ferent kinds of wood, except for black,
when a kind of iron ore is used. The _bongos_ are employed
as money in this put of Africa. Although called grass-cloth
by me, the material is not made of grass, but of the
delicate and firm cuticle of palm leaflets, stripped off in
a dexterous manner with the fingers."[86]

Nearly all his mechanical genius seems to be exhausted in the
perfection of his implements of war, and Dr. Livingstone is of the
opinion, that when a certain perfection in the arts is reached, the
natives pause. This, we think, is owing to their far remove from other
nations. Livingstone says,--

"The races of this continent seem to have advanced to a
certain point and no farther; their progress in the arts of
working iron and copper, in pottery, basket-making,
spinning, weaving, making nets, fish-hooks, spears, axes,
knives, needles, and other things, whether originally
invented by this people or communicated by another
instructor, appears to have remained in the same rude state
for a great number of centuries. This apparent stagnation of
mind in certain nations we cannot understand, but, since we
have in the latter ages of the world made what we consider
great progress in the arts, we have unconsciously got into
the way of speaking of some other races in much the same
tone as that used by the Celestials in the Flowery Land.
These same Chinese anticipated us in several most important
discoveries, by as many centuries as we may have preceded
others. In the knowledge of the properties of the magnet,
the composition of gunpowder, the invention of printing, the
manufacture of porcelain, of silk, and in the progress of
literature, they were before us. But then the power of
making further discoveries was arrested, and a stagnation of
the intellect prevented their advancing in the path of
improvement or invention."

Mr. Wood says,--

"The natives of Southern Africa are wonderful proficients in
forging iron; and, indeed, a decided capability for the
blacksmith's art seems to be inherent in the natives of
Africa, from north to south, and from east to west. None of
the tribes can do very much with the iron, but the little
which they require is worked in perfection. As in the case
with all uncivilized beings, the whole treasures of the art
a