LATERAL DEVELOPMENT, PHYSICAL 



MAN 



BY this short study of primitive life we are led to 

 suppose that the categories in the language of the 

 Bavili and Bakongo will be found to arrange them- 

 selves in a two-fold fashion : one perpendicular, in 

 accordance with the order of the seasons and the 

 professions of man incited by them and their needs ; 

 and one lateral, expressive of man's thoughts and 

 experiences in connection with those parts of the 

 universe with which he believes himself to be so 

 nearly related, such as the mineral, vegetable, and 

 animal kingdoms, and the seasons. 



We will now consider this lateral development. 



We have noted that the Bavili and the Bini divide 

 their sacred groves into two great classes. The ones 

 which have stones or stone figures in them, and those 

 that have trees, sticks, or wooden figures. Water, 

 possibly representing the rains, and so the seasons, 

 appears to be common to both. 



As these groves are connected very nearly with 

 ancestor worship, we may feel sure that the conclusion 

 that we have drawn that the West African recognises 

 his relationship to the mineral, vegetable, and 

 animal kingdoms is a correct one. Women in both 



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