68 BULLETIN OF THE LIVERPOOL MUSEUMS. 
prong, which was apparently inserted into the model before casting, is a 
bronze containing only half the usual proportion of tin, but no zine. Its 
composition approaches that of a casting from Peru, containing 94 parts of 
copper to 6 of tin, spoken of by Sir John Evans as ‘bronze.’ A figure of an 
Egyptian Osiris, analysed by Dr. Gladstone, showed similar proportions, 7.., 
87:1 copper, 6°3 tin, 4:4 lead, with a trace of iron. 
The small female statuette (Fig. 4) is the only other of the Benin metal 
work, acquired by this Museum, and as yet analysed, which contains tin 
(Col. E). All the rest are composed of brass, but the proportion of zine in 
each varies very considerably. The analysis of the prongs of Figs 11, and 12 
(Cols. B and Cc) show that they are nearly pure copper, having only 4 per 
cent. and 2 per cent. of zinc respectively ; strangely enough the metal which 
had overflowed up the loop, and of which I had some scales examined, con- 
tained 24 per cent. of zinc (Col. c). The main body of the metal of these 
objects is of a copper-zinc-lead compound, with traces of iron in all, and of 
bismuth in three and antimony in one of the figures. Both the prong and 
the body of the statuette, Fig. 13. (which, by the way, passed through the fire 
that overtook the Hospital and a portion of the city shortly after its capture), 
are practically of identical composition, approaching an alloy which is very 
easily cast, known as ‘“‘Gedge’s metal.” 
The analyses of our castings do not, therefore, throw much light on 
the question, whence the metal, of which they are made, was obtained. 
Copper is abundant in many parts of West and Central Africa, and is a trade 
article from Katanga. The alloy, which, according to the analyses, they 
used in these statues, might have been produced by roughly adding to the 
molten copper, small quantities of old brass and lead utensils. Brass was, 
it is believed, known to the Romans, and was in use in England in the 
thirteenth century. At a later date its manufacture, encouraged by Queen 
Elizabeth, formed a considerable export trade between 1560 and 1660. 
The process adopted in casting these solid figures was, no doubt, that 
known as Cera perduta, in which the object is first modelled in a very fusible 
wax. This model is carefully overlaid with a sufficiency of very fine clay 
(of which there is an abundance, of a red colour, in Benin and the neighbour- 
hood), which has been prepared with special care, to form the mold. When 
the mold is dry a hole is made in it, through which, on the application of 
heat, the wax escapes, leaving the interior vacant to receive the molten metal. 
When the casting has cooled, the clay mold has obviously to be destroyed, 
before it can be seen what success has attended the operation. By this 
process, each individual article requires a model for itself, and only one 
casting can be obtained from one mold. 
The skill and patience of the artist who modelled such elaborate head- 
dresses, ornamented garments, and intricate bead-work seen on the effigies of 
the supposed Kings of Benin, must be apparent to anyone who looks at the 
illustrations, Figs. 10, to 13. 
The present natives of Benin are incapable of producing any work 
approaching these plaques and statues. No crucibles were found in the city ; 
and no furnaces or appliances connected with metal casting were, so far as I 
can learn, seen there. With the exception of one blacksmith’s shop, there 
was, as Commander Bacon has informed me, little sign of any native industry 
or evidence of much trade with the interior. ‘‘The Beni,” writes this dis- 
tinguished officer, “were a decaying race without doubt, and but very few 
attempts at ornamentation existed. A rude pattern, or a hand dipped in red 
(? blood) and printed on a wall, really represented the height of decoration 
in the houses, except the Palaver House and King’s House, where the doors 
were overlaid with beaten brass, and a small pattern adorned the beams, with 
patches of looking glass.” In 1862, Burton also noted that the “empire must 
