66 



NA TURE 



[November 16, 1905 



land valued in the dry, unirrigated state at anything from 

 mix. to 30s. per acre was valued at rates of from 25Z. to 

 urn/, per acre when properly irrigated. 



The concluding paper, by Mr. J. H. Ronaldson, dealt 

 with the copper deposits of Little Namaqualand. The 

 author pointed out that from the very early days it had 

 been known that this district in the extreme west of Cape 

 Colony, lying just south of the Orange River, and bounded 

 on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, was a copper-producing 

 one. As early as 111S5 one of the Dutch governors dis- 

 patched a part) to explore the country, but it was not 

 until 1855 that successful work was begun. The district 

 in which the copper mines are situated lies in the hilly 

 ground about 50 miles from the coast, and is connected 

 with Port Nolloth by a 2 feet (1 inches narrow-gauge rail- 

 way, the property of the Cape Copper Co. During the 

 year 11104 about 85,000 tons of ore were raised, the per- 

 centage of copper ranging from 26 per cent, to as low 

 as 3.6 per cent. T. H. B. 



ANTHROPOLOGY AT THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION. 



'PlIK South African meeting will long Ice memorable to 

 members who arc- especially associated with Sec- 

 tion 11, not so much on account of the high quality and 

 interest of the papers read (though, as will be seen, these 

 were often oi considerable importance-) as because it 

 afforded an opportunity of examining, measuring, and 

 photographing specimens of the native- races, and (what 

 was still more valuable) oi visiting Bantu kraals, seeing 

 the native in his ordinary surroundings, and witnessing 

 some of his ceremonial rejoicings. These visit-, and in- 

 vestigations were outside the strictly sectional work, and 

 can hardly be detailed here ; but they cannot fail of per- 

 manent results in an increased comprehension of the con- 

 ditions of native life and of the great problems, scientific, 

 social, and political, connected with the- native peoples of 

 South Africa, by all who were- privileged to take part in 

 them. 



Dr. lladdon's presidential address, delivered 011 August n> 

 -ii Cape ["own, has already been printed in full in Nature 

 (September 7, p. 471), and need not be further referred to 

 lure than to point out its exceptionally comprehensive and 

 useful character as a summary of our present information 

 as 10 the process by which South Africa was peopled, and 

 a sane, earnest, and timely appeal for scientific studv on 

 the spot of peoples, some of which are actually vanishing 

 before our eyes, and the others of which arc- undergoing 

 at the hands of the white race- a process of so-called 

 civilisation which will issue in a few wars in the total 

 destruction of their ancient institutions and beliefs. 



The first paper read was by Mr. E. Sidney Hartland on 

 the- totemism of the Bantu. lb- pointed out that to the 

 French Protestant missionary Casalis belongs the honour 

 of being the first to note the similarity between the totemic 

 practices and belief of the North American Indians and 

 those "I the Bantu peoples. The object of the- paper was 

 to examine the- latter practices and belief, so far as they 

 have been recorded, with the view of ascertaining how far 

 they extend and what evidence there- is of their former 

 existence when- they are no longer preserved ; whether 

 there is any essential clillc -rem e- between the practices and 

 belief of the Bantu and what is generally understood by 

 totemism elsewhere; and lastly, the process of decay. 

 The conclusions arrived at were that, though there is little 

 in what is recorded of the Bantu on the western side oi 

 the- continent down to the- southern boundary of Angola 

 which points directl) to totemism, there- is sufficient to 

 suggest that it on,,, generally prevailed there-, and that its 

 disappearance is clue- to contact with tin- Ne-^n,; thai with 

 regard to the- eastern and northern Bantu there can he no 

 doubt about the prevalence of totemism which, though 

 now in decay, corresponded in all essential particulars to 

 that of other races, such as the North American Indians 

 and the- Australians ; and that its decay was due to the 

 change in the reckoning of kinship from reckoning through 

 the mother only to reckoning through the- father only, and 

 to the ancestor-worship which had arisen upon the new 

 social basis thereby laid. 



