Polygamy is a social system, and is intimately bound up with the subject of property, of labour, and of the difference in status between men and women. If this paper appears to trespass into other fields it is because of the complexity of the subject and because polygamy is not something that can be abstracted from the social organization generally and be examined by itself; it is both symptom and cause of widespread difference in Mende society from that of our own.

Statements are frequently made by residents and travellers in Africa about the effects of missions on Native communities, but they are seldom backed by an analysis of concrete facts. The African is subject to the influences of Western European culture in many different ways, and it is extremely difficult to isolate the influence of missions from other contact influences, particularly since African Christians tend, for a variety of reasons, to be more affected by these other influences than their pagan neighbour. By comparing, in one area, the life of pagan and Christian families which are subject to similar non-Christian contact influences it is, however, possible to study specific differences in belief and behaviour. One such observable difference is found in the believed working of religious sanctions. Among the Nyakyusa of South Tanganyika behaviour in the pagan community is directly affected by the belief that certain actions are punished by the ancestors, by witchcraft, or by magic. Christian teachers attack these beliefs. The problem then arises as to how far belief in traditional religious sanctions remains in the Christian community, how far it is replaced or modified, and how far changes in belief affect behaviour.

Die historische Wirklichkeit der Völker erlaubt uns, im Hintergrund ihres sozialen Prozesses als letztlich bestimmende Richtlinien zwei Strukturprinzipien zu erkennen. Dies sind die in den beiden Begriffen Gemeinschaft und Herrschaft festgelegten Moglichkeiten sozialer Ordnung, die als Sozialsysteme aufgefasst werden müssen. Mit ihrer Hilfe können wir zu einem vertieften Verständnis der sozialhistorischen Entwicklung und zu einer Erkenntnis der einzelnen Phasen ihres Verlaufes in einem Volk oder Stamm gelangen.

The Kikuyu people maintain a close relationship with spiritual entities. Their daily lives, both as individuals and in groups, are influenced at all points by beliefs in the supernatural. We constantly commune with the spirits of our ancestors. Further we worship a High God and other supernatural beings.

Comme parallèle à mon article d'Africa, du vol. v, no. 2, 1931, sur la famille pahouine, nous voulons essayer de montrer l'évolution de la famille galoase et les améliorations désirées par l'élite de la jeunesse. Les Galoas sont une branche des tribus de langue Omyεnε, qui se sont répandues dans tout le bassin du Bas-Ogoué, de la Côte équatoriale et dans l'estuaire du Gabon. Celles du Bas-Ogoué se livraient autrefois spécialement à l'achat des esclaves venus de l'intérieur (par la rivière Ngounyi et le Haut-Ogoué), et à leur vente aux négriers espagnols ou portugais qui emmenaient leur cargaison humaine en Amérique. L'occupation française de ces régions a fait cesser ce trafic, et les Galoas se sont mis au commerce des marchandises, soit en devenant eux-mêmes traitants, ou transitaires, ou encore en prenant des concessions de forêts pour l'abattage des bois d'okoumé.

Reports of the occurrence of ‘woman marriage’ in parts of Africa as far distant from one another as northern and southern Nigeria, the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and the Union of South Africa indicate the possibility that there may be other instances of this institution that have gone unrecorded. The purpose of this paper is therefore to call attention to this striking phase of social organization by describing the form which ‘woman marriage’ takes in Dahomey, presenting data collected in the field in 1931. In doing this, attention will be paid to such aspects of the social setting in which this kind of marriage is lodged as may be needed to allow it best to be understood, while some of the attitudes which arise from it will also be indicated.

Among the Edo tribes which inhabit the Benin Province of Southern Nigeria are found in each village men corresponding to the old medieval troubadours, the repositories of the stories and legends of the past. They are not, of course, peculiar to the Edo tribes, but are found in most African societies. Sometimes these persons are the elders of the village, sometimes the telling of the tales is left to the young men, who amuse themselves and their friends by relating fables of the Aesop variety, or by describing with a wealth of pantomime and gesture some event round which a mass of legendary detail has arisen. The narration holds the audience enthralled, though most of the tales will be familiar, and the eloquence of the teller receives instant appreciation. The various actions described are imitated, and onomatopoeic sounds are freely used. Any misfortune to the characters of the story, particularly if caused by the tricks of the ‘villain’, draws forth roars of laughter, and any magical or mysterious happening elicits a chorus of grunts and exclamations of surprise.