nto a curious and informing mass of knowledge, ever increasing
in bulk, in the French, German and English languages, as well as in many
strange and highly inflected African tongues.

A cursory reading of this literature discloses at once that our general
knowledge of Africa has been based in the past mainly on those external
facts that strike the sense of sight, such as the physical appearance of
the population, native dress and handiwork, musical instruments, implements
of warfare, and customs peculiar to the social and religious life of the
people. Only through the folk literature, however, can we get a glimpse of
the working of the mind of the African Negro. Professor Henry Drummond,
although he had traveled in Africa and had written at length about it,
still exhibited a longing for this insight when he observed: "I have often
wished that I could get inside of an African for an afternoon and just see
how he looked at things." At that time much of the folk literature of that
continent was not as now available. A deeper and more extensive reading of
it at present strengthens our belief in the ancient saying "Out of Africa
there is always something new," a rather disquieting thought, if we have
reached the conclusion that native culture on that continent has never
risen above the zero point.

A critical examination of the content of this folk literature will result
in a division somewhat similar to that found in the same type of literature
of other races. Such a division discloses stories, poetry, riddles and
proverbs. The African folk literature is especially rich in proverbs. So
numerous are these proverbs that it has been said that there is scarcely an
object presented to the eye, scarcely an idea excited in the mind, but it
is accompanied by some sententious aphorism, founded on close observation
of man and animals and in many cases of a decidedly moral tendency. Lord
Bacon remarked many years ago that "the genius, wit and spirit of a nation
are discovered in its proverbs." Cervantes in _Don Quixote_ says "Methinks,
Sancho, that there is no proverb that is not true, because they are all
judgments drawn from the same experience which is the mother of all
knowledge." If these sayings be true, then the proverbs of the African
Negro should be examined in order to see if they approach these
observations.

For convenience of the reader an effort has been made to arrange these
sententious sayings under general subjects. T