(47) 
A CONTRIBUTION TO OUR KNOWLEDQE OF THE NATIONAL, 
OAME OF SKILL OF AFRICA. 
By P. A. Wagner. 
(With Plates XIII-XYII.) 
(Read April 19, 1916.) 
Among most of the native races of Africa there is played in one form or 
another, either in rows of holes scooped out of the ground or on wooden, 
stone, or even ivory boards, a peculiar game of skill, that from its wide 
distribution over the continent has been appropriately styled " the national 
game of Africa." * 
As a matter of fact it is not confined to Africa, being practised in Syria, 
Arabia, Bombay, Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula, Java, and indeed along the 
entire southern coast of Asia as far as the Philippine Islands. t It is also- 
played by the negroes of the Barbadoes, Martinique and San Domingo, and, 
as will be presently pointed out, was in 1891 " presented to the civilised 
world for its diversion," by an enterprising American firm, as " a game of 
skill for two players." t 
It is essentially a war-game. Two players or sides direct a contest 
between armies of equal strength, the object in view being the capture or 
''killing" of "men," who are represented by small stones, seeds, shells, or 
fragments of dry cow-dung. ]: It is often played for a stake, but is certainly 
not a gambling game as maintained by some writers. Another common 
belief, strangely at variance with the generally accepted estimate of the 
intellectual capacity of the African native, is that the game is very intricate. 
This is quite erroneous, though it undoubtedly calls for a certain facility in 
ready reckoning. 
The game is clearly of very considerable antiquity. It was already 
* Cf. Stewart Culin, Bej^t. Smithsonian Institution, 1893-1894, pp. 597-607. 
t Cf. Culin, loc. cit. 
X According to Culin ivory balls are used by the chiefs of the Vei tribes of 
West Africa. 
