178 PBIMITIVE AGEICULTUEAL EACES 



have more than six children, according to Mondiere ; l in Liberia 

 families are said to be small. 2 Among the Bangala ' it is rare 

 for a woman to have more than two or three children ' ; 3 another 

 observer, speaking of the same people, remarks that ' there was 

 much sterility '. 4 Cureau, speaking generally of the tribes of the 

 Congo Basin, says that families are small. 5 Kuku women bear 

 three children on the average. 6 The number of children is given 

 as three to five for the Baholoholo, 7 three to four for the Ba- 

 mbala, 8 and the same for the Warega ; 9 among the Mangbetu 

 families are not large, 10 while ' on an average a Bayaka woman 

 bears three children ; families of more than four are rare '. u 

 Turning to the races of the eastern side of the Continent we find 

 that the average Swaheli family is given as consisting of two 

 children. 12 Figures have been collected concerning forty-nine 

 families of the Akikuyu, from which it appears that the average 

 number of children is between three and five. 13 The Bakene 

 women ' are, as a rule, strong and healthy and have children, 

 though few of them ever have so many as six, three being the 

 average number for each wife J . 14 Two or three- at the most 

 five children are born to the Wanjamuesi mother. 15 Among the 

 tribes south of Lake Nyassa ' the average number of children in 

 a family is three to five '. 16 The Makalaka ' race is not prolific, 

 and the women . . . seldom bear more than an average of three 

 children '. l7 Lastly, the Hottentots have ' seldom more than two 

 or three children ', and * many of the women are barren ', 18 while 

 similarly in Madagascar the natives ' do not, as a rule, have 

 large families, and a considerable portion is childless '. 19 



19. Abortion is practised by many races in various parts of 

 Africa. Among the Tenda people married women rarely practise 

 abortion, unmarried women more frequently ; 20 Tremearne men- 

 tions it in speaking of some of the Nigerian tribes. 21 It appears 



1 Mondiere, Rev. d'Anth., vol. iv, p. 75. 8 Buttikoffer, loc. cit., p. 82. 



8 Overbergh and Jonghe, loc. cit., No. 1, p. 201. Weeks, J. A. I., vol. 



xxxix, p. 420. 6 Cureau, loc. cit., p. 138. Plas, loc. cit., p. 208. 



7 Schmitz, Coll. Mon. Eth., No. 9, p. 595. 8 Torday and Joyce, J. A. I., 



vol. xxxv, p. 51. Delhaise, loc. cit., p. 157. 10 Van Overbergh, loc. 



cit., No. 4, p. 297. " Torday and Joyce, J. A. /., vol. xxxvi, p. 51. 



12 Velten, loc. cit., p. 28. 13 Routledge, Prehistoric People, p. 136. Owing 



to the fact that the families are incomplete, there is some uncertainty about these 

 figures. 14 Boscoe, Man, vol. ix, p. 118. See also same author's Northern 



Bantu, p. 151 15 Reichard, loc. cit., p. 255. 16 Stannus, loc. cit., p. 310. 



17 Elton, Journal, p. 6. 18 Barrow, Travels, vol. i, p. 97. See also Theal, 



Yellow- and Dark-Skinned People, p. 86. Little, Madagascar, p. 64. 



w Delacour, loc. cit., p. 45. 21 Tremearne, J. A- /-, vol. xlii, p. 171, 



