102 schematic ivory or bone pangolin fi gures (fi gs. 30 and 32), which were distributed as emblems to members of the Lega bwami society in DR Congo, following initiation into a higher rank. Small brass fi gures (fi g. 31) served the Ashanti in Ghana as gold dust weights. This article demonstrates that the four species of pangolin in Africa south of the Sahara are associated with a great variety of ideas among different cultural groups. There are highly divergent attitudes toward this animal, which is considered by some to be stronger than the lion and the leopard. In most cases, it inspires both fear and respect. The pangolin is in contact with nature spirits, it is a messenger of ancestral spirits, and it is honored as a culture hero. It is associated with rulers, chiefs, warriors, diviners, and other men who are held in high esteem. It promotes fertility in humans and animals, protects the fi elds from thieves, exposes and keeps away sorcerers, and is associated with the work of blacksmiths. The scales and the tail are often considered as being particularly powerful. Thus, scales are used as amulets, and burnt scales drive off lions by their smell. The pangolin— a four-legged mammal that looks like a fi sh and can live in trees like a bird—symbolizes the transition between life and death, and it consequently plays a symbolic role at rites of transition, such as male initiation or burial ceremonies for important men. The transitional role of the pangolin is not limited to African art, and it fi nds its way into Western consciousness in unexpected ways. In European modernism, for example, Max Ernst frequently used animal motifs in his collages. At least two of these feature the pangolin (fi g. 29). According to Metken (1979: 80f), the fi sh—or even just the tail of a fi sh—is seen by Ernst in his surrealist vocabulary as a carrier of dangerous erotic energies. That this also applies to the pangolin is an interpretation consistent with the amorous settings in which it appears. While certainly little known to Ernst personally, he clearly recognized the mysterious nature of the pangolin, drawing upon a subconscious reaction consistent with the traditions we have discussed that span the African continent. With thanks to Ruth Schubert for translation NOTES 1. This has sometimes led to confusion with the South American anteater or ant bear (Myrmecophagidae). See for instance Grzimek 1979 XI: 188f, Baumann 1950: 195, or Eiselen 1932: 14. 2. The zoological data given here is taken from Brehm 1912; Dekeyser 1953; Grzimek 1970/79 XI; Kingdon 1971; Lang 1956; Mohr 1961; Rahm 1961. FIG. 22 (above): Dance crest in the form of a pangolin. Ekpeye, Nigeria. 20th century. Wood, bamboo, pigment, nails. L: 120 cm. André Gué Collection, Vienna. Photo: Birgitt Stich. FIG. 23 (above): Kola nut container in the form of a tree pangolin. Yoruba, Nigeria. 19th or early 20th century. Wood. D: 27 cm. Private collection. Photo: BAMW Photography. FIG. 24 (above): Drawing of a wooden vessel used to hold oracle stones. Yoruba, Nigeria. From Frobenius 1913, p. 265,. fi g. 8. Image courtesy of the Ross Archive of African Images, rossarchive.library. yale.edu. FIG. 25 (below): Drawing of pangolin scales cut for use in a shaking oracle. Southern Cameroon/ Northern Gabon. From Seidel 1896, p. 178. FEATURE There is other evidence in Nigeria of the belief in a supernatural connection between the pangolin and warrior traditions. Among the Yoruba, the deity Shango is the protector of warriors, and an unusual Shango staff relates to this connection. On this unusually heavily decorated example from the Republic of Benin, the artist has given prominence to a pangolin with a curled tail (fi g. 33). John Pemberton III has said that the Yoruba believe that the blood of the pangolin is especially powerful and that they make protective medicine known as oogun for warriors with blood obtained from the tail (personal communication 2009). A hanging tree pangolin serves as the form for an unusual round wooden lidded box, a container for kola nuts from the Yoruba in Owo (fi g. 23). A nearly identical example, but without its lid, appears in W. D. Webster’s catalog of 1901 (Webster 1901: fi g. 71), though here it is shown upside down and incorrectly identifi ed as a chameleon. Yoruba artists also depicted pangolins rolled up to protect themselves from danger. A highly artistic wooden vessel, agere ifa, used by Ifa priests as a container for oracle stones, was illustrated by Frobenius in 1913 (fi g. 24). The midsection was adorned by the artist with a fi gure of a pangolin with its tail wrapped around its body. Two known oracle bowls (one in Berlin and one in the US) were probably made by the same artist (Frobenius 1913, I: 265, 274; Drewal 1989: 216, 223). Marked and reshaped pangolin scales (fi g. 25), placed into a shallow basket or small bag, are used for the socalled shaking oracle in the border area between Cameroon and Gabon (Seidel 1896: 177f; Ittmann 1960: 129). These are drawn out or cast, and the ensuing combinations are then interpreted by the diviner. The Animal exhibition held in Paris in 2007 featured several masks and fi gures involving three-dimensional interpretations of a pangolin or its scales (Falgayrettes 2007: 20f, 365f, 407−409). It is a pity that among the group of very impressive Bamana tji wara masks, this exhibition did not include the type that consists of a combination of three animals (roan antelope, pangolin, and aardvark (fi gs. 26 and 27). Among the smallest pangolin fi gures are clay models that were used as teaching material during the initiation of Shambaa girls in Tanzania. Also in this group are
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