2 NOTES ON WEST AFRICAN CATEGORIES 



proceed in their creation, procreation, or production in 

 accordance with the order therein expressed, i.e. 



God, in the far past, caused 



1 that which was at rest and which is to become 

 the mover towards a certain intermediate 

 effect, 



2 & 3 that the intermediate causes of this inter- 

 mediate effect are two coordinates, i.e. the 

 actor and the instrument, 



4 which by coming together in a certain place 

 cause an intermediate effect. 



5 This puts a new cause in motion in a certain 

 manner 



6 & 7 which by means of two intermediate causes 

 which are coordinate and progressive as 

 action and quality 



8 cause the final desired effect. 



As the filling in of the complementary parts in the 

 lateral developments is not absolutely necessary to 

 prove that the thoughts expressed in the perpendicular 

 developments of the categories agree with the classes 

 in their language, I will not attempt to fill them in. I 

 will in this study simply show how the classes in the 

 language of the Bavili prove that there is a natural 

 basis for the philosophy as expressed in the categories 

 not only of the Congo but also of that which I have 

 discovered to exist in Southern Nigeria. I may 

 mention that whereas the Congo is 6 south of the 

 Equator, Southern Nigeria is about the same degree 

 north of it, and that intercommunication between such 

 places so far apart in primitive times was very difficult 



