THE CIVILIZATIONS OF MAN lOI 



sians. They may be Bushmen who interbred with Hamitic 

 Negroes of the north. In language they are similar to the 

 Bushmen in that they use clicks of the tongue, but not as 

 extensively. The Hottentots are grouped in exogamous pat- 

 rilineal clans, a system they borrowed from more progres- 

 sive neighbors along with a cattle economy. In patrilineal 

 clans, a very old system, inheritance runs along the line of 

 males. Hottentots obey simple rules of conduct which are 

 laid down by a headman. There is no autocracy. Their re- 

 ligion is based on the worship of mythical heroes, derived 

 partly from the personification of natural forces producing 

 rain. 



Edwin M. Loeb has given us an interesting report of these 

 people and their neighbors, the more advanced Bantu of 

 South West Africa. The Bantu are Negroes with a white 

 Hamitic admixture and are divided into three divisions: a 

 cattle-raising, nonagricultural group; an agricultural, hunt- 

 ing, and fishing group; and the Ambo who have a versatile 

 economy, including agriculture, hunting, fishing, and cattle- 

 raising. All the Bantu have a clan system which controls 

 social life, the system of the Ambo being elaborate and 

 formerly headed by a king. Loeb finds that as the complex- 

 ity of economic life increases the populations rise in density. 

 The Bushmen with their extreme economic simplicity num- 

 ber not much more than 10,000, whereas the Ambo are at 

 least 150,000 strong. He contrasts the simple hunting leader 

 of the Bushmen with kingship and the accompanying com- 

 plexity of the Ambo. He finds the latter much more adapt- 

 able and better able to adopt measures necessary for 

 survival. The expedition of which he was a part studied one 

 particular tribe, the Kuanyama Ambo, because this society 

 offered a good illustration of the unconscious controls 

 working in a primitive society. 



These people live in a fenced-in, corral-like "kraal," each 

 a small city. They control their environment directly by 

 guarding all the cattle and produce of the surrounding areas 



