THE ORIGIN OF AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS. 645 



3. The investigation into culture physiology may proceed from the 

 proposition that all the Malayo- Negrito elements discussed above are 

 distributed essentially over the same area. The solid tract of territory 

 covered by them lies in the 7"ongo Basin, extending southward to the 

 Zambesi Valley, northward to the lands about the sources of the Shari, 

 and eastward to the East African area of depression. In the north- 

 west the area of Malayo-Negrito elements continues along the Guinea 

 coast into Senegambia, but the limits can no longer be determined with 

 certainty. In the course of the last few centuries Semito-Negritoes from 

 the interior and Europeans from the coast have either brought about 

 complete destruction of native culture, or effected far-reaching changes. 

 Upon the diffusion of culture elements of other affinities we shall 

 expatiate later. 



Outside of the unbroken domain of Mai ayo-Negrito culture, phe- 

 nomena of the same kind and descent occur in disconnected, widely 

 separated regions all over Southeast and East Africa. On the one hand 

 we are reminded thereby that culture elements other than those of 

 Malayo-Negrito origin are found within the area of distribution claimed 

 for the latter. These non-Malayo-ISTegrito elements either are found in 

 enclaves of exclusive occupation, pointing to the fact of recent immigra- 

 tion, or they appear in fraternal association with the Malayo-lSTegrito 

 elements, which in this case have been thoroughly interpenetrated with 

 African elements, and have completely absorbed them. On the other 

 hand, the occurrence of objects of Malayo-Xegrito origin outside of 

 their west African central abode indicates the extent of their former 

 distribution, or the path of migration. 



In itself the fact of agreement in form between certain or indeed all 

 of the objects in use in West Africa and those of Oceania is not con- 

 vincing proof of their culture affinity. But likeness of anatomical 

 origin coupled with the outlined area of distribution is evidence not to 

 be gainsaid. Slowly progressing contraction of the area of distribu- 

 tion until it is narrowed down to a border, or strip, in the west, together 

 with isolated remains in the mountains, near the mouths of rivers, or 

 in other out of the way places not readily inundated by waves of 

 national migrations — this is the characteristic of the present zone of 

 Malayo-Negrito civilization in Africa. 



And this area of distribution proves not only the path along which 

 Malayo-Negrito civilization traveled, but also that along which other 

 civilizations made their way. By the same side, in all probability, 

 entered from India the use of iron and the cultivation of millet and 

 cotton. The spread of these elements, pressing forward victoriously 

 from the East, is an eloquent witness, when we remember that the East 

 Indian bellows are not found among the southwestern tribes. The 

 descent of Semitic or Semito-lSregrito culture from the north into the 

 interior has been overrated. The centers of culture in Africa along the 

 Mediterranean have never contributed elements of profound or vital 

 influence to the native Africans. The reason is that the north coast, 



