ARTS AND HANDICRAFTS

The only satisfactory study of this subject must be practically made in a well-equipped museum, where objects can be handled and compared. Nevertheless, an outline of the chief industries, with notes on their techniques and distribution, can be given. Negro artisans are concerned mainly with working in iron, wood-carving, making pottery, and weaving baskets and mats. Dyes are manufactured from vegetable substances and used for coloring basketry and cotton cloth. Despite the importation of foreign cloth many Negroes, both men and women, are expert weavers on primitive looms. Working in leather and hides is a common industry which is highly developed in some parts of west Africa, and here brass casting is carried on in several centers. Carving in ivory, which was formerly a major industry in several localities, is now rapidly falling into desuetude. Bark cloth is still made, but the general tendency is to replace this clothing with imported cotton goods. Elaborate beadwork, some of which is made with cowrie shells, or with colored imported beads, is a Negro industry, the best examples of which are made by tribes of the Cameroons in west Africa and by Zulu tribes of the southeast of the continent.

In this section, the details of technical processes are subordinate to social, religious, and economic problems associated with handicrafts, since technology has been described in many scientific articles quoted in the bibliography. Division of labor according to age, sex, and special aptitude is important, as is the hereditary right to an occupation, and the formation of guilds of artisans. The best art of Africa has been produced under strong religious influence, as at Benin, and even the simplest industrial operations are by some tribes thought to be dependent on magical rites, together with the observance of prohibitions and the consultation of omens. G. A. Stevens (1935, p. 113) states, "Primitive art is the most pure, most sincere form of art there can be, partly because it is deeply inspired by religious ideals and spiritual experiences, and partly because it is entirely unself-conscious. There are no tricks which can be acquired by the unworthy."

Wood-carving.—The skill of Negroes in wood-carving has attracted more attention than any other form of Negro art. Many of the timbers used are extremely hard species, such as mahogany and ebony; the skill of the workers is attested by the beautiful results achieved with only an adze, an ax, and a knife as tools. The adze and the ax are generally one tool whose form is changed by reversing the direction of the cutting edge. A Negro wood-carver does not attempt joinery, but hacks each form from a solid block of wood, securing a rough outline with his adze and ax, then carving the details with his knife. Joinery may be seen here and there; for example, the Ovimbundu

FIG. 96. Carved wooden drum, Bamendjo tribe, Cameroons. Scale about 1:8.

make stools with neatly jointed legs, but this is due to European influence, and older stools were well carved from one matrix.

The most massive wood-carvings of Africa are made in the central area of the Cameroons, where elaborately carved window frames, door posts, beds, stools, drums (Fig. 96), and large effigies of human beings are produced. Small carving is exquisitely done by the Bush-ongo of the southwest Congo, whose memorial figurines and drinking cups are works of art. The Ovimbundu are skilled in carving animals, ornamental staffs and batons for chiefs (Figs. 99, 100); so also are the Zulu and some tribes of the Cameroons. Carving of small human figures that are used in magical rites and ancestor worship is typical of the west coast regions from Sierra Leone to Nigeria, thence through the Cameroons into the Congo region and Angola.

General resemblances in the styles of Negro art are noticeable, but with practice local styles are soon recognized. Masks from the Ivory Coast, Dahomey, the Yoruba of Nigeria, and the tribes of the central Cameroons have each their distinguishing characteristics. The use of masks is connected with initiation ceremonies and rites, in which performers who wear the masks are impersonating spirits of the dead. That the art of the wood carver is closely connected with religious symbolism may be seen by inspection of wooden figurines in the temple of the god of Thunder at Ibadan. Carved drums and stools are in some localities shrines for the reception of ancestral spirits during rites of ancestor worship. Wood-carving of Negroes should not be considered merely as a form of esthetic expression; on the contrary, the whole background of the social and religious life should be taken into account for the interpretation of styles and symbolic patterns.

