10 Nigeria. Benin. Leopard. Bronze Plaque. Length 17 ¾ in.

SPECULATIVELY one may trace a clear line from the old collecting civili-
zation to that of planting, to hoe cultivation, and an equally clear line from the old
hunting civilization to the pastoral cultures; the development in both cases, that is to
say, is in the direction of an economy based on cultivation. But the development has
scarcely ever taken place with such theoretical purity. The collector is nearer to the
hunter than to the farmer; it is indeed usually the woman who collects while the man
is out hunting, and this is to a certain extent carried over into the lower form of hoe
cultivation in that it is usually the woman who tills the field while the man still goes
out hunting. The fate of the collector is therefore closely tied up with that of the hunter,
so that they scarcely ever develop along their separate ways into farmers or herdsmen
as the case may be. More important are the geographical and climatic conditions of a
district, as these may be favourable or unfavourable to one or the other development.

The autochthonic development of Negro Africa was rudely interrupted by the arrival
of stock-rearing. Africa has not of itself produced any stock-rearing but, coming from
without, it took over and radically changed great areas, and gave the impetus to
gradual or abrupt transformations even within the more developed farming cultures.
We can determine only in a very general way the point of origin of these movements,

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