THE PRIMITIVE WEST AFRICAN 



IN preanimistic times two great needs urged man 

 on to a development of which he little dreamed. 

 Hunger forced him to the search for food, and desire 

 impelled him to copulation. The elements existed ; 

 they constituted his environment ; and they con- 

 sequentially affected him : and he trapped fish in the 

 rushing waters of subsiding floods and streams. He 

 also trapped the young of animals ; and later he 

 hunted them, having no other weapon beyond a 

 pointed stick. His sense of hearing developed, and 

 he was quick to catch the slightest noise made by the 

 fish in traps in the water or the young animals on 

 earth. He mimicked the cry of animals and called 

 them near enough to him to pierce them with his 

 pointed stick. Now, even to this day, on the West 

 coast of Africa, the great time for fishing and hunting 

 is just after the rains until the rains commence again ; 

 that is, during the four to five months comprising the 

 dry season. 



Man's sense of taste or his need for food cannot 

 then be dissociated from the occupation of trapping 

 and hunting from the dry season, the senses of hearing 

 and calling from the elements of water and earth. 



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