Some domestic utensils show excellent workmanship, and among these are well-carved wooden spoons and food bowls. Wooden pillows are often beautifully carved, and, before the introduction of metal combs from Europe, wooden hair combs were delicately wrought. The Vachokwe of eastern Angola still produce wooden combs of great artistic merit. The Barotse and the Ovimbundu specialize in carving figures of animals in natural poses, but these have no magical significance.

Negro carvers have a trained eye for geometrical designs (Fig. 97, a), which include triangles and lozenges that are well arranged in adaptation to the form of the surface which has to be covered. The most intricate design is one formed like a figure eight with inter-sections, yet devoid of confusion and overlapping. This design may

FIG. 97. Wood-carving, Nigeria.

FIG. 98. Carved wooden boxes for kola nuts, Benin Scale about 1:2.

FIG. 99. Carved wooden staffs and clubs, Ovimbundu and Vachokwe, Angola. Scale about 1:10.

be seen on cups carved by the Bakuba, on the lids of boxes from Benin (Fig. 98), on the brasswork of Nigeria (Fig. 105) and on the appliqué leather work of Kano.

Decoration of gourds (Fig. 101), which are the hard outer cases of fruits like pumpkins, is a widely spread occupation of Negroes; the artisans are male or female according to locality. The tools generally used are a thin saw for dividing gourds and a long scraper for cleaning out the contents. A long-necked gourd, when divided symmetrically along its length, makes two ladles. Sometimes a hole is cut in the rounded portion of a gourd and the neck is used as a handle. Round gourds if cut in two make open dishes or basins. If a gourd splits, the crack is neatly repaired with rattan laced through holes.

The surface of the gourd may be left in a natural state, and the patterns cut with a pointed knife; or they may be burned with a hot wire. Techniques are of great variety. In southeast Africa, the decorative incisions are often filled with soft white clay in which colored beads are embedded; these are kept in position when the clay hardens. In Nigeria alone, at least six distinctive local styles may be observed. The Yoruba of Ogbomosho scrape the gourds and cut deeply incised, geometrical patterns on the surface, which is quite white. The Nupe of Bida stain the surfaces deeply with indigo, so that the incised patterns stand out boldly in white on a blue background. In Kano and Maiduguri a red stain is used; then the patterns are produced by scraping away portions of the red stain so as to show the original yellow or white color.

Wood-carving is entirely in the hands of males among Negro tribes, and specialization follows personal choice and natural aptitude. In Ashanti and at Bida in Nigeria, the making of stools is a highly specialized craft. Among the Ovimbundu, some wood-carvers make animals, others are expert as carvers of stools, and certain specialists make drums.

In building houses, specialization according to sex is followed; for example, among the Ovimbundu men cut the timbers, dig trenches for the insertion of upright poles, and assisted by boys cut coarse grass for the thatch. Women are responsible for making clay to plaster the walls, which men construct by fixing crosspieces of timber to the uprights by lashings of bark rope. All the water for puddling the clay is carried by women, but children of both sexes have the task of tramping the clay to make it plastic. Women carry clay to the male plasterers. The workers were amused with my suggestion that a change of tasks could take place; they said that if a man

FIG. 100. Wood-carving, Ovimbundu tribe, Angola.

carried water the people would laugh and call him a "he woman." Division of labor in tribal life does not imply inferiority of women, and amusement arises, not from contempt of a male who assists in a woman’s work, but from a sense of incongruity. Men readily help women to drag their fishing baskets if the current is swift, but a youth (homosexual) who dresses as a girl and pounds corn with women is beaten and ridiculed.

That division of labor is not a disparagement of woman by giving her menial tasks, is indicated by the local differences in allocation of tasks to males and females respectively. Usually Negro women make pottery, and among the Ovimbundu the occupation is confined entirely to women; but among the Baganda, men make pottery, and a map prepared by H. Schurtz (1900, Plate I) shows that this occupation is followed by males in several parts of Uganda, and in Bornu to the west of Lake Chad. The distribution map indicates an area near Gambia and Senegal where both sexes are potters.

