PRIMITIVE AGRICULTURAL RACES 170 



to be on the whole more common in the Congo district than 

 elsewhere in Africa. ' The practice of provoking abortion is 

 a very common one throughout Congoland (though ignored, for 

 example, by the Bayaka), but most of all in the North and 

 Centre.' ^ With regard to particular races in this district, we find 

 abortion mentioned as common among the Bangala,^ Bahuana,^ 

 Warega,* Ababua,^ and Onolove ^ ; it exists but is less common 

 among the Mangbetu,' and the Bushongo.^ In what was German 

 South-west Africa abortion is very frequently employed.^ It 

 would appear to be less frequently practised in the eastern half 

 of the Continent. It is known among the Akamba i° and the 

 Swaheli.ii In what was formerly the German Nyassa district i- 

 and in British Central Africa it is said to be not uncommon ^^ ; 

 the same is said of the Zambezi Valley.^* Abortion is ' almost 

 universally practised by all classes of female in Kafir society '.^^ 

 It is mentioned in connexion with Madagascar. ^^ 



20. Almost every tribe throughout Africa kills children under 

 certain circumstances which they believe to be unpropiiious. 

 Examples of such circumstances are pecuharities in the process 

 of birth, the birth of twins, or the cutting of the upper teeth 

 before the lower. Motherless children are also sometimes killed. 

 The cumulative effect of these habits cannot be considerable, and 

 we may disregard them. It is an almost invariable rule that 

 infanticide — in the sense in which we use the term when speaking 

 of the Australians — is unknown in Africa. The only exceptions 

 are to be found among the Hottentots and in Madagascar — in 

 both cases the races practising infanticide not being of Negroid 

 or Bantu stock. The former are said to have killed their female 

 children fairly frequently ; ^^ in Madagascar infanticide was very 

 common. 1^ Among the various unpropitious circumstances men- 

 tioned above, there is one which is widely recognized in Africa, 

 and which is of interest to us. Children who are abnormal or 



' Johnston, George Grenfdl and the Congo, p. 671. ^ Weeks, J. A. I., 



vol. xxxix, p. 449 ; Overbergh and Jonghe, loc. cit., No. 1, p. 201. ^ Torday 



and Joyce, J. A. I., vol. xxxvi, p. 228. * Delhaise, loc. cit., p. 147. 



^ Halkin, loc. cit., p. 259. Hutereau (loc. cit., p. 101) says that it is not often 

 employed. * Rochebrune, loc. cit., p. 283. ' Van Overbergh, loc. cit.. 



No. 4, p. 298. * Tordayand Joyce, J. A. I., vol. xxxvi, p. 111. » Liibbert, 

 Mitth. der Forschungsreisenden, vol. xiv, p. 88. " Hobley, Akamba, p. 58. 



" Velten, loc. cit., p. 29. ^^ Fullebom, loc. cit., p. 352. " Johnston, 



British Central Africa, p. 417 ; Angus, Azimba and Chipifaland, p. 324. 

 " Maugham, Zamiezia, p. 339. " Maclean, Kaffir Laws and Custonhs, 



p. 62. 1' Ellis, History of 3Iadn{/ascar, vol. i, p. 55. i' Kolben, Cape of 



Good Hope, vol. i, p. 144, '' Ellis, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 155 ; Little, loc. cit., p. 60, 



U2 



