background. The background is enchased with an elegant foliated design somewhat Bornean in character. The back of the bell, with a few exceptions, has a similar relief. After describing the smaller bell, which is of a somewhat different character, Ling Roth concluded with these rather significant remarks:

"Taken as a whole the _Sistrum_ is an elegant piece of
workmanship. The thoroughness of the details of execution is
worthy of the Japanese, even the inaccessible and almost hidden
portion of the smaller bell being enchased with a pattern."[46]

As excellent as are these types of castings, the finest works of these Negro sculptors were achieved, not in works of this character, but, according to critics like Dalton, Read, and Ling Roth, rather in works that are done in the round.[47] Dalton, speaking of a bronze head of a Negro girl now in the British Museum, declares it to be "the most artistic and perfect of all the castings in the round." Ling Roth, speaking of the same head, declares it to be the "finest piece of cast bronze art obtained from Benin."

A find by Frobenius during his excavations at Ilife seems to support these conclusions. For of all the objects found by him at that site, his most important discovery he declares to be a bronze head, which he thinks is that of an ancient African god. The head wears a diadem with a staff. From the very tip of the diadem staff to the chin the object measures thirty-one and a quarter inches. "It is cast in what we call _cere perdue_, or hollow cast, and is indeed finely chased, suggesting the finest Roman examples. The setting of the lips, the shape of the ears, the contour of the face, all prove, if separately examined, the perfection of a work of true art, which the whole of it obviously is."[48]

Some attention may now be given to the method by which these objects were made and to the question of their age and origin. In a report before the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland in February, 1898,[49] Mr. C. H. Read and Mr. O. M. Dalton described these objects as having been cast in moulds. They testified as to the difficulties attendant upon such methods in sculpture, announcing that they had "been overcome with the certainty and skill which only long practice of a familiar art could produce. This alone goes to prove that at whatever period the objects were made they were produced by a people long acquainted with the art of casting metals."[50]

Their report continues: "The method by which the objects were produced can only be that known as _cere perdue_ process. By no other is it conceivable that so much extravagant relief and elaborately undercut detail could be represented with success. The process may be described in a very few words. The model is first made in wax, and every part of its surface is then covered with fine clay; the whole work is then hidden in a mass of clay. An outlet is then made for the wax to escape, and the mass is then heated until the wax has melted out, leaving, of course, a mould of exactly the design of the wax in the original state. The metal is then poured in and fills every hollow space left by the wax." Read and Dalton, as well as Ling Roth, testify that when casting objects in the round, or any object for that matter, where there was considerable internal bulk or projections, a core of sand was used as a base and the wax and clay respectively placed over this. This method, aside from insuring lightness, also saved considerable metal. Ling Roth, in this connection, points out that "the ancient Etruscans and Greeks made their castings solid without any sand core, while the Beni were evidently adept in the superior method practiced by the ancient Egyptians."[51] Read and Dalton likewise conclude that "this _cere perdue_ process is that by which many of the finest Italian bronzes of the best period were produced."[52] Thus it is that we find the Negroes of West Africa, as Dalton concludes, "using with familiarity and success a complicated method which satisfied the fastidious eye of the best artists of the Italian Rennaissance."[53]

Such, then, is an abbreviated account of the arts and crafts which have been discovered in a restricted part of West Africa during the last generation. Whether the results be considered large or small, it should be remembered that they represent the outcome of but a small amount of scientific investigation, only one expedition of scientific qualifications having so far operated in these parts. What the future holds or may bring forth yet remains to be seen.

There has been, and still is, considerable difference of opinion regarding the origin and antiquity of the culture which these objects represent. Some hold it to be of great age and of a more or less indigenous origin, while others are of the opinion that it is comparatively modern and that it was introduced, some say, by the Arabs and Mohammedans, while others believe it was brought by the Portuguese, at varying dates down to and including the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

Dealing with the latter view first, one hardly considers it unfair to say that there has never been any serious evidence for such opinion. The main reason for ascribing this culture to the Arab or Portuguese origin was due, on the one hand, to a failure to study seriously the culture itself, and, on the other hand, a kind of _a priori_ conception of the very limited potentialities of Negro peoples. Basing their opinion upon the popular conception that the Negro represented the lowest form of human development, it was thought by early critics of the culture that the Negro could not have produced objects of art capable of holding their own among the highest forms of human creations; and so in the exigencies of the situation the theories of Arab or Portuguese origin were brought to the fore. The advance of ethnological science during the last generation, the serious study of the Benin objects in an objective sense, and finally the results of Frobenius's Expedition, all combined, have not only weakened the theories of a modern Arab and Portuguese origin, but have practically destroyed them altogether.