In some Negro tribes both men and women are weavers of cotton, and the task of spinning is given to males or females according to locality. Women of the Ovimbundu tribe make all the baskets, but only men make mats, and a general study of sex dichotomy in labor leaves the impression of arbitrary selection. Yet the division of labor may not be fortuitous, for H. von Baumann’s research tended to show that division of labor in agriculture depended on the dominance of matriarchal or patriarchal conditions, and the inference is that sex division of labor may have a historical connection and logical linkage with types of social organization.

In connection with wood-carving, some of the principles of Negro art will be mentioned; these principles apply also to work in ivory and casting in bronze. But, despite the similarity of the esthetic principles involved, the different limitations due to the nature of the materials in which the artisan is working should be recognized. Knots and flaws in wood, bubbles in molten bronze, and cracks in ivory test the patience and skill of the worker. The same may be said of manufacturing large pots, since breakages result from the difficulty of applying heat uniformly to the entire surface at the same time. To prevent such an occurrence, the pots may be hardened inside by lighting small fires in them before the batch is fired in the kiln. Negroes have in many ways shown consummate skill in overcoming difficulties imposed by the nature of the material.

Only in recent years have Negro sculpture in wood, brasswork, and carving in ivory been appreciated in Europe and America, and

FIG. 101. Ornamented gourds, Nigeria. Scale about 1:7.

even now the recognition of merit is dependent on a consideration of the esthetic principles involved, while the impetus of social and religious forces is neglected. Art should never be considered in the abstract, but in relation to the cultural background which is fundamental to the art itself.

Negro art is an expression of soul and power. In this art there is a projection of a mental background which has brought the carving of masks and figurines to its present perfection. On first acquaintance with African art, the lack of natural proportions in the human figures is a hindrance to the perception of esthetic values; the mass is seldom divided so as to give natural proportions to head, body, and lower limbs.

But presently a student realizes that the peculiar merit of Negro carving arises from a conventionalized and deliberately planned treatment of line, plane, and mass according to the laws of balance and rhythm accepted by Negro craftsmen. But, in achieving an individual standard and a characteristic style, proportion and naturalism have been sacrificed. The art of Negroes has an urge and a number of fundamental concepts that an observer must learn to appreciate.

These comments can be illustrated by consideration of three concrete examples of Negro wood-carving (Fig. 102). Object b is the head of an ornamental club, which consists of a narrow oval mass of wood horizontally placed. This oval is too constricted to give a natural shape to the head, and an observer’s first judgment is that the long axis of the oval should be in the same plane as the handle and not at right angles to it. But such a position would not have satisfied the artist’s concept for carving the eyes and mouth; he felt that all the ovals must lie in the same direction.

Within the oval mass representing the head, a broad swelling plane at each side represents the cheeks, which are marked by pleasing curves giving a sense of balance. In order to conform in contour with the head, the eye-sockets are deep ovals whose major axis is parallel with the axis of the oval head. Within the eye-sockets, narrow oval eyes are carved. These are separated by a narrow nose, not a life-like nose, but one designed to avoid interference with the eye-sockets and the curves of the cheeks. The neck is too long to be natural, but this departure from proportion was necessary in order to raise the head above the shaft of the club, for a sculptured head too close to the shaft would have been ineffective and paltry.

FIG. 102. Wood-carving, Angola. a. Medicine-man’s figurine, Ovimbundu, Cuma. b. Head of club, Vachokwe, Cangamba. c. Hair comb, Vachokwe, Mona Quimbundo. Scale about 1:2 (from sketch by Miss Lucile Ward).

