NOVKMBEK 1, 1900.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



211 



y^ IllUSTRATED MAG.\ZINE <f 



^^MiEN€E^LlTERATURL4MT/ 



Founded by RICHARD A. PROCTOR. 



by the upper soil. After heavy storms of rain, 

 which are usually accompanied by thunder and light- 

 ning, this upper soil being washed away, the stouu 

 implements are found lying on the ground, and so seem 

 to have fallen from the sky." 



Sir Richard Burton mentions that he was told how 

 Winwood Readc had found fine specimens of hatchets, 

 with holes pierced for hafts, but that neither he nor 

 Captain Cameron had found any on the Gulf of Guinea. 



The stone implements that were found at Christians- 



LONDOS : yoiEMBEU 1, I9uO. 



CO NTEN TS. 



stone Implements on the Gold Coast. By Lindsay AV. 

 Bristowe iiiul H. P. FitzGkraid Makhiott, f.b.o.s. 



{Illustrated) 



Plants and their Food.— VI. By H. H. W. Peabson, m.a. 

 The Great Telescope of Paris, 1900. By Eugbke 



.V>TONIADr. F.B.A.^. (Illustralecl) ... 

 The Great Siderostat of the" Paris Telescope. (Plufe.) 

 Astronomy without a Telescope. X. — The Meteors 

 of November By E. Waitee Mauxdbb. p.b.a.s. ... 

 Letters : 



A New Form of Acheomatic Telescope. By W. B. 



Mussojf. (lUustrafed) 



Artificial FACUi.t:, Spots, and PnoTospnERic Eeti- 

 crLATiox. By .Vi.bkrt Alfrkd Buss. Notes by 



Arthur East and E. Waltkr Maunder 



The Nature of Suxspots. By Bakon X. Kaulbars ... 

 AViEBLEss Telegraphy and Hertzian Waves. By 



S. BOTTOXE 



High-Speed Telbgeaphy. By Baeox N. Kaclbaes. 



Note by C. H. Gabland 



Asibology. By Alan Leo. Note by E. Walter 



Maunder 



Ancient Hindu Astrology oe Astronomy and tub 

 Nine Planets. By Charles Gt. Stuaet-Menteath. 



Note by E. Walter Maunder 



Clay-Stones. By S. H. Weight. Note by G. .V. . I. Cole 



Lunar Rainbow. By .John Macintosh 



British Ornithological Notes. Conducted by Harbv F. 



WiTHBEBY, P.Z.S., U.B.O.U 



Notices of Books 



Books Eecbited 



The Pygmies of the Great Forest. Bv R. Ltdekkee. 



(Illuttrated) ' 



Microscopy. By John H. Cookb, f.l.s., p.o.s 



Notes on Comets and Meteors. By W. F. Denning, f.e.a.8. 

 The Face of the Sky for November. By A. Fowlee, 



P.B.A.S 



Chess Column. By C. D. Locoes, b.a, 



2^1 

 244 



246 



2.^1 



2.52 



2.54 



254 

 2.54 

 2.55 



255 

 255 



255 



25f> 



259 



2.5! t 

 202 

 2iJ2 



2n:i 



263 



STONE IMPLEMENTS ON THE GOLD COAST. 



By Lindsay W. Bristowe, Gold Coast District Com- 

 missiowr, and H. P. FitzGerald Marriott, f.r.g.s 



Comparatively little is known of pre-historic stone im- 

 plements from Western Africa. A fresh collection that 

 we have recently gathered presents some interesting 

 points, and induces us to give a general review of the 

 subject, with the native legends concerning these 

 objects. Winwood Reade, to whom the British Museum 

 is indebted for a number of specimens, does not throw 

 much light on them, but says at pages 2-4 in " The 

 Story of the Ashanteo Campaign": — "Not only are 

 these stone implements dug up all over the world, but 

 all over the world they are supposed by the common 

 people to be thunder-bolts. As regards Western Africa, 

 this belief is easily explained. The Stone Age is there 

 comparatively recent, and many axes are merely covered 



borg, Akronpong, and Aburi, are now in the Copen- 

 hagen Museum, which is unrivalled for its relics of the 

 Stono Age. Some have also been found at Amoaful, 

 and are in Sir John Lubbock's collection, whilst others, 

 found at Akwapim, are in Sir John Evans's collection. 

 The specimens deposited in the British Museum differ 

 both in shape and material from those we have recently 

 procured from Chama and Secondi, on the Gold Coast 



Before describing them, however, wo will quote what 

 has been incidentally written on the subject of their 

 presence in West Africa. Winwood Reade says : — 

 " The next time I saw a stone implement was in the 

 tent of Mr. Kiihne. at Prahsu. He had found it on an 

 Ashauti altar, or shrine, a.s he was on his way from 

 Coomassie (Kumassi) to the camp. I asked my inter- 

 preter if he had ever seen one before; ho replied tha'^i 

 they were ' found everywhere,' and I made a small 

 collection during the march through Ashanti. When 

 the troops took a village, I always hunted for this kind 

 of plunder. Sometimes I found the stone hanging before 

 doorways at the end of a string, like a plummet, and 

 often it would be daubed over with chalk. The natives 

 regard these stones with superstitious reverence, and 

 call them god-axes; and believing that all things sacred 

 are medicinal, grind from them a powder which thej 

 use for rheumatism and other complaints.' We, how- 

 ever, rather doubt whether the stone implements are 

 always daubed with chalk. It certainly is not the case 

 nearer the sea^coast, though it may be in Ashanti, but 

 more probably only on special occasions when the peopb 

 themselves paint their own bodies white. It is probable 

 that Winwood Reade saw these chalk-daubed stones 

 only on his way down, when the natives were rejoicing 

 at Wolseley's success, for it must be remembered that 

 he was only a hurried passer through as correspondent 

 to The Times. 



Burton and Cameron describe all the specimens they ■ 

 came across as neolithic — that is to say, of the typ3 

 produced by gi-inding. They found none that were 

 paleolithic, or chipped. Arrow-heads and spear-heads 

 are apparently unknown. 



A native factotum for one of the local firms at Axini 

 brought Sir Richard Burton some specimens, and told 

 him that " the stones are picked up at the mouth of 

 streams that have washed them down after heavy rains. 

 But the people here, as elsewhere, call them ' Sraman-bo,' 

 or thunder-stones. These Kcraunia are supposed to fall 

 with the ' bolt,' to sink into the earth and rise to the 

 surface in the process of years. Hence the people; 

 search for them where the ' thunder has fallen.' " " The 

 stones are used as medicine, and those of black colour 

 have generally been boiled in oil to presei-ve their 

 qualities. After this process they resemble the Basanos 

 (Biio-avos) of Lydiuii Tmolus. On the Gold Coast, 

 however, the touchstone is mostly a dark jasper im- 

 ported from Europe. " " They are mostly of fine close 

 felsite or the greenstone trap (dioritc), found every- 

 where along the coast. I heard, however, that at 



