Dec, 23, 1875] 



NATURE 



143 



dispersed. A considerable number have, however, since 

 found their way either into the Christy collection, or into 

 Col. Lane Fox's Anthropological collection at Bethnal 

 Green, and have been described in greater or less detail. 

 Cut with the exception of a brief account of the war 

 weapons of this people which was contributed by Mr. 

 Petherick to iYic journal 0/ the United Service Institution 

 in i860, including numerous illustrations, no original 

 account of their native arts has been pubUshed until the 

 appearance of the present work. 



The tribes referred to in this volume are named Dinka, 

 Dyur, Bongo, Mittu, Niam Niam, Bellanda, Monbuttu, 

 Sere, and Kred, and as a rule the same tj-pes of art with 

 innumerable but closely-allied varieties per/ade the whole 

 of them. Imitation of natural forms, that invariable cha- 

 racteristic of primitive arts, is not less frequent here than 

 amongst other savages ; thus we find amongst the Bongo, 

 bells and rattles in imitation of leguminous fruits, and 

 iron thorns upon the heads of spears, both named and 

 copied from the Makrigga, a thorny shrub of the district 

 which no doubt was used and served as a model for these 

 barbarous weapons before the introduction of iron. Not- 

 withstanding the prevalence of iron, the Mittu and some 

 other tribes still employ an arrow with a hard wood point 

 or fire- shaft in preference to the iron ones, which carry 

 only one- third the distance although with greater accu- 

 racy of flight. 



The partiality for doubling certain objects without in 

 most cases the least practicable utility being perceptible 

 is noticed by the traveller as a characteristic of Central 

 African art. Thus we find double points to roofs, double 

 pipe-bowls, double lance-heads, double spoons, and double 

 bells included amongst the objects illustrated. The art 

 of the carpenter, as with most savages, appears to be 

 confined to carving household utensils such as seats, 

 tables, dishes, boxes, mortars, musical instruments, 

 canoes, &c., out of a solid block ; the joinet's art seems 

 almost unknown, the only exception here recorded being 

 a sleeping-bench of the Monbuttu tribe, in which the 

 framework of Raphia stalks is fastened to the feet by 

 pegs of hard wood. One of those curious transformations 

 so common in savage art is seen in the case of the broad 

 mushroom-headed club, " Bollong." This club has been 

 described by Mr. Petherick, amongst the Dor tribe, as a 

 weapon for cracking skulls. The broad head, which is ob- 

 viously a monstrous development of the ordinary club head, 

 appears to have suggested its employment as a seat by 

 sticking the pointed handle into the groimd and sitting 

 on the head. Accordingly we find that amongst the 

 i Dinka, Dyoor, Madi, and Gani, the upper surface of the 

 I head has been made perfectly flat, in order to adapt it to 

 i this new use, whilst at the same time preserving its effi- 

 I ciency as a weapon. The wooden parrying-stick or 

 shield, " Kwrr," constructed of one piece with a hoUow 

 for the hand carved out in the centre, has been noticed 

 by Mr. Petherick amongst the Mundo, and is here figured 

 as a Dinka weapon. Its close resemblance' to the Aus- 

 tralian parry ing-shield, Tamarang, and to one from an 

 Egyptian tomb, now in the Louvre at Paris, has been 

 noticed by CoL Lane Fox in his catalogue of his collec- 

 ,, tion at Bethnal Green. Dr. Schweinfurth compares it 

 \ to a specimen from the Pacific Isles now in the Berlin 

 ' Museum. Should this turn out to be correct, and not a 



mistaken locality, it will add another Unk to the area of 

 distribution of this pecuUar form of weapon. Parrying- 

 sticks, without the hand hole, are undoubtedly employed 

 in some of the Pacific Isles. The bow- shaped parrying- 

 shield, " Dang," represented by Mr. Petherick, now in the 

 Bethnal Green collection without a string, is here repre- 

 sented with a string attached, showing that although now 

 used exclusively as a parr>'ing weapon, it was without 

 doubt derived from the bow, which it resembles, and 

 that the curved ends have been retained for a totally 

 different use from that which they serv-ed originally. 

 The identity of this weapon with a Caffire implement 

 figured in Wood's " Africa " is, however, doubtful, as it 

 appears not unlikely the latter may be a musical instru- 

 ment. 



Several illustrations are given of the peculiar iron 

 boomerang of the Niam Niam, here called " Pingah," but 

 known as " Himga Munga," or " Shanger Mangor," by 

 the Musgu of Soudan, and Kulbeda in Upper Sennaar. 

 The distribution of this class of weapon and its varieties 

 has been traced by Col. Fox in his catalogue, where it is 

 shown to be common to the greater part of the black 

 races of mankind, including the Australians and the 

 aborigines of Central India ; but we have here some 

 additional points of interest in cormection with the Afri- 

 can variety. We now learn from Dr. Schweinfurth that, 

 like the Australian weapon, it is thrown by the Niam 

 Niam, so as to rotate in a horizontal plane, which, though 

 anticipated, has not been distinctly stated by former tra- 

 vellers. We learn also from this work that the wooden 

 variety of this weapon, called "Trumbash," a name 

 which is sometimes also applied to the iron variety, and 

 which was first noticed by Sir Samuel Baker in Abyssinia, 

 is in use amongst the Mohammedan negro tribes through- 

 out the district between that country and Lake Tsad. This 

 weapon, described as a flat two-edged projectile of wood, 

 cur\-ed more or less sickle-like, and wider towards the 

 point, is undoubtedly the original of the whole class, and 

 from its resemblance to the Dravidian and Australian 

 forms of it, affords one of several links which connect 

 the arts of those black races of the southern hemisphere, 

 which are supposed by^Prof. Huxley, and by Prof. Haeckel 

 after him, to have been derived from a now submerged 

 paradise in the Indian Ocean. 



To our knowledge of the iron- work of these tribes Dr. 

 Schweinfurth also adds some important details, but it is 

 remarkable that he should not have especially noticed the 

 peculiar ogee- sectioned blade, simk on alternate faces, 

 which is such a characteristic feature of the iron imple- 

 ments of all Africa, from the Caffres on the south-east to 

 the Fans on the west, and which, hke the double bellows, 

 connect them with the iron-workers of Sudia and 

 Burmah. It is true that illustrations of this peculiar 

 blade, so far as the shading enables us to judge, are given 

 in the plate of Niam Niam spear-heads, but without 

 comment. They are absent in the plate of Bongo spear- 

 heads, and it would be interesting to know whether this 

 is an accidental omission, or whether the Bongo form is 

 in this respect an exception to the custom prevalent 

 amongst other tribes of iron- workers. 



The plates are well executed, and though not furnished 

 with a scale, as is desirable in such works, the dimensions 

 are given in most cases. 



