LITERATURE OF THE AFRICAN NEGROES. 245 



fox romance began to be current in Europe, the fox, with his thiev- 

 ery, was odious to those peoples which, like the Germans, held brute 

 force in high esteem. To call a man Reynard was regarded among 

 the Franks as a grave offense, to which the Salic law attached a 

 severe penalty. The negroes of Africa, on the other hand, set 

 astuteness away above force. This idea dominates in all their liter- 

 ary production with which we are acquainted; and this confirms the 

 assertions of travelers, who agree in saying that the Africans, when 

 they try to get rid of their enemies, use force only when cunning 

 fails. Herr Olpp cites the following fable of the tribe of the JSTama : 

 " It came to pass one day that the jackal, having made away with 

 some object, fell into the hands of the white man. He was carefully 

 bound and condemned to death. Then the jackal asked his judges, 

 ' How do white men perform executions? ' They answered, ' We 

 beat the culprits to death with clubs.' The jackal replied: ' It is a 

 very poor way of putting people to death; take my advice: when 

 you want to put anybody to death, begin by making him eat tallow 

 and fat; then grease him outside, and make a fire on a rock; take 

 him by the tail and throw him into the fire.' The white men did as 

 the jackal had told them, but their hands slipped on his skin, and he 

 escaped. Thereupon the dogs chased him, and the fugitive had 

 barely time to get into a cave. The white men, who had come up, 

 stuck their hands into the hole, and one of them took the jackal by 

 the tail and called out, ' We have got you, we have got you ! ' The 

 jackal said, ' Oh no, my friends, you have not got me, but a root.' 

 The white man holding on to the tail answered, ' '^0, it is you.' 

 The jackal answered: ' I tell you it is not me. Get a sharp stone and 

 then come back and cut what you have in your hand. You will 

 see that it is a root.' The white man ran to get a stone, and the 

 jackal went farther into the cave. So he saved his life." 



This very succinct summary of the researches of the students 

 of folklore of the African school may go to show that thought 

 does not abound in the traditions of the negro tribes; the few 

 flowers that are found here and there form only a very poor garland. 

 — Translated for the Popular Science Monthhj from Minerva 

 (Rome). 



Describing to the London Physical Society his observalions on tlie 

 Peak of TenerifFo, Prof. T. C. Porter g-ave an account of his method for 

 measuring the diameter of the earth. It consists in observing the shadow 

 cast by the peak upon the sea, and measuring the time that elapses between 

 the moment when the apex of the shadow touches the sea horizon and the 

 instant when it is eclipsed by the shadow of night. He observed, further, 

 that the heated air ascending from the peak casts a shadow, seen as a faint 

 prolongation of that of the peak. 



