BATTLE AXE FROM KASAI 

 DISTRICT CONGO 



TIk'sc axes arc reiiiarkahlc 

 (or their openwork patterns 

 and for the liuinan heads cut 

 upon t tiem 



compared witli the races of other continents. First ami 

 foremost amoiijr these is the fact of a native African metal- 

 hir^7 . Whih- the highly developed tril)es of Polynesia had 

 not advanced Ix'vond the stone afi;e at the time of their dis- 

 covery by white men and even the inhahitiints of ancient 

 Mexico and Peru had not learned to smelt iron from the ore, 

 practically all the trihes of Africa have in historical times 

 practised the iron teclmicine. some having attained a high 

 degree of perfection in this industry. This fact is so striking 

 that scientific travelers of the highest rank, such as Dr. 

 Schweinfurth and Professor von Luschan, have advanced the theory that 

 the African negroes were the originators of the techni(|ue and transmitted it 

 through the intermediation of other jx-oples to the ancestors of our ci\ ili/.ed 



16 



