Further up in the interior of the Ilifian region a number of important glass objects have been found. Frobenius, commenting on the find of this character made as a result of his excavation in the neighborhood of the ancient "Holy City," testifies that "these furnish proof that at some remote era glass was made and moulded in this very land, and that the nation which here of old held rule was brilliant exponents of apt dexterity in the production of terra cotta images."[33] The spot where the objects were excavated is "located about a mile or more to the north of Ilife and undoubtedly marks the impression of an ancient cemetery." It is located today in what is a vast forest, and "is about half a mile broad, did hide and still in fact hides quite unique treasure." Frobenius in describing the excavations here, planned by himself and executed under the direction of Martins, the engineer of the expedition, gives the following account:
"We went down some eighteen feet or so, near the ground water, and can report as follows, viz., the top layer consisted of about two and a half feet of extraordinary hard and compacted soil. Even in this we turned up several glazed potsherds.... At about six and a half feet we found pottery. But the actual adit averaged about eighteen feet below the surface. For we came upon charcoal and ash heaps at this depth. This thoroughly verified the native statements as to the finding of either pearl jars or ashes so far down.[34] The old excavations made by the inhabitants reached from twelve to twenty-four feet or thereabouts."
Frobenius, in describing the objects discovered by this expedition, says: "The substance of the pots is a sort of cement or stoneware. They are from fourteen to twenty four inches high and from three and three quarters to sixteen inches in diameter; they are generally uniform. The aperture is at the under and upper ends of the walls from about three quarters to one and a quarter inches thick. The upper of these portions is covered with an irregular glaze, varying from one thirty sixth to one eighteenth of an inch thick inside. They were similarly glazed outside as the edges proved, but this has perished. A convexly carved plate or cupola in which there are three or four holes for finger holds seem to have been lids. Inside the pots are glass beads, rings, irregular bits of glass tubing, and always at the bottom a mass of fused bits of glass from one eighth to one quarter of an inch in depth. The colors of the beads and the glaze on the jars vary from light green, greenish white, dark red, brown and blue." Frobenius, commenting upon these finds, concludes that "the great mass of potsherds, lumps of glass, heaps of slag, etc., which we found proves at all events that the glass industry flourished in this locality in ages past. It is plain that the glass beads found to have been so common in Africa were not imported, but were actually manufactured in great quantities at home."[35]
In addition to these objects of stoneware and glass, there were a large variety of terra cotta objects which range from the "simplest little pots and saucers to the most artistic shapes and portraits." To appreciate the real significance of these objects in view of the inability to see the originals themselves, one should make a special effort to see the drawings and photographs of these objects as contained in Frobenius's Der Afrika Sprach, or its English translation, The Voice of Africa. Accompanying these illustrations there are a few brief descriptions of the more important objects. There is, for instance, "a specimen which seems to be the mouth or collar of an urn. On its inner edge there is a mouth below, an ear on either side, and a pair of eyes.... It looks as if this might have been a portion of a tube which might have been put over a grave, through which offerings might have been made to the dead beneath."[36] This explanation for the original purpose of this object is very plausible, as a study of the burial customs of various parts of Africa will show.
Frobenius is of the opinion that the dress of these ancient peoples "must have been very rich and handsome." A terra cotta truss brought to light by these excavations is described as showing a "noteworthy completeness. In the holes scattered on the breast plate and shoulder piece there were formerly inserted metal or iron pegs as ornaments. The end of the garment which is thrown over the shoulder is patterned like the old textures,"[37] which Frobenius believed had reached a very high degree of development. "Among our terra cottas," continues Frobenius, "some may have served as pedestals for the heads or busts." He describes a peculiar "fragment belonging possibly to some sort of vessel; on one side is seen an owl, whose hooked beak is badly damaged; on the other a complete figure holding a weapon." Like the beautifully carved stone handle mentioned above, Frobenius testifies that this object also resembles the ancient Sudanese and Ethiopian god Bes,[37a] and hints of an ancient connection between these two countries.
Another object, not dug up in the cemetery, but in the town of Ilife proper, is a "fired," square thin plaque showing a crocodile in the shape of the letter S, so shaped that it seems to finish in a tightly bound head. The details are not easily seen, but the position of the legs seems to indicate that the beast is bound there with cords and is meant to seem fastened to the surface, with a sort of hood over the eyes ending in a string work and tassels as if in a cunningly made basket. Frobenius and his associates were of the opinion that this object is that of a tile which in ages past formed part of the decorative design of one of the ancient buildings.[38]
Passing 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, according to Ling Roth, is their variety. Another feature is their play upon patterns. For example, the same pattern which is seen in one bracelet is so adapted and reduced in another as to produce a very different effect. Spirals as a basis of design are not uncommon. "And they are often so twisted and interwoven that they produce quite a novel effect." Some of the bracelets are furnished with studs set with agate or coral. Some gold-plated ornaments have been found, among them a "bracelet formed by a double-headed snake grasping between its jaws a decapitated human head and a snake about four inches long." Ling Roth, commenting upon the workmanship of these smaller objects, says that generally speaking it is good, but "it is not as a rule equal to that of the large Benin metal workings; this is no doubt due to the greater difficulty presented by the smaller surfaces on which the artisans have had to work."[42]
Speaking of what he calls a curious class of objects, namely, the long armlets and leglets "so fashionable in West Africa," Ling Roth declares them to be "elegantly finished productions and good examples of Benin art.... They are provided with loops for hawk bills, which turn up everywhere in unexpected places through Benin metal work." In describing one such bracelet, which, however, is of modern make, he says that it is "interesting as exhibiting a conventionalized leopard's face on the top, as well as a European's face on the bottom, likewise developing into a form of ornament ... the fertility in design is in all of these forms manifest indeed; it is a feature in the art of Benin natives which any of our jewelers might do well to copy."[43]