Traditions and Customs of S.A. Races. 153 



D. The Phonograph. 



As we alrc-ady stated, the native music is exceedingly difficult 

 to reduce to writing. Why is that? Because the primitive Bantu 

 has not a clear, defined idea of the scale, major and minor ; his 

 half tones are not the same as ours ; his harmony proceeds by fourths 

 ' rather than by thirds or fifths, as does ours ; to a European, it is 

 almost impossible to reproduce the sounds of that music. But vhen 

 we have the phonograph, which is to the world of sounds what 

 photography is to the world of images : a faithful, unprejudiced 

 witness. A score of such records, preserving the most characteristic 

 war songs and other musical themes of each tribe, would be an 

 invaluable addition to our knowledge cf the Bantu music. 



PART II.— PRACTICAL METHODS. 



So far, we ha\e considered the work which ought to be done 

 to satisfy the legitimate desire for knowledge on the part of science. 

 It is enormous. Hundreds of books, immense collections of objects 

 difficult to obtain, of photographs not easy to take, ought to be put 

 at the disposal of Anthropology. That means hours, years, of time 

 consecrated to study, great sums of money expended, and, above all. 

 a score of energetic and enthusiastic men 'to bring to a successful 

 issue such an undertaking. In our busy commercial and agricultural 

 South Africa, where theoretical scientific researches without practical 

 value are not held in great esteem, it would be foolish to expect that 

 the plan sketched in the preceding pages will be realised fully. But 

 there is, perhaps, more devotion to science amongst us than we are 

 disposed to concede, after all, and the success of the meeting of the 

 B.A.A.S.. and the interest evoked by them all over the country, 

 make us hope for better times. Let us therefore turn our 

 attention to the practical side of our subject, and propose some 

 suggestions in order to realise what is actually practicable. 



If that immense amount of information is to be gathered and 

 put into a form available for scientific research, it can be done only 

 bv the co-operation of two different agencies : those who are to collect 

 the materials, and tho.se who are to work them out. 



Tlic Collectors. — It is quite obvious that only people thoroughly 

 familiar with the language of the natives and sfaying amongst them 

 can provide the needful anthropological information. This double 

 condition excludes most of the merchants who deal with natives ; they 

 are settled amongst them, but are generally satisfied with speaking 

 " Kitchen Kaffir," that horrible deformation of the Bantu language 

 which is just sufficient to give orders to servants, sell calico or buy 

 mealies, but which will never introduce a white man into the true 

 mentality of a native ! The travellers also, cannot, as a rule, be 

 tru3tf:d with a thorough anthropological investigation. Not only do 

 thev not know the language, but they cannot stop long enough am.ongst 

 the kraals to study the native life. However, some travellers have 

 rendered great services to science, because they were men with open 