The head is covered with carving representing the usual coiffure of the Vachokwe tribe. In imitating closely braided hair, the sculptor has adopted the pleasing effect of a large number of curves repeated at intervals, with symmetry. When carving this club, the artist conventionally divided the mass. He effectively employed planes for the cheeks, and lines served his purpose for details of hairdressing. Thus he intelligently used the three dimensions of mass, plane, and line to produce a preconceived effect, but the result is not one that conforms to the natural shapes and proportions of human features.

In the small figurine of a female (Fig. 102, a), the matrix has been divided into three almost equal parts. This was done to give prominence to the main feature, which is an abdominal cavity for holding magical substances, when the figurine is used in connection with an ancestral rite. Had the legs been of the right proportion, the abdomen would have been too high; the artist desired this part to be central. The knees were flexed to shorten the legs, and the importance of the cavity was emphasized by sculpturing one hand of the figurine on each side of the abdominal hole. The use of mass, plane, and line is such that the figure can be turned into various positions with pleasing results in the combination of curves and planes that give symmetry and balance.

A squatting human figure (Fig. 102, c) on the top of a hair comb has the trunk erect and the knees sharply bent. The elbows are flexed and the forearms are vertical, with the elbows resting on the knees and the fists under the chin. The head is disproportionately large. By flexing both the upper and the lower limbs to bring the shins and forearms into a straight line, then by enlargement of the head, the matrix is divided into three equal parts, namely, the head, the torso, and the lower limbs. The rigid limbs form a perfect rectangle, and, to conform with the outline of this, the sides of the head are straight lines.

Use of Bark.—Bark of trees is used for various purposes. The Ovimbundu strip cylinders of bark from trees, divide these pieces longitudinally, and so make trays for carrying objects. A small pig is transported in a tray of this kind by placing the animal’s feet through holes in the tray and tying them underneath. Large receptacles for grain are made by rolling strips of bark and sewing the edges together; such vessels are used by the Vachokwe of eastern Angola. Artistic work in bark is a specialized craft among the Wasu-kuma and Washashi of Tanganyika Territory. Illustrations prepared by P. Kollmann (1899) indicate that a high degree of artistry is attained.

Bark cloth is still made by some Negro tribes, though the manufacture is falling into desuetude owing to importation of foreign cloth. In eastern and central Angola, the Vachokwe and the Vangangella follow a typical technique. The workers strip the outer bark from a tree which is specially chosen for this purpose, and after removal the bark is soaked for several days. At the end of this time the inner layer of bark is easily detached, and after this process has been completed the sheet is laid over a log and beaten with wooden mallets. In some areas from which bark cloth has disappeared from common use as clothing, it is still employed ceremonially for such purposes as wrapping a corpse or making masks and costumes for initiation ceremonies. Painting of bark cloth is not usual in Africa, but the art is known among the Ashanti of west Africa and the Baganda of the northeast (M. Anna, 1936, No. 1, pp. 12–14).

FIG. 103. Grove, Ifé, sacred to Ogun, patron of blacksmiths. Contains first hammer and anvil of Ogun. Remains of a sacrificed dog are on the anvil.

Ironwork.—The blacksmith’s craft is the most widely distributed of the metal-working industries, and forging is important among all Negro and Hamiticized Negro tribes. The ritualistic aspect of the craft is sufficiently important to require separate description, together with data of like kind relating to other industries. Ironwork work is discussed by W. Belck (1907, pp. 335–381), W. Gowland (1912, pp. 235–287), and F. von Luschan (1909, pp. 23–59). Parting-ton and Portier (1935) have fully considered the occurrence and utilization in Africa of gold and silver (pp. 23–39), copper, bronze, and tin (pp. 65–79), and iron (pp. 97–100). For a valuable summary on metallurgy see Cline (1937, large bibliography).

FIG. 104. Bronze-casting from Benin. Scale about 1:4.

