478 



NA TURE 



[September 7, 1905 



the problem of dealing with the natives, appointed a 

 Commission to inquire into the native laws and customs 

 which obtained in the territories annexed to the Colony, 

 especially those relating to marriage and land-tenure, and 

 to suggest legislation, as well as to report on the 

 advisability of introducing some system of local self- 

 government in the native territories annexed to the Colony. 

 The example was shortly afterwards followed by the 

 Government of Natal, which had native problems of its 

 own. These two Commissions collected and published a 

 considerable amount of evidence, valuable not only for 

 the immediate purpose in view, but also for the purposes 

 of science. Before the late war came to a close the 

 Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 

 and the Folklore Society addressed to Mr. Chamberlain, 

 then Colonial Secretary, a memorial praying that on the 

 conclusion of peace a similar Commission should be issued 

 to inquire into the customs and institutions of the native 

 tribes in the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony, and, 

 with a view to the accomplishment of more directly 

 scientific ends, praying that at least one anthropologist 

 of eminence unconnected with South Africa should be in- 

 cluded in the Commission. The prayer of the memorialists 

 was bluntly refused. When, however, in the course of re- 

 organisation of the administration, a conference was held 

 at Bloemfontein in 1902 of the Ministers of the various 

 colonies, protectorates, and territories, to discuss native 

 affairs, they found themselves, in the words of Sir Godfrey 

 Lagden, " much confused because the laws and the con- 

 ditions of all the colonies were different." This was 

 exactly what the memorialists had told Mr. Chamberlain. 

 So the conference determined on the appointment of a 

 Commission of Inquiry, which was issued in due course 

 by Lord Milner in September, 1903, and reported on 

 January 30 last. The evidence taken by this Commission, 

 as well as that taken by the previous Commissions, is 

 of a very valuable character. But, like those Commissions, 

 its object was exclusively administrative. Consequently 

 the evidence is only incidentally of ethnological interest, 

 and it by no means covers the whole ground. The social 

 life and marriage laws are to a great extent laid before 

 the reader, but there is no attempt to distinguish accurately 

 between one tribe and another ; the native institutions 

 are discussed only so far as they have a practical bearing 

 on administrative questions. There is no attempt to 

 penetrate to the underlying ideas and beliefs, and the vast 

 domain of religion lies for the most part outside the ken 

 of the Commissioners. Admirable, therefore, as is the 

 work done by these Commissions, it is but a small part 

 of what must be undertaken if an accurate account of the 

 natives of South Africa is to be obtained and preserved 

 for scientific use, and as an historical record. What is 

 wanted is that the Government should undertake this 

 enterprise in the same way as the Governments of the 

 United States, Germany, the Netherlands, and other coun- 

 tries investigate their native races, or, failing this obvious 

 duty of a Government, that adequate assistance should be 

 given to societies or individuals who may be prepared to 

 take the matter in hand. 



Unfortunately it is not unnecessary to insist on the need 

 there is for us to consider seriously what at any particular 

 time is most worth investigating, and not to let ourselves 

 drift into any casual piece of work. Let us apply that 

 simple test to South Africa, and ask ourselves. What most 

 needs doing in anthropological research in South Africa? 



So long as actual wanton destruction is not taking place, 

 local archaeological investigation can wait. I do not mean 

 to suggest that those who have the opportunity should 

 not devote themselves to this important subject ; many can 

 do good work in archaeology who have neither opportunity 

 nor inclination for other branches of anthropology, and 

 the British South .'\frica Company has shown and probably 

 will continue to show a real interest in this work. But 

 our first and immediate duty is to save for science the 

 data that are vanishing ; this should be the watchword 

 of the present day. 



Observations in South African anthropography are lament- 

 ably deficient. Although scattered up and down in books 

 of travel and in missionary records there are descriptions 

 ■of individuals, and in some cases a few salient features 



NO. 1 87 I, VOL. 72] 



of a tribe are noted, yet we have few precise descriptions 

 of communities that are of value for comparative purposes. 

