En 1460, à la mort de l'Infant Henri, que l'histoire a surnommé le Navigateur, les découvreurs portugais s'étaient déjà avancés jusqu'au dela de Sierra Leone. Avec la disparition du chef qui en avait été l'âme, les expéditions se ralentirent forcément. Elles ne cessèrent cependant point tout-à-fait, et, durant les années qui suivirent, Pero de Cintra et Soeiro da Costa dépassèrent le Cap des Palmes et parvinrent jusqu'aux alentours du Cap des Trois Pointes.

When addressing the Congress of the Southern Rhodesia Municipal Association at the Victoria Falls in May 1944, Sir Evelyn Baring, then Governor of Southern Rhodesia, expressed the view that the historian of the future, when he came to write the story of Southern Rhodesia during the present period, would conclude his survey by remarking that the problem of the urban Native was one of the most vital of those which faced the colony during the 1940's, and that-steps taken then to meet it had a profound effect on future years.

This article is an attempt to assess the importance of certain aspects of this problem and indicate directions in which thought, planning and action are necessary if the problem is to be satisfactorily solved. The implications of urbanization cannot be treated lightly nor can a laissez-faire attitude be adopted.

Since this paper will be chiefly concerned with the suggestion of methods for the investigation of a specific problem, it is necessary first to define the problem as clearly as possible.

In the Huxley Memorial Lecture for 1943 I said, ‘Every culture has its “hard” and its “soft” points. If change is first sought at the former it will provoke resistance and very likely open discord, while the latter are yielding and it is from them that reformation will spread.’ There seems to be no possible dispute about the fact. But to admit the fact carries us only a very little way towards solving the problems to which the existence of yielding and unyielding features of culture gives rise. In the lecture I attempted to go no farther than a very general discussion of these problems. I was therefore pleased when, some time ago, I received a letter from the Editor of this Journal inviting me to discuss more fully what psychological methods may be applied, not merely to recognize those ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ points of culture which history has demonstrated, but to predict them before such demonstration.

It has been said of the African that he does not possess his land but is possessed by it. The attitude of the Eritrean peasant towards his land cannot be more aptly described. Indeed, his preoccupation with his landed possessions shows a depth and passion not often parallelled among African races.

Au Basutoland ainsi que dans beaucoup d'autres tribus indigènes du Sud de l'Afrique, il arrive souvent que le magistrat dans son office, ou le missionnaire à son bureau, doit écrire les noms et prénoms des individus, soit pour la célébration d'un mariage, ou d'un baptême, soit pour quelqu'autre raison.

It has already been announced in Africa that the Institute is engaged on the first steps of the preparation of a Handbook of African Languages. The widest possible co-operation of African linguists is essential if this work is to be authoritative. As questions of terminology and of method are of central importance, it has seemed desirable to set out briefly here certain points which may stimulate comment and also help towards a systematic handling of material.

I Do Not intend to say to-night all over again what has been said many times before in admirable addresses to learned societies. I propose only to bring to your notice some features of the subject which have often been overlooked or disregarded and yet seem to me to be important.

May I in the first place mention the confusion which frequently arises when someone asks whether social anthropology can, or should be, an applied science. It is evident that it cannot be applied in the same sense as, for instance, medicine or engineering are said to be applied sciences since it cannot state its findings as laws in the light of which it can predict events. Perhaps it will never be able to formulate laws as these are understood in the exact sciences. Nevertheless social anthropology is a body of knowledge about human societies and, like all knowledge of the kind, can be used in a common-sense way to solve social problems; and there is surely no one who holds that it should not be so used.

The object of this paper is to describe the initiation ceremonies into the Buyeye, a society of snake-charmers, the main purpose of which is to give the members a knowledge of all matters concerning snakes, especially the cure of snake-bites. This knowledge enables members to handle snakes with impunity, although they only do so for purposes of propaganda.

The term ‘Akan’ is applied to all the Twi-speaking tribes of Ashanti and the J- Gold Coast, including the Fante, Wassa, Akwapim, Denkera, Agona, Efutu, Ahanta, Sefwi, and other minor tribes. The most vital association in which the Akan lives is the matrilineal clan, the group of people who through the female line is of common descent and therefore is of one soul—ntoro. Succession is matrilineal.

Marriage among the Akans is a contract between two groups, the woman's and the man's clans, and for the security of both parties it is surrounded by definite customs and laws. By marriage one group delivers one of its members to the other for the purpose of the propagation of the group. The individual man or woman remains a member of his or her group, which continues to have an active interest in his or her well-being. Akan marriage does not result from love, its entire foundation lying in the desire for children. Every child has a place in the abusua (clan) even though it may be born out of wedlock, i.e. without the transference of aseda. It is cared for and has legal rights of inheritance. The unmarried mother loses social status, but not the child.

There are perhaps three main reasons why I should not have been the person to write this article. Firstly, because I hold fairly strong opinions, which are by no means shared by all Christian workers in Nigeria, whether African or European. This will not matter provided the reader remembers that others, better and wiser than myself, do hold other opinions, and that what I say must be corrected by them. In no way do I wish to suggest that opinions with which I disagree are illegitimate for the Christian. Secondly, it may be objected that since all my experience has been in a training college, my opinions must be somewhat academic, and out of touch with the problems of the villages and towns. This, no doubt, is largely so, but perhaps because I have been detached from the constant personal problems, which are often so distressing, I may be able to see a little more clearly the essential principles involved, and am not so liable to be distracted by ‘hard cases’. Thirdly, it may be objected that I possess very little anthropological knowledge and understanding, and therefore do not sympathize enough with the African point of view. Again I plead guilty, but in spite of that deficiency there may be some small compensation. During my probation, I was required to study African customs; I was interested and to some extent I have kept up my interest. But against my theory I had always, at the back of my mind, that I was studying the past and not the present. The anthropologist has an invaluable and essential contribution to make to our understanding. He will explain much in the African outlook, and we disregard him at our peril. But he has not the last word. We cannot put the clock back, and the most significant fact in Nigeria, as in other parts of Africa, is that the whole social life is changing.

Doubtful land titles are established or contested through recognized legal channels. Traditionally, the jurisdiction in land disputes is vested in judges (danya) who are the chiefs of the community in whose territory the land is situated. This rule applies also to land litigation between full members of the community and the strangers and guest-groups which may hold land (by lease or other titles) in the area. We note that in such disputes between the hereditary landlords and the landless foreigners the former also arrogate to themselves the right of jurisdiction.

We have taken this poem from the author's volume Inkondlo Kazulu, published in The Bantu Treasury by the University of Witwatersrand Press, Johannesburg. The translation was made by Dr. J. Dexter Taylor. He has followed the original almost line by line, used the same metre, and has not introduced an idea or an observation that is not in the original. It was printed in Bantu Studies, vol. ix, 1935. We acknowledge the courtesy of Dr. Taylor and of Dr. C. M. Doke, Editor of The Bantu Treasury, who have given permission for reproduction in Africa.

Le régime des biens étant intimement lié à l'évolution de la société, il est de la plus haute importance au point de vue de la colonisation, de connaître le sens précis que l'indigène attache a la propriété.

Dans ce but, nous examinerons d'abord comment se présente chez quelques peuplades matrilinéales ce que nous appelons la propriété mobilière, immobilière et foncière. Cet exposé sera purement descriptif et, si nous employons pareille terminologie, c'est uniquement en vue d'ordonner les faits à étudier. Dans les cadres ainsi établis, nous analyserons ensuite la portée du droit de propriété indigène. Et nous terminerons en confrontant les conceptions indigènes avec le droit de propriété tel que nous le connaissons.

Translation is not commonly esteemed to rank among the highest of literary arts; but it is a very useful art. Here is an example of what Africans are doing to naturalize glories of English literature. It is taken from the rendering of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress into Ila (a language of Northern Rhodesia) which won the prize in the Institute's Competition, 1937–8: the immortal scene of the trial of Christian and Faithful in the town that was named Vanity. The Rev. J. W. Price, who spent nearly twenty-seven years among the Ba-ila, has put it back into English as literally as possible, to show the degree to which Moses Mubitana has caught the meaning and spirit of the original.

Like many other African peoples the Nuer marry by the family and kin of the bridegroom handing over cattle to the family and kin of the bride. The marriage is brought about by this payment and by the performance of a series of ceremonial acts. Though these ceremonies and payments of cattle proceed pari passu as inter-connected movements towards the completion of the union they can be treated separately. It should be remembered, however, that Nuer do not consider the union to be complete till a child has been born of it, even though spouses may continue to cohabit where the union proves to be unfruitful.