Within the Nilo-Hamitic group of tribes in East Africa is a sub-group, the tribes of which speak closely related dialects. So close are these dialects that a native speaker of any one can understand a speaker of any other. In the normal intercourse between the peoples this does in fact happen constantly. Linguistically this group of dialects might be called the Teso Dialect Cluster, after the tribe of that name.

C'est en 1949 que j'ai pu entreprendre, en liaison avec la Section de Géographie de l'Institut d'Études Centrafricaines, une enquête de sociologie urbaine consacrée aux ‘villes’ noires qui encadrent Brazzaville: Poto-Poto, Wenzé et Bacongo. En 1950, les recherches se multiplièrent grâce au travail collectif de l'équipe de sociologues que je parvins à rassembler à Brazzaville et le travail se poursuit actuellement, durant le répit laissé par les missions accomplies en ‘brousse’.

The Yoruba were probably first established in what is now Nigeria in the region of Nupe, whence they crossed the Niger and went southwards in search of a suitable settlement. They chose Ile-Ife where, according to tradition, they encountered no opposition from the aborigines. Ife was later idealized; it became their Holy City and the revered cradle of their civilization. They probably remained under a single government at Ife until they had consolidated their power sufficiently to undertake the conquest of their neighbours. The general drive was towards the south, although a counter-migration back to the north resulted in the foundation of Old Oyo. When the Yoruba fanned out from Ife, they left principalities in their wake as they drove towards the sea. This region was probably then occupied by the Fon or Egun people, who were either absorbed or expelled as the Yoruba, in various waves and in different directions, penetrated the tropical forest.

To endeavour to epitomize the problems of capital investment in a continent in a few pages must in itself be regarded as presumptuous; to make the attempt when that continent is Africa, with its immense regional, political, and racial diversities, may well be foolhardy. Therefore in submitting this note, in response to the invitation of the Interim Committee of the International Economic Association that I should set down some headings for discussion at its conference, I have endeavoured to focus attention on some fundamental issues which are in some degree common to Africa south of the Sahara.

In the last fifty years certain instances of a special privileged relation between grandparents and grandchildren have been quoted so frequently as to have become almost classic cases. The three most important are those reported for the Dieri tribe of SE. Australia (Howitt 1904), the Pentecost Islanders of Melanesia (Rivers 1914), and the Oraons of Chota Nagpur (Sarat Chandra Roy 1915). In all three cases the system of kinship terms treats grandchildren as if they were in the same generation as their grandparents, but in each report slightly different aspects of the relation between grandparents and grandchildren are emphasized. Among the Oraons it is the bantering mode of conversation between a man and his granddaughter or greatniece ‘in which the two parties habitually act the part of man and wife’ to which attention is drawn, leading to the conjecture that there was formerly a system of marriage between grandparents and grandchildren. In Pentecost Island the classing of alternate generations together in kinship terminology is ‘connected with an ancient social condition in which it was the normal occurrence for a man to marry the granddaughter of his brother’. Among the Dieri tribe the custom of marriage with a daughter's daughter of the man's own brother was reported as actually in practice.

Social legislation of far-reaching importance for Africans in the French territories of West and Equatorial Africa is contained in a recently published decree (No. 51-1100 of 14 September 1951, relatif à certaines modalités du mariage entre personnes de statut personnel en A.O.F., en A.E.F., au Togo et au Cameroun).

This legislation involves the overriding of native customary law at certain vital points, particularly in relation to the institution of bride-price. In so far as bride-price is a factor contributing to the dependent status of the adult African woman and tending (under modern conditions) towards the commercialization of the marriage transaction, the decree is designed to neutralize its effects.

The account of the Nsɔ given by Dr. P. Kaberry in her article in Africa, October 1950, ‘Land Tenure among the Nsaw of the British Cameroons’, is incorrect in a number of points, especially in so far as Nsɔ history is concerned. As a former Senior District officer, Bamenda Division, British Cameroons, I visited every hamlet in the Nsɔ area, took down the history of each and mapped the area. I marked the tribal boundaries of the tribes contiguous to Nsɔ and took down their tribal histories. I have an English translation of Njoya's history of the Bamum. The Nsɔ, with the Bamum and Wiya (wrongly called by Dr. Kaberry Nsungli), left their common focus Rifum together. This is confirmed by the three narratives.