^{page 140 note 1} H. U. Beier, ‘Before Oduduwa’, Odu, no. 3; O. Esan, ‘Before Oduduwa ’, Odu, no. 8.

^{page 140 note 2} For political and judicial functions of the Ogboni among the Egba, see Biobaku, S. O., The Egba and their Neighbours (Oxford, 1957, pp. 5 seq.)Google Scholar and Ogboni, The Egba Senate (Proc. IIIrd International West African Conference, Ibadan 1949, p. 257); P. Morton-Williams, ‘The Yoruba Ogboni Cult in Oyo ’ (Africa, xxx, no. 4).

^{page 140 note 3} Beier, H. U., A Year of Sacred Festivals in one Yoruba Town, 1959.Google Scholar

^{page 141 note 1} ‘Many Africans distinguish between the left and the right sides of the body, the right being symbol and seat of strength and virility, the left of weakness and femininity.’ Edwin Smith, ‘African Symbolism ’, JRAI, lxxxii. 52.

^{page 141 note 2} Ajagbo-Ekun is said, in an Iwo account, to have been a terrible Alafin of Oyo, a warrior, later apotheosized as a vengeful spirit whose image is used in punishment of an Ogboni elder for grave misdemeanour. In the iledi the agba drums are sounded to summon all members. The offender is declared, and executed, and his blood poured over Ajagbo. The Janus-image is said to symbolize his being a twin. He is usually rendered with eyes front and behind, and fearful of countenance (Pl. la).

^{page 141 note 3} An anthropomorphic image claimed by the Oluwo of the Ibadan cult-house to be Onile is also claimed by him to have been cast single for this reason; no pair of it exists. It is significant that the three identical examples of this particular image so far known (one at Ede, one in Ibadan, one in the Nigeria Museum) are all female. Closely associated with their style, however, is the fourth figure (61. 5. 10 Nigeria Museum) which is male. Of this, too, no pair is known.

^{page 141 note 4} At Ijebu-Ode Ile is buried in the thickness of an earth wall in the inner recesses of the iledi; the spot is covered with a cloth.

^{page 143 note 1} An observation first made by Mr. John Picton, Curator, Nigeria Museum.

^{page 143 note 2} Morton-Williams, loc. cit.

^{page 143 note 3} Though genital symbols are associated with metal-working in other parts of Africa: ‘Genital Symbols on Smiths' Bellows in Uganda ’, E. C. Lanning, Man, liv. 262. And accentuation of the sexual theme is cited by Baumann as characteristic of Bantu cultures: Les Peuples et Civilisations de l'Afrique, Payot, Paris, 1962, p. 60.

^{page 143 note 4} An Ogbomosho account, given by an Ogboni brass-caster.

^{page 143 note 5} The brass-caster at Ilobu, Oshun Division, is today a young man, and his apprentice a mere boy. He is, however, a Muslim, and can be supposed to have relinquished many of the old beliefs.

^{page 144 note 1} In recent times, however, edan have appeared in the free-lance trade, e.g. in markets at Ibadan. Brasssmiths at Ijebu-Ode and Ilobu also work privately to commission.

^{page 145 note 1} ‘Earth existed before the Orisha, and the Ogboni cult before kingship.’ Morton-Williams, loc. cit.

^{page 145 note 2} The secret recesses of the iledi ate always dark; edan are always kept in the darkness. At many shrines the Apena would not allow them to be placed in the sun for photographing.

^{page 145 note 3} Edan are always cast by the cire perdue process, No attempt is ever made to remove the clay core after casting. The completed piece is perhaps desired to carry within it the attributes of Earth.

^{page 145 note 4} An Iwo account. Given by Chief Osa, a senior Ogboni elder.

^{page 146 note 1} The Orisha invoked during the ceremony are held to be present for a period of four weeks of four days each. They depart on the morning of the seventeenth day.

^{page 146 note 2} ‘In Oyo the edan were laid flat on the ground. In an Egbado town that claims its founders came from Ife and not, as the other Egbado towns do, from Oyo, I was told that they made their edan stand upright by sticking the prongs into the ground, and that this was characteristic of Ife Ogboni and of all people that traced their foundation to Ife people. But in Ife the Ogboni priests denied this, and said that edan must always lie on the ground.’ Morton-Williams, loc. cit.

^{page 146 note 3} In the case of an Ogboni member existing among the relatives of the deceased permission may be granted by the Oluwo for its retention, provided he belongs to the same cult-house, and does not use the edan for further ritual purposes.

^{page 147 note 1} In Ifa divination the Ogboni is represented by Abeothe configuration of the ọpẹlẹ known as irẹtẹ ọnwonrin (Fig. ib).

^{page 147 note 2} An Ogboni incantation runs: The edan does not die, rocks never crumble.

The ogri sakan does not die from year to year.

I become the hill, I become the rock beneath the sea, I die no more.

