186 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



Plan of hall showing main floor and gallery of African hall 



In addition to the forty groups twenty-four 

 bas-relief panels in bronze (six by eleven 

 feet each) will be placed in a frieze just above 

 the floor groups and along the balcony to 

 form a series around the entire lower floor, 

 becoming a part of the architectural decora- 

 tion of the hall. The sculpture of each panel 

 will tell the story of some native tribe and its 

 relations to the animal life shown in the 

 groups. 



For instance, one will show a Dorobo 

 family, the man skinning a dead antelope 

 that he has brought in from the forest to 

 his hut, where are his wife and babies and 

 two hunting dogs which represent their only 

 domestic animals. A further interest in 

 animal life will be revealed in the presence 

 of the dead antelope as it is a source of 

 food supply, for these are people that live 

 entirely by hunting. Another panel may 

 show a group in Somaliland with camels, 

 sheep, goats, cattle and ponies at a water- 

 hole, the interest in animal life being practi- 

 cally only in domestic animals. Still another 

 panel completing the Somah story will 

 represent a group of Midgans in some 

 characteristic hunting scene. While each of 

 these panels is to be a careful and scientifi- 

 cally accurate study of the people and 

 their customs, a-ccurate in detail as to 

 clothing, ornaments and weapons, the theme 

 running through the whole series will be 



the relationship of the people to the animal 

 Hfe. 



Thus the iVmerican Museum takes the 

 important step of putting this compre- 

 hensive piece of work into the hands of 

 one man and he a man who has proved 

 his peculiar ability. Mr. Akeley is will- 

 ing to sacrifice other interests for the 

 five years necessary for the well launch- 

 ing of the plan. He will draw into the 

 work the best "taxidermists," as well as 

 sculptors and artists. He will in fact 

 start a " taxidermy studio " which during 

 these five years will be not only a place 

 where groups for the African hall shall be 

 prepared but what is more important, 

 will also prove a training-ground for 

 young men of ability and marked apti- 

 tude for the work. We can but agree 

 that Mr. Akeley has put his finger upon 

 the crucial difficulty in Museum exhibi- 

 tion when he says, "After all is said and 

 done such work depends on just a few 

 men who can carry it out. To find people 

 who can do the work, men of fit training 

 and sense to carry it to the finish, that 

 is the difficult matter." 



