THE ORIGIN OF AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS. 643 



work gradually dwindles into nothing more than a protection for the 

 fist. In fact, the reason for the modification can be shown. The wooden 

 framework is absent in the territory of pointed iron missiles. The 

 yielding reed surface does not permit them to enter ; they glance off 

 and lose their momentum. Wooden shields with reed covering reap- 

 pear on the coast of Upper Guinea. We know them also from the Gold 

 Coast, and older accounts mention them in the Liberian region. Eelated 

 forms are found in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Here again 

 Malayo-Negrito affinity is bound up with the vegetable material. 



The axes of the Africans are frequently characterized as being of the 

 same form everywhere. Such a statement is not in accordance with 

 fact. The great differences among them become obvious on a compari- 

 son of the Dahomey ax with one from Bihe, and, again, with one from 

 East Africa. The helve of the Dahomey ax is bent forward at the 

 upper end, the head being inserted in the deflected portion. This form 

 obviously originated in the hoe. The East African ax is a smooth staff, 

 into which the head is wedged so that a considerable piece of the blade 

 protrudes above. The handle of the South African ax is bent back- 

 ward, and is sometimes adorned with all sorts of curious scallops and 

 ornaments. Into this projection the tang of the blade is fitted. The 

 blade itself is of extraordinary shape, taking its rise in a little cyl- 

 inder polished down in front. Several considerations determine my 

 opinion that the last is of Malayo-Negrito origin. In other words, it 

 is derived from a stone, or, rather, a shell ax. The cylindrical form of 

 the head is the one occurring in the Melanesian shell ax, later stone ax. 

 In Oceania the head directly or, by the intervention of the handle, indi- 

 rectly is laced to the backward bent helve. The lacings are reproduced 

 in the West African ornamentation with its peculiar zigzag lines. The 

 ax forms derived from the hoe are connected with the cultivation of 

 millet — that is, they are of East Indian extraction. 



The huts of the Africans show manifold primary forms. Two factors 

 indicate as many zones of influence. Building with clay extends from 

 the north to the Sudan and is suggestive of Egyptian brick buildings 

 and the architecture of Asia Minor, therefore of west Asiatic influence. 

 The Kongo Basin and North Guinea are the region of former pile dwel- 

 lings, whose last remaining trace is easily discerned even now in the 

 peculiar window doors. This bears witness to Malay o-Negrito affinity. 

 The northern domain, in which clay is used, is gradually enlarging, 

 while the southwestern is more and more suffering contraction. But 

 the affinity of the hut forms goes further ; it is fundamental. The West 

 and Central African house is constructed like a house of cards — of six 

 mats made of palm leaves, two forming the roof and four the walls, all 

 tied to one another. The inside space is partitioned off into rooms by 

 mats suspended from above. The Oceanian house is exactly like this, 

 only it is raised on piles. Often, too, the number of outer walls is 

 reduced. On the other hand, the interior division into chambers is the 