May it please God that I become like the rock beneath the sea.

^{page 147 note 3} ‘Three pairs of large edan, reputedly from Abeothe kuta, shown in the Arts Council Exhibition of the Epstein Coll. (London, 1960) are unusual. Each of the linked members is a double image, of both a man and a woman. For the moment I can only guess that these are a fairly recent development matching in their exuberance the exceptional power enjoyed by the Ogboni in Abeokuta.’ Morton-Williams, loc. cit.

^{page 148 note 1} For description see Appendix I.

^{page 150 note 1} Since this paper was written X-rays made by Dr. Peter Cockshott, Department of Radiology, University Hospital Ibadan, have supported the conclusion (Pl. Ild).

^{page 152 note 1} O. Esan, loc. cit., and H. U. Beier, loc. cit.

^{page 152 note 2} Idowu, E. B., Olodumare: God in Yoruba Belief. Longmans, 1962, p. 23.Google Scholar

^{page 152 note 3} A traditional Yoruba iron-smelt was carried out and observed by the University of Ife Institute of African Studies in 1963. Temperatures up to 1,500° C were recorded in the furnace. In this furnace, in traditional times, steel was accidentally produced at these temperatures. An example of this steel is in the University Collection.

^{page 154 note 1} See p. 146, note 2.

^{page 154 note 2} See p. 147, note 3. It has also been pointed out that the increase in the slave trade may have led to greater decorative virtuosity, less concern being felt that material should be wasted through failure of over-ambitious casts. Possibly. But an unsuccessful casting could always be melted down. In this connexion it is doubtful whether a more plentiful supply of brass/bronze is alone sufficient to account for the progressive thickening of castings from Ife to late Benin.

^{page 157 note 1} Dark's system is fundamentally a correlation of form-sequences with time-sequences, supported where possible by oral tradition; the formal-temporal consynthesis is also applied by Fagg with socio-political correlations where possible.

^{page 157 note 2} As we have seen for the Ife culture. Iron was also smelted at Nok. ‘Vers 500 ap. J.-C. j'estime que tous les peuples ouest-africains devaient consynthesis naître le fer ’, R. Mauny, Tableau géographique de l'ouest africainau Moyen Age. Ifan-Dakar, 1961, p. 316.

^{page 159 note 1} Statement by a traditional blacksmith at Isundunrin, near Ejigbo, W. Nigeria.

^{page 160 note 1} Since the above was written archaeological evidence for the early use of a rectangular sectioned iron wire in Ghana has been published. P. L. Shinnie and P. C. Ozanne, Excavation at Yendi Dabari, Trans. Hist. Soc. Ghana, section v, fig. 14b:

2. Excavated from square B3, layer 3. A very corroded ring, made of square-sectioned wire.

4. Collected from the surface. A well-preserved bangle made from square-sectioned wire.

The date of the abandoning of the site is placed by the authors ‘in the late seventeenth century; probably between 1660 and 1675 ’. Mr. Ozanne has since suggested to me that Yendi Dabari was ‘almost certainly abandoned in 1713–14 ’.

^{page 160 note 2} Three north/south trade routes have been established which served an indigenous trade in the Niger basin before the coming of European commerce, These are known to have carried various items of Dabari, European manufacture to the coast, from North Africa and the Sahara. The age of these routes has not, however, been established. Ifemesia, C. C., British Enterprise on the Niger, 1830–1869. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. of Lond. 1959Google Scholar. Barbot heard reports on the Ivory Coast that ‘the inland blacks sold vast quantities of [cloth] to a white people who live far in the inland, usually riding mules or asses, and carrying assegais or spears; which must needs be Arabs’ (p. 143).

^{page 160 note 3} English, M. C., Outline History of Nigeria, Longmans, 1959.Google Scholar

^{page 161 note 1} A good deal of the foregoing is based on recent discussion with Paul Ozanne, who has two articles in the press containing much of the above evidence.

^{page 162 note 1} The ‘idealizing’ art of Ife is no exception; though a mensurational canon is implied in the construction of the bronze and terracotta heads no attempt was ever made, on extant evidence, to extend the canon to the articulation of the whole figure in the manner of Classical Greek Art or Egyptian Art. Where the whole figure is rendered in Ife art its proportions are typically African, the Tada figure being an obvious exception. But this is not yet conclusively known to be of Ife origin.

^{page 163 note 1} The date could well have been c. 1380. ‘Chronological Problems in the study of Benin History ’. R. E. Bradbury, Jour. Hist. Soc. of Nigeria (vol. I, no. 4). At the present stage in the study of metal art in Nigeria it would be well, I think, to regard the tradition of an Ife origin for Benin bronae-casting with some scepticism. It is possible that Benin bronze art relates to a wider complex, including the industries of the Middle and Lower Niger, and that the Ife influence, if it took place, affected perhaps only the tradition of casting memorial heads.