NO. 188 1, VOL. 7$] 



Mr. L. Peringuey, curator of the South African Museum, 

 followed with an address on the Stone age in South 

 Africa. The substance of this address has been published 

 in the- volume- entitled "Science in South Africa." It was 

 illustrated by a carefully selected series of specimens from 

 the museum, which were- examined with interc-si in tin- 

 course of an indecisive discussion which followed. 



Ihe session on Thursday, August 17, was opined by- 

 Mr. Henry Balfour with a paper on the- musical instru- 

 ments of South Africa. Mr. Balfour is already known as 

 an authority on the evolution of the musical bow. In the 

 bow of the Damaras. which is upon occasion temporarily 

 converted into a musical instrument, he recognised an 

 example of the earliest stage of development of a long 

 series of instruments culminating in various forms of the 

 harp. Other types of musical instruments were discussed, 

 of which the most interesting, as well as the most enig- 

 matical, was the goura of the- Bushmen, an instrument 

 substantially identical with the csc-/ia tor lesiba) of the 

 Basuto and some other Bantu tribes. On this instrument 

 the writer had little to add to what he had previously 

 published in the Journal 0] the Inthropological Institute. 

 Generally as to the development of musical instruments, 

 si r.-ss was laid on the importance of exact information 

 with the view of determining the- geographical distribution 

 and evolution of the various types. 



Miss B. Bullen-Burry read a paper discussing the social 

 and political questions raised in the- United Stales by the 

 existence of tin- Negro in the midst of a white population. 

 This paper dealt with an aspect of ethnology rarely brought 

 before the section ; but the- state- of things described by the 

 writer and the problems involved are so similar to those 

 even more critical in character now engaging the attention 

 of politicians in South Africa, and on the satisfactory- 

 solution of which depends the future of the country, that 

 it is much to be regretted that the writer had so small an 

 . 1 1 1 1 1 1 >■ ni •■ 



< )n Friday, August iS, Prof, von Luschan read .1 paper 

 on artificial deformation in Africa,' abundantly illustrated 

 by lantern slides. He traced all deformations of the 

 human body to a foreign source, except possibly tin- tattoo- 

 ing in relief and the deformations of the lips. 



The Rev. Canon Crisp presented a paper (which was 

 read by the Rev. J. S. Moffat) on the mental character- 

 istics of the Bechuana. lie dwelt on the peculiarities of 

 Sechuana grammar and construction, illustrating them by 

 various examples. The Bantu languages will express any 

 idea, however esoteric, and will do it with extraordinary 

 precision and often with great felicity. A foreigner who 

 has acquired one of them will often leave his own language 

 to use a Bantu word, because it conveys his thought more 

 aptly and tersely. Bantu proverbs anil metaphors tire often 

 most incisive, emphasising with much power and delicacy 

 what it is intended to say. The Bechuana arc- accustomed 

 to use their proverbs without any introduction, their 

 rapidity of thought enabling both speaker and hearers at 

 one.- to locate the idea to be conveyed. They are masters 

 in the art of destructive criticism, and their native shrewd- 

 ness, observation, tend wit render them dangerous dis- 

 putants. Instances of the facility with which Bantu 

 acquire European learning and adapt themselves to Euro- 

 pean thought were given. This paper aroused much 

 interest on the part of tin- over-sea members who heard 

 it, and numerous questions on details were addressed to 

 Canon Crisp, though of discussion strictly speaking there 

 was none-. 



A short paper by Mr. William Grant was read giving 

 an account of a visit in March, 1894, to Magato, the then 

 chief of the Mawenda in the Transvaal. The business of 

 tin- Cape Town meeting was then closed by the president 

 with a few appropriate words of appreciation of the assist- 

 ance rendered by Mr. Peringuey, who had kindly acted 

 as local secretary, and of the- kindness with which the 

 visitors from the Mother Country had been received. 



The session at Johannesburg was opened on Tuesday, 

 August 29, with a paper by Dr. S. Schonland, on arts and 

 crafts among the natives of South Africa, containing a 

 summary of present knowledge on the subject. 



A paper followed by Mr. \V. A. Squire on the art of the 

 Bushmen. It was illustrated by the exhibition of copies 

 of a number of Bushman drawings, on which the author 