 Anthropometrical data are everywhere wanting ; very few 

 natives have been measured, and the measurements that 

 have been made are insufficient both as regards those 

 actually taken and the number of individuals measured. 

 The interesting subject of comparative physiology is un- 

 worked. We have no observations in experimental 

 psychology, and very few trustworthy data in observational 

 psychology. Here, then, is a large field of inquiry. 



I am not competent to speak concerning linguistics, but 

 from what I have read I gather that a very great deal yet 

 remains to be done, at all events in phonetics, grammar, 

 and comparative philology. 



In general ethnology a considerable amount of scattered 

 work has been done, but no one tribe has been investigated 

 with scientific thoroughness ; the best piece of work 

 hitherto accomplished in this direction is the admirable 

 memoir on the Baronga by the missionary H. A. Junod, 

 which leaves little to be desired. It would be well worth 

 while for students to make exhaustive studies of limited 

 groups of people, tracing all the ramifications of their 

 genealogies in the comprehensive method adopted by Dr. 

 Rivers for the Torres Straits Islanders and for the Todas ; 

 this method is indispensable if it is desired to obtain a 

 true conception of the social structure of a people, their 

 social and religious duties, the kinship relationships, and 

 other information of statistical and sociological value. 

 Other fruitful lines of inquiry are the significance of the 

 form and ornamentation of objects and the symbolism 

 (if there is any) of the decorative art, a subject which, as 

 far as I am aware, is absolutely untouched. Even the toys 

 and games are worth investigation. Hardest but most 

 important of all, there is that intricate complexus of action 

 and belief vifhich is comprised under the term " religion." 

 This needs the most delicate and sympathetic treatment, 

 although too often it has been ruthlessly examined by 

 those who were more prone to seek the ape and the tiger 

 and vain imaginings in the so-called " superstitious " 

 practices of these poor folk. They are laggards along the 

 road which our more favoured ancestors have trod, but 

 they all have their faces set in the same direction as our 

 own, towards that goal to which we ourselves are striving. 

 To induce natives to unbosom themselves of all that they 

 hold secret and sacred and to confess their ideals and 

 inspirations requires more than an ordinary endowment 

 of patience, tact, and brotherly kindness ; without these 

 qualities very little can be gathered, and the finer side of 

 native thought and feeling will for ever remain a sealed 

 book to the European. In referring to this subject it 

 should not be overlooked that the best account we have 

 of the religion of the Zulu-Xosa peoples is due to the 

 labours of Bishop Callaway. The number of native texts, 

 including folk-tales, published by him are especially 

 valuable, as they throw light from all sides upon the 

 native mind, and it is greatly to be regretted that he 

 lacked the pecuniary and other encouragement that was 

 necessary for the completion of his labours. The most 

 urgent of all the foregoing lines of inquiry are the most 

 elusive ; these are the ideas, beliefs, and institutions of 

 the people, which are far less stable than are their physical 

 characteristics. 



These are some of the lines of research that await the 

 investigator. The field is large, but the opportunities are 

 fleeting. The Kattea, Bushmen, and Hottentots are 

 doomed, and new social conditions are modifying the Bantu 

 peoples. Here again we must apply the test question. 

 Which of these peoples most needs investigation? The 

 answer again is obvious. Those that will disappear first. 

 All over South Africa this work is pressing. For some 

 tribes it is too late. It would be a memorable result of 

 the meeting of the British .Association in South Africa 

 if it should lead to an exhaustive study of those most 

 interesting people, the Kattea, the Bushmen, and the 

 Hottentots. They represent very primitive varieties of 

 mankind, but their numbers are rapidly diminishing, and, 

 as races, they have no chance of perpetuity. What judg- 

 ment will posterity pass upon us if, while we have the 

 opportunity, we do not do our best to save the memory 

 of these primitive folk from oblivion? 



