THE ORIGIN OP AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS. 649 



mark of the southern zone. The middle belt is at once the richest and 

 the most uniform. It bears neither the senile expression of the Negrito 

 zone nor the youthful, impetuous character of the Malay zone, but that 

 impressed by a great and serious past. 



In addition to the above, we must bear in mind the situation and 

 surroundings of the first source and center of Maiay culture forms; that 

 is, Malacca, or more properly, perhaps, Indo-China. The reader will 

 permit me to point out a remarkable parallelism. As Farther India 

 thrusts out its elongated form into a sea of islands, opposite to which 

 is a continent, while a peninsula of firmer outline, East India, lies on 

 the west, so Greece, opposite to Egypt and to the east of Italy, sends 

 its point into an archipelago. 



History proclaims the important bearing of the peculiar geographic 

 position of Greece and Italy upon culture, yet surely the history of 

 Mediterranean civilization neither began with Egypt nor ended with 

 Eome. If, then, we speak of the civilization of the Middle (Mediterra- 

 nean) Sea, we may equally speak of the civilization of the Middle 

 (Indian) Ocean. In intercourse with Egypt, Greece rose to supreme 

 position as a civilizing and colonizing power, covering the central and 

 eastern shores of the Mediterranean with its stations. A like point of 

 view gives us a clue to the course of Malayo-Negrito culture, whose 

 influence is demonstrable on all the shores of the Indian Ocean. Malay 

 culture acquired the faculty of spreading to so great an extent that it 

 entered into alliance with Negrito culture as Greek intermingled with 

 Egyptian civilization. The rise of every form of civilization is preceded 

 by some such impregnation. To avoid misapprehension, I emphasize 

 the fact that the young Malay civilizations, characterized by linguistic 

 sameness, owe their rejuvenation to a recent epoch. 



This comparison of geographic positions furnishes a clue not only to 

 the spread of Malayo-Negrito civilization as far as West Africa, but 

 also to that of Indo-Negrito relations. The ancient civilization of India 

 may properly be compared to that of Eome. The culture that brought 

 the Africans millet and iron was solid, practical, robust in every respect. 



Finally, with regard to Semito-Negrito civilization, I should like to 

 utter a caution against overestimating it. In the material products of 

 civilization its influence is barely traceable. It introduced neither the 

 plow nor solidly built houses to the part of the continent that is genu- 

 inely African, yet this should have been the task of the Semitic culture 

 agents. Whatever they have imported, such as the straight sword, the 

 double-limbed bow, the round shield, etc., did not penetrate far to the 

 south and was not original with them. 



In closing this article I beg leave to state its purpose emphatically. 

 It was written not to array arguments substantiating the correctness 

 of certain new points of view, but to sum up these points of view in 

 a brief presentation. If I have succeeded in showing how the new 

 method should be wielded and what sort of results can be reached by 

 its application, it has fulfilled its purpose. 



