TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. one 
sufficient similarities in physical and cultural characteristics to warrant their 
being grouped together: the true Negro may be regarded as a race; the Bantu 
are mixed peoples. 
It will be noticed that as a rule the Bantu approach the Hamites in those 
physical characters in which they differ from the true Negroes, and owing to the 
fact that the physical characters of Semites in the main resemble those of Hamites, 
any Semitic mixture that may