g over a list of similar objects, we finally come to the
world-famed terra cotta heads. Like the other terra cotta objects,
these are fully illustrated in the above-named work. They are of
"infinite variety" and "every observer may well see that they are
patently portraits." They represent many varieties of Central
Africans, from the restricted minority group of prognathous
flat-nosed, thick-lipped type of the coast to the more delicate and
sharper featured types to which the majority of Africans belong. In
other words, these terra cottas represent almost every African type
suggesting, therefore, a civil life very cosmopolitan in character and
the probable existence of a _jus commercii_ as well as a _jus
connubii_, which in turn argues well for the existence of a demogenic
form of association of a very great age. Frobenius testifies that
these heads are of "great beauty and amazing to those who inspect
them." Commenting upon these terra cottas in general, he says: "I do
not think that there can be the least doubt but that we are faced with
a local form of art whose perfection is absolutely astounding," and
commenting upon one particular head which he calls _mia_ after the
native term for it, he concludes that it "must be regarded as the most
important object hitherto found on African ground and as the finest
work of art so far discovered outside the narrow Nile valley, on the
further side of the old Roman jurisdiction."[39]

We may now turn for a brief study of what is beyond all doubt the most
important division of the whole group of African arts and crafts--the
metal castings. As was mentioned in the Introduction, the conquest of
the city of Benin by the British in 1897 opened up to the knowledge of
the white world a hitherto unknown field of Negro art, "the
productions of which," according to Ling Roth, "will hold their own
among some of the finest specimens of antiquity or modern times."[40]
The excavations of Frobenius's expedition discovered in the heart of
this part of Negro-land, aside from the terra cottas already
described, metal works which are characterized as being "indeed like
the finest Roman examples."[41]

The amount and variety of these works are tremendous and they have
been carefully studied and reported upon by various writers. The
following extracts, taken from the most noted among them, will give
some idea of the nature and character of these objects. The chief
feature of the personal ornaments,