Let us take a summary view of some of this evidence against these theories. In the first place, there might be mentioned the changing opinion regarding the supposed mental difference between so-called cultured and primitive peoples. As a result of many scientific studies, and some scientific expeditions both in Africa and Oceania, it is now practically the belief in scientific circles that there is no potential difference in quality of mind of the various races or of widely differentiated cultural groups. This removes at the outset the belief heretofore held as to the inherent limited capacity of the Negro peoples. According to this modern point of view, then, the objects above described _could_ have been created by native blacks of Central Africa.

As a next step, Ling Roth has pointed out that as there is hardly a traveler from Africa who has not recorded the art of iron smelting among the Negro or Bantu tribes, "we may accept as a fact that the art of smelting iron is a very old one in Africa." Not only does the recent evidence point out that iron smelting _per se_ was an old and widespread practice in Africa, but, in addition, reports a similar method of metal working as discovered in the Benin country to have been in vogue in other and widely separated parts of Africa. For example, Bowditch[54] describes a method of casting on the Volta River, where a wood core was used instead of sand, while Robinson[55] states that at Kano "there are on sale swords, spears and many other objects made of native wrought iron. The article desired is first formed in wax and from this clay model is made into which the molten iron can be poured."[56]

This, it would seem, reduces considerably the need for postulating modern influence so far as the _method_ is concerned. And even if modern influence were responsible, it could hardly have been Arab or Portuguese, for up to date no such objects as above described have been found among the ruins of the Islamic civilization. And on the other hand, as Ling Roth has said, "we are still quite in the dark as to the existence of any such high-class art in the Iberian peninsula at the end of the fifteenth century; and we know that there was not much of this art in the rest of Europe."[57] The only serious evidence, if even it might be so called, which was ever advanced as indicating Portuguese origin for this art was the fact that on some of the plaques from Benin there were found Portuguese heads or figures. But this, instead of indicating a Portuguese origin, gives, when carefully studied, reasonable evidence to the contrary.

Let us make a brief study of one of these objects. An object described by Ling Roth[58] as the "head of the staff or wand of offices" may be used as an illustration. The design is "that of a leopard supporting a column on its back. The uppermost portion of this staff head consists of a band of engraved basket work patterns with grained open ground. This is followed by a band of fish-scale patterns ornamented at the lower corners of contact pinched indents. On this band there is an upper series of ornaments in relief. The upper series consists of four faces; that on the front being probably that of a Negro and that on the back that of a European. Both faces are boldly and clearly executed, while the two faces on either side are of Europeans, both of them flat and poorly executed, and in profile with the mouth curiously twisted into the full face. The European figures on either side of the leopard in their flatness and general crudeness are quite out of keeping with the rest of the work. "Yet," he says, "one cannot help admiring the boldness with which the leopard has been modelled, or the firmness with which its claws grasp the ground; while the vigorous way in which the tail is made to support the back of the column should be remarked. Equally admirable are the suitable proportions of the bands of ornament. The upper band is thoroughly subdued so that the faces next to it are brought more prominently into relief."

It is evident that in every feature, excepting the European faces, this object is obviously the product of a master. How, then, are we to account for the crude and archaic appearance of the European figures? It would seem either that it was done purposely out of disrespect for the European or else it was the result of an unfamiliarity with the subject on the part of the artist. If the African artist had been indebted to the European for his apprenticeship, it is highly improbable that either of the conditions present here would have been likely to occur.

In this same connection a statement by Ling Roth testifies that "the Beni almost invariably give their fellow Africans sturdy lower limbs while they do not do so invariably to Europeans. The latter of a certain type are made to stand on well planted feet, while such Europeans as are in any way about to use their guns have their legs bent and puny."

That the work of the African artist, when dealing with Europeans, was necessarily of an inferior grade must not be assumed to be the rule, however, though it does seem from the evidence that there is more unaccountable archaicness in objects of this character than in any others. Ling Roth, speaking in this same connection, calls attention to the fact that Benin was not discovered by the Portuguese until about 1472, and that by the middle of the sixteenth century (_e.g._, 1550) we have an almost perfect figure of a European, presumably made by a native. "It is inconceivable," he concludes, "that an introduced art could have developed at so rapid a rate that in seventy years, probably less, for this art would hardly have been introduced the first day, such a high pitch of excellence could have been attained by the natives."