Rival hypotheses place the origin of the craft in Asia, in Egypt, or among the Negroes themselves. Data given by W. Gowland emphasize the importance of iron-smelting in Asia and southern Europe, and in Egypt also, during periods predating European contacts with Negro Africa. When the European penetration of Negro Africa began in the early sixteenth century, Negroes were expert blacksmiths, and so far as chronological considerations are concerned they might well have obtained their technique from Asiatic or Egyptian sources. But iron ore is abundant in Africa near the surface, and Negroes have a natural aptitude for handicrafts; therefore, there is no convincing objection to the theory that Negroes are responsible for the invention of their craft, though certain new ideas relating to types of bellows and smelting furnaces may have been derived from Asia Minor or India. To assume that Hamitic incursions are responsible for introducing the blacksmith’s craft into Africa seems unwarranted, since the pastoral Hamites as they are known today relegate handicrafts and agriculture to sections of their communities whose social status is considered to be inferior to that of herdsmen.

The practice of winning iron ore and smelting it in high furnaces in which alternate layers of ore and charcoal are placed is becoming rare among Negroes, who now collect European scrap iron and forge it in charcoal fires. Blacksmiths make their own tools, including hammers, tongs, files, cutters, borers, punches, and pincers. Anvils may be large flat stones or flat-topped, iron spikes driven in the ground. The most common form of bellows consists of two or four chambers hollowed from a large block of wood; the fore part of the block tapers to a nozzle which projects into a clay pipe that leads into the fire. Over the chambers coverings of hide are lashed, and to these, long straight sticks are attached. Air is pumped by working the sticks vigorously up and down.

Principal products of the forge are hoe blades, spearheads, arrowheads, ax blades, and in regions where horses are used bits, stirrups, and hobbles are manufactured. Blades of knives and swords are products of the forge, and European influence is sometimes seen in the manufacture of scissors, tweezers, and razors of jack-knife pattern. Some blacksmiths make iron wire by drawing strands of hot iron through holes in an iron plate, but this branch of the craft is not of general distribution. From an economic and industrial point of view, the blacksmith’s craft is of fundamental importance in Negro tribes. For distribution of types of bellows, see L. Frobenius’ "Atlas Africanus."

Metal-casting.—Working with imported brass has two main divisions of technique, casting in molds and beating the metal into sheets. The casting process, which is known as cire-perdue or "lost-wax," was carried out with bronze at Benin when the Portuguese first arrived there at the end of the fifteenth century (Fig. 104). Both copper and tin are obtainable in Nigeria, and the alloy consisted of nine parts of copper to one part of tin. At the time of first European contact, the art had reached its zenith, but a decline of technique has gradually taken place.

At the present time, the Obba of Benin maintains in his courtyard a small industrial school. Here he endeavors to revive the ancient skill and pride which were formerly associated with carving in wood and ivory, and casting in bronze. Brass is now used for metal work, but the process is the ancient one of making the object first in wax. The wax model is embedded in a mass of clay, which is heated so that the wax runs out from a hole provided for that purpose. Molten brass is poured into the mold to take the place of the melted wax, and when the brass has solidified the mold is broken away. The object is then smoothed with a file (H. Balfour, 1910, pp. 525–528; L. W. G. Malcolm, 1923, No. 1).

In this manner bronze heads, staffs, bells, and masks were formerly manufactured for use in religious ceremonies that were performed about an altar in the Obba’s compound. At the present day, only a few bronze heads remain on this altar. The famous carved ivory tusks were absent in 1930, but some have recently been replaced In the year 1897, a British punitive expedition sacked Benin as a reprisal for the murder of British subjects. The treasures of bronze, wood, and ivory which now appear in museums and private collections were looted at that time (H. L. Roth, 1903; Marquart, 1913; Von Luschan 1916, 1919). Unfortunately, very little information was obtained respecting the uses and symbolism of the objects.

The geographical distribution of centers of casting, together with similarity of technique in different localities, suggests a process of diffusion rather than several independent inventions. The origin of the craft is unknown, but casting in bronze was practiced in Egypt more than three thousand years ago, and the technique of west African Negroes may well be a derivative from that of ancient Egypt (Petrie 1910, p. 101). Brass is still cast in Ashanti, Dahomey,

FIG. 105. Beaten brasswork, Nupe tribe, Bida. Scale about 1:5.

the Cameroons, and Nigeria. In former years, casters of bronze formed a special trade clique which worked only in the ruler’s compound, where materials, personnel, and technique were under royal control. At the present day, casting in brass tends to be the preserve of particular clans. In Nigeria, the Bachama and the Bata, like the Bura of Bornu, make brass tobacco pipes and ornaments by the cire-perdue process, the industry being in the hands of the Killa clan (Meek, 1931b, vol. 1, p. 23).

Two notable centers for beaten brasswork are Bida (Fig. 105), and Old Calabar in Nigeria. Workers at Bida beat out the cold metal rods into thin sheets, which are gradually pounded to the forms of bowls and trays. Some of the bowls are symmetrical octagons or hexagons, and trays two feet in diameter are made in this way. Complex geometrical patterns are punched on the surfaces. Certain objects show European influence, but scabbards for knives, bowls for holding kola nuts, and vessels for containing water for ablutions before prayer are of Negro provenance and technique.

Silver.—Working in silver is geographically restricted. The distribution and technique of the craft suggest that this trade migrated across the Sahara from north Africa, where in Algeria and Morocco the art has been developed for a long period. At Agades in the south-central Sahara, silver work is a specialized occupation, though the craft is sometimes combined with that of the blacksmith. Beaten silver work is made at Kano in northern Nigeria and among the Nupe of Bida in the southwest (J. W. Scott-Macfie, 1912, pp. 281–286). Craftsmen of Bida make silver sword scabbards and hilts for daggers. The finer work includes satchels for charms, and the chains for suspension are of excellent technique. Silver rings are cast by the cire-perdue process. At Kano, the beating of little silver bowls, finely chased, is a special aspect of the silversmith’s art.

Pottery.—Making pottery is a staple occupation in Negro Africa, and great symmetry is obtained without the use of a potter’s wheel. Frequently two women work together, one preparing sausage-like rolls of clay, while the other uses these to build up the pot in a basket. The clay is made more binding by adding to it pulverized fragments of an old pot. A pot is usually molded to shape by the hands of the potter, whose only tool is a piece of gourd with which she smoothes the wet pot inside and out. Some artisans polish the outer surface with a smooth pebble (Fig. 106, a). When making a large pot, the lower part of the vessel is allowed to dry before the middle and top sections are added; otherwise, the weight of the upper part would

FIG. 106. Making pottery, Ogbomosho, Nigeria. a. Polishing a pot with a pebble. b. Firing insides of pots.

cause the damp base to sag. Some workers use a slat of wood and a stone pounder with a hand-grip for shaping a pot. This method is followed in Kano, Nigeria (Fig. 107, b).

While the clay is damp, ornament may be added by pressing a rope round the pot, by rolling a grooved stick, by notching with a sharp sliver, or by running an ornamented metal bracelet round the moist clay. After the pots have been dried in the sun, they are baked in a kiln made from a heap of dry grass. In some regions, a vegetable or mineral varnish is applied while the pots are hot, so that a bright-colored surface is obtained. Jet-black pottery is sometimes produced by holding the vessels in smoke which permeates the pores. The insides of pots are fired to prevent cracking while in the kiln (Fig. 106, b).

Glass.—Glass is made at Bida in Nigeria and at another center in Ashanti not far away. The origin of the industry is unknown, but the few men who are employed at Bida belong to a family which has a monopoly of the glass industry by hereditary right. The artisans used to make their glass from silica, but now they melt European bottles, which are made into bangles and beads. A worker takes from the clay furnace a glowing mass of glass, which he manipulates at the ends of two long iron rods until the viscous glass is drawn out to the necessary thickness. White streaks are introduced into green or blue glass by laying on the molten mass thin wisps of white glass made by melting European beads. The product is a colored bangle flaked with white. (R. P. Wild, 1937.)

Stone.—Working in stone is not a common Negro industry, but at Ilorin some Yoruba workmen make excellent beads from cylinders of hard, polished stone about two inches long. The beads are drilled with an iron punch that is tapped with a small hammer while the worker holds the beads between his toes. The beads are rubbed smooth on a stone (Hambly 1935a, pp. 432,437; F. Daniel, 1937, No. 2).

Ivory.—Working in ivory is becoming increasingly rare for reasons previously noted. In past centuries, the Bini of Benin produced the finest ivory-carving in Negro Africa, chiefly in the form of large ornamented tusks which were placed at each side of the Benin altar. In 1930 only two small tusks were in the artisan’s shop at Benin. Under the direction of the Obba, an effort was being made to carve these in the traditional manner. A knife with a sharp point was the instrument used.

The Monbuttu of the northeast Congo region still produce carving in ivory. The statuettes with Negro motifs are of great merit, but much of the work, including napkin rings, spoons, crocodiles, and elephants, is due to European demand. In all parts of Negro Africa, ivory bracelets and large anklets were used, but these are now rare owing to scarcity of ivory and introduction of European ornaments. Near the coasts of Nigeria, the Cameroons, and French Equatorial Africa, pen holders, cigarette holders, flower vases, and animals forms are carved in ivory for sale to foreigners calling at the ports. The fashioning of ivory, past and present, has been described by H. Lang (1918, pp. 527–552), and E. D. Moore (1931, pp. 649–655, 718–723) has shown the importance of the ivory and slave trade in the social and economic life of Negroes.

Hides and Leather.—Treatment of hides is an industry that needs a preliminary classification into two kinds of technique. On the one hand, there is the elaborate workmanship of centers such as Agades, Kano, Timbuktu, and areas inhabited by the Mandingo; here the products are carefully tanned, dyed with colors of indigenous make, and fashioned into a variety of articles, including bags and cushions of an ornamental kind. This industry of west Africa is probably a derivative from Morocco, and more remotely from Egypt. Saddles and other trappings for camels and horses are of advanced technique, and each center of manufacture has a distinctive style of cutting, and ornamenting by pasting, sewing, or plaiting. The use of dyes is distinctive of certain localities. This type of leather work has been described by A. van Gennep (1913), and Dupuis-Yakouba (1921).

On the other hand, and as a noticeable contrast to this elaborate work, there are widely distributed processes of treating hides, which are neither tanned nor dyed. Men of the Vakwanyama tribe of south Angola make belts and skirts for women. The hides are soaked and trodden under foot (Fig. 94, a) until they are pliable; then they are pleated, cut as skirts, and dressed with grease and red powder made by desiccating takula wood (Fig. 66, a). The hair is not removed from the hide. Unprepared hides, from which the fat has been scraped without any other operation, are used by many tribes and for a variety of purposes. Women of the Angas tribe, Nigeria, carry infants in hide bags on their backs. The Ovimbundu of Angola cover the tops of their wooden stools with hide. Zulu and Hottentot tribes make skin cloaks (karosses) from pelts of the lynx and the rock rabbit (hyrax). Many Negro tribes make leather shields, quivers, pouches, and membranes for drums, by a simple technique such as that described by Vaughan-Kirby (1918, No. 23).

Weaving.—The history of the cotton shrub in Africa is uncertain, but for centuries certain Negroes have cultivated the plant, and before the arrival of Europeans weaving on primitive looms had attained a high degree of proficiency. The types of African looms have been described in detail by H. Ling Roth (1917, pp. 113–150), who distinguishes seven main varieties. He provides a map showing the geographical distribution of each type and discusses the possibilities of their introduction from foreign sources, together with the likelihood of independent invention in Africa. The article is technical, with detailed descriptions of the parts of each type of loom, and an account of the methods of inweaving colored patterns. Ling Roth suggests the probability that the loom for weaving raffia mats (Fig. 108, b) is indigenous to the heart of Africa, and the vertical cotton loom may have been adopted from an ancient Egyptian prototype which spread over north Africa, then southward into west Africa.

In addition to the weaving of cotton, the spinning of cotton thread is an important industry even after looms have been abandoned, because the yarn is required for repair of imported cotton cloth. The employment of males or females according to local custom has previously been mentioned. In Nigeria, men use a horizontal loom for weaving cotton (Fig. 108, a) but women use an upright loom.

The dyeing of cotton yarn, especially by use of indigo which is contained in deep pits or in earthenware vats, is a typical industry from Sierra Leone to the Cameroons. Imported dyes for cotton yarn and basketry are recognizable by the crudity of their colors, which are a noticeable contrast to the soft shades of native products. Tie-dyeing of cloth occurs in west Africa, but the procedure is not general among Negroes. S. de la Rue (1930, p. 192) gives an account of the processes he saw in Liberia. Several dozen stones were tied in a piece of imported white shirting. Each stone was tied separately. White marks were left in the places which the dye could not touch because of the tight strings. Some of the finest weaving of wool is done in north Africa (Fig. 109), and compared with this, Negro work in cotton and raffia is extremely coarse.

Weaving in raffia fiber, which is made from the leaves of the raffia palm, is carried out in regions of west and central Africa. The photograph (Fig. 108, b) shows two men of the Cameroons working typical looms of the upright pattern. With this apparatus mats are made, and into these colored strands of raffia are worked to form geometrical patterns. The technique of this industry, which attains a high degree of specialization in the southwest Congo regions, has formed the subject of technical articles by T. A. Joyce (1925, pp. 105–110) and J. Maes (1930b, pp. 393–408).

FIG. 107. a. Winding cotton, Iseyin, Nigeria. b. Making the base of a pot by pounding clay, Kano, Nigeria.

FIG. 108. Weaving by men. a. Weaving cotton, Kano, Nigeria. b. Weaving raffia fiber, Cameroons.

The plaiting of mats and baskets by hand from raffia and grass is a common occupation of Negroes, male or female, according to locality. Specialization is practiced in the manufacture of different types; among the Ovimbundu three kinds of mats are used, and mat makers, who are always males, specialize in one of the three varieties. Binding wisps of grass to make coils, and the fastening of these to form baskets was an Egyptian craft several thousand years ago.

FIG. 109. Woven Kabyle rug (presented to Field Museum by Mr. Homer E. Sargent).

FIG. 110. Beaded gourds for holding palm wine. Scale about 1:5.

FIG. 111. Beaded wooden stool, central Cameroons. Scale about 1:5.

The Ovimbundu, in common with many Negro tribes, excel in making dyes for coloring the vegetable fiber used for weaving patterns into the baskets; the colors are amber, blue, red, and black. All the shades are soft and the colors do not fade when exposed to sunlight. The method of making these dyes consists of boiling the fiber in a solution of the color required; the pigments are extracted from indigenous, uncultivated plants. Black coloring is produced by soaking fiber in a particular kind of black mud. Variety in shade is secured by adding to the boiling pigment a quantity of mud in which an iron stain is found; this changes a bright red to a reddish brown.

Bead Work.—Skilled work with imported beads is characteristic of the central Cameroons, where beaded flasks, stools, and stems for tobacco pipes are made (Figs. 110, 111). For a description of aggrey beads see C. H. Read (1905), Cardinall (1924–25). Zulu tribes make girdles and headbands with inwoven colored beads.

Covering basketry closely with cowrie shells is an indigenous Negro occupation which reaches its highest development at Kano in northern Nigeria, and parts of Cameroons. Artisans cover baskets and platters with neatly sewn cowries placed so closely that the basket cannot be seen. In a few centers glass, stone, or eggshell beads are made by Negroes, but artisans rely chiefly on imported beads.