THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



Photo by the Rev. E. E. Nickisson. 



A CENTRAL AFRICAN CHIEF AND HIS WIVES. 



during the following twenty years 

 they swept westward, destroying 

 many of the coast tribes, until 

 they became the leading people 

 on the Gabun coast. Paul du 

 Chaillu brought back some of 

 their skulls, which Sir Kichard 

 Owen described as showing greater 

 cranial capacity than the neigh- 

 bouring tribes. Lenz described 

 the Fans again in 1878, and in 

 recent times much light has been 

 thrown on them by the daring 

 journey and accurate ethnological 

 studies of Miss Kingsley. 



The Fans in all probability 

 are allied to the Niam-niam. 

 Schweinfurth has pointed out 

 the many points of resemblance 

 between the tribes in physical 

 appearance, dress, tribal organisa- 

 tion, and customs. 



"They are," says Miss Kingsley, "bright, active, energetic sort of Africans, who by 

 their pugnacious and predatory conduct do much to make one cease to regret and deplore 

 the sloth and lethargy of the rest of the West Coast tribes." 



They are on the whole of fine physique, and include magnificent specimens of the human 

 race- "Their colour," continues Miss Kiugsley, "is light bronze; many of the men have beards, 

 and albinoes are rare among them. The average height in the mountain districts is from 

 5 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 8 inches, the difference in stature between men and women not 

 being great. Their countenances are very bright and expressive, and if once you have been 

 among them you can never mistake a Fan. But it is in their mental characteristics that 

 their difference from the lethargic, dying-out coast tribes is most marked. The Fan is full 

 of fire, temper, intelligence, and go; very teachable, rather difficult to manage, quick to take 

 offence, and utterly indifferent to human life. I ought to say that other people, who should 

 know him better than I, say he is a treacherous, thievish, murderous cannibal." 



The huts of the Fans are small and lightly constructed, for the people change their 

 residences so frequently that they may be regarded as almost nomadic. Miss Kingsley has 

 described the best hut in one of the villages in which she stayed. The hut was fairly low; 

 for, as she says, "I was as high as its roof-ridge, and had to stoop low to get through the 

 door-hole. Inside the hut was 14 or 15 feet square, unlit by any window. The door-hole 

 could be closed by pushing a broad piece of bark across it under two horizontally fixed bits 

 of stick. The floor was sand, like the outside, but dirtier. On it in one place was a fire, 

 whose smoke found its way out through the roof. In one corner of- the room was a rough 

 bench of wood, which, from the few filthy clothes on it, I saw was the bed. There was no 

 other furniture in the hut save some boxes, which I presume held my host's earthly possessions. 

 From the bamboo roof hung a long stick with hooks on it, the hooks made by cutting off 

 branching twigs. This was evidently the hanging wardrobe, and on it hung some few 

 fetish charms." 



The huts are usually placed in two opposite rows, the ends of the street thus formed 

 being closed by a guard-house; but in villages with a river frontage there is a single row of 

 huts along the bank. 



The main industries of the Fans are pottery, net- and basket-weaving, and iron-working. 



