814 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1896. 



between Ballas and Nagada, about 30 

 miles below Thebes, and attributed by 

 Lim to a new race, probably Lybian, to 

 whom lie assigned a date about 3000 B. C. 

 These rods or staves comprise part of a 

 series from one tomb, " possibly a game," 

 of which he gives the following list: 

 Twelve ivory rods, ^g. 131. 

 Five ivory rods with incised diagonal 

 lines, fig. 132. 

 H Four figures of lions and one figure of 



« hare, fig. 133. 



§! Seventeen blocks, of which thirteen are 



o bone, two limestone, and two alabaster. 



g Thirty balls, natural irony concretions. 



S The twelve ivory rods, possibly intended 



" for counting, are very perfect copies of 



S I jointed canes or straws. Four of the five 



q' I rods with diagonal lines incised are in the 



8 I University Museum. They are plain on 



S S ^ one side, while the other is marked as 



^ s I .1 shown in fig. 132, two having lines in 



". S f I ^. diagonal bands of fours, and two a 



S ^ ■S ^ ■% peculiar mark in the middle, which 



> § t may have been intended to represent a 



t feminine symbol. I have been unable 



I i to learn that any representation of such a 



f % game has been identified upon the mouu- 



3 I ments. 



\ r- 111 Africa, Bent^ gives the following ac- 



5 '3 count of the use of the four staves in divi- 



r nation : 



'" From many of the huts at Inyamanda were 



I hanging their dollasses — wooden charms — on 



: which are drawn strange tigures (Plate 23). 



Each family possesses a set of four, tied together 

 by a string. Of these four one always has a 

 curious conveutioual form of a lizard carved on 

 it; others have battle-axes, diamond patterns, 

 etc., invaiiably repeating themselves, and the 

 purport of which I was never able to ascertain. 

 They are common among all the Abautu races, 

 and closely bound up with their occult belief in 

 witchcraft. They are chieflj^ made of wood, but 

 sometimes neat little ones of bone are found, a set 

 of which I afterwards obtained. On the evening 

 of the new moon the village witch doctor will go 



' The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland, p. 37. 



