Utilisation des poids à peser l'or en Côte d'Ivoire - article ; n°1 ; vol.43, pg 33-109

Journal de la Société des Africanistes - Année 1973 - Volume 43 - Numéro 1 - Pages 33-109
The weights for the measurement of gold on the Ivory Coast. For 10 years Henri Abel has been working on a documentation of the weights for the measurement of gold on the Ivory Coast : he has published the results of his researches in the J. de la Société des Africanistes, t. XXII, XXIV, XXIX, Bulletin de VI F AN, t. XVI, n° 1-2 etc. This catalogue contains informations which H. Abel has collected in 1952 during his expedition under the auspices of IFAN. The weights in the possession of chiefs and dignitaries of the following tribes of agni, baoulés, atiés, ébriés, abés, apolloniens, abourés etc. have been examined, drawn and at the times deciphered by H. Abel and gave him a chance to perfect the knowledge of the system. The majority of the weights are to-day dispersed in Museums, in private collections and at dealers and are not grouped according to their origin. It is therefor impossible to reconstitute the dya (packet which contains the scales, the weights, the box containing the gold powder, the spoon etc.) as it was. The component part of each dya offered to H. Abel in the course of the journey was carefully noted by him and will be found below. In order to make it easier to understand the tables showing the weights examined in the field we have judged it best to reproduce the General Table (see above). On the other hand the value of grammes of the seed of the abrus precatorius of the ba and of the taku remarked ultimately by H. Abel have been entered at the top of the table. For the value markings on the weights, see p. 37. In the course of discussions with the chiefs and elders it has happened that the weights examined have been established without hesitation, most of the names have been remembered in the course of what was occasionally a long discussion — as though emerging from a distant past — the expression « feminine » weight and « masculine » weight was frequently used. In the following tables we have marked in italic capitals the name given in the field (whether in error or not), in lower case italic the Baoulé name equivalent to the real weight ; if it differs from the attributed name or if in the field no name is given. For the intermediary weights the name given by the owner has been used. It is rare that the dya shown represents a complete set of weights. Every time H. Abel could identify a weight, this identification was indicated on the corresponding table.
77 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.