Ai\THR()I'OL()C;iC"AL RESEARCH. 255 



meteorological data, will be carried out by the Committee; and 

 digests of the statistics, together with the conclusions drawn from 

 the analysis, will be published in due course. The Committee 

 would be greatly aided in the organisation of this investigation if 

 those possessing the necessary facilities and willing to make 

 observations during the eclipse would communicate with the 

 Hon. Secretary, Dr. W. Eccles, University College, London, W.C., 

 at the earliest possible date. 



Anthropological Research. — The Council of the 

 South African Association for the Advancement of Science, in 

 its last Annual Report, announced* that the sum of £20, previously 

 specially allocated in the Association funds for Anthropological 

 research, had been awarded to Miss Agnes W. Tucker, B.A., for 

 the purpose of aiding her in the prosecution of her anthropological 

 studies in South Africa. Miss Tucker had been further assisted 

 by a grant for research from the funds administered by the Royal 

 Society of South Africa, as well as by a grant from the Wit- 

 watersrand Council of Education, and by a Croll Scholarship 

 awarded her by the South African College. Miss Tucker hopes, 

 during the course of the present year, to publish such results as 

 she has been able to obtain, and although very much still remains 

 obscure, she will endeavour to give a fairly complete report of 

 some aspects of the culture of the tribes specially studied by her. 

 Meanwhile she has furnished the following details of her recent 

 journey — 



" On May 3rd, 1913, I .set out for Capetown, where I made 

 all my purchases for camping in W'alfish Bay and German South- 

 West. Thence I proceeded overland to Springbok, in Little 

 Namaqualand, to interview the ex-captain of the Bondelzwarts, 

 and their leader in the late war against the Germans, Abram 

 Morris. The information was the more interesting in that the 

 Bondelzwarts tribe is one of the oldest in Great Namaqualand, 

 though since the GermanTlottentot war it has practically ceased 

 to exist as a separate tribe. Later on, in Keetmanshoop, I had 

 an opportunity of interviewing some other of their chief men, but 

 found they could add but little to my knowledge; indeed, Abram 

 Christian's words proved to be quite true, that all who knew any- 

 thing of the tribal customs had perished in, or soon after, the 

 war. 



From Springbok I weiU to Walfish Bay, where I spent three 

 months among the Topnaars— in many respects the most inter- 

 esting of all the surviving tribes of Hottentots. The Topnaars 

 dwell among the sand dunes of Walfish Bay and subsist upon the 

 fruit of the 'Naras, a cucurbitaceous plant wdiich grows only in 

 this region. The fruit, wdiich is a species of melon, is extremely 

 nutritious and luscious, so that as long as it is in season the natives 



* Tide this \olume, p. xv. 



