red that the
type of material which they were forced to use, and the climatic
conditions surrounding them, were of a most discouraging sort. The
manner in which these very serious difficulties were overcome is
itself a durable testimony of the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the
African builder and craftsman of earlier days. One can hardly avoid
the speculation of what might have been the nature of their
accomplishments, had they been provided with a more suitable and
durable building material.

The more we study the cultural products of these people, the more
pregnant such a speculation becomes; for in those fields of endeavor
where they were less handicapped, or better, perhaps, where they were
in a better position to overcome the destroying influence of the
climate and the lack of suitable structural materials, we find the
African artisan and the craftsman producing a wealth of objects of art
of a very superior type. Some of these objects are notable not only in
that they are of a superior type judged according to the standards of
a so-called primitive art, but they compare, so far as technique and
artistic qualities are concerned, very favorably with much of the best
of ancient civilized art. The last generation has brought to light
evidence which shows that the Negroes of the West Coast of Africa were
producing hundreds and even perhaps thousands of years ago objects of
art which, from the point of view of technique and artistic
perfection, equal some of the best works of the ancient Greeks and
Romans, and compares favorably with the best masterpieces of the
Solons of the Italian Rennaissance.

As was above stated, it has been the study of the technique,
originality and artistic qualities as expressed in these recently
found and comparatively little known African objects that has been the
premier force in producing the change of opinion regarding the
capabilities of African folk and the cultural history of the great
continent. In this connection, however, it is perhaps well again to
remind one of the fact that this change of opinion is not yet public
in its scope, but is rather restricted to academic and especially to
anthropological circles.

For the sake of clearness, the whole collection of African arts and
crafts may be classified under three main heads, namely, carved works,
glass and porcelain objects, including terra cottas, and metal
castings. It will, of course, be impossible to treat exhaustively of