i8 
BENIN CARVINGS. 
See Pages II., IIP, IV., and V. 
The Curios which came from the city of Benin are particularly 
interesting, inasmuch as Mr. Horniman has purchased them 
from Mr. W. J. Hider, S. B. S. Royal Navy, who had collected 
them during the occupation of the City by the British expedition- 
ary force. Mr. Hider had them in a brass-roofed stone building, 
in which he was attending the wounded. When the city was 
burnt on February the 18th, nearly everything contained was 
destroyed, so that these antiquities, &c., furnish the chief among 
the few to survive the flames. 
The Collection consists of the following articles : — A carved 
wooden case, having the appearance of a mirror-frame (see illus- 
tration, page ii). The sliding lid or cover is missing. This must 
be compared with the next specimen (page iii), when will be seen 
at once the object and the use to which it was put, namely, as 
an envelope or dispatch case, employed by the chiefs for sending 
important messages, &c., from one person to another. 
The figures at the top of the above specimen are carved all 
round, and represent two men in a boat or canoe. One figure, 
seated, is holding a paddle in his right hand, and with his left is 
clasping the right hand of the opposite figure, who is standing. 
This position of the hands is very interesting, as it exactly re- 
sembles the manner in which the Hittites commence their 
inscriptions, viz., with two men facing and holding their hands 
in this conventional manner, as is to be seen on stone tablets in 
the British Museum. This object shows the Egyptian influence 
while other specimens display by their ornamentation evidence 
of a Portuguese contact, dating from as far back as the 16th 
century, when the Portuguese colonized the West Coast of Africa. 
The case is carved from one piece of wood, locally called “oroko,” 
and is 1 6 ins. in height to the top of the figures, while the frame 
or case is 9 x 7J ins. The back is plain : probably the carving 
was not completed. 
The next illustration (see page iii) is a similar carved wooden 
case ; fortunately having its sliding cover, on which are carved 
two sacred Ju Ju birds (a kind of crow). This case, like the 
other, was used for the transmission of documents, or of im- 
portant messages, just as the Japanese despatch box was 
employed. On the top of the case is a human figure seated on a 
horse and holding a large sword in his right hand, while the left 
hand is raised (a part is missing). This hand no doubt held the 
chain bridle, which is to be seen on the head of the animal. The 
character of the carving, the profile face with the front view eye, 
like the ancient Egyptian representations, is also like the former 
specimem, but the scroll-like border is of Portuguese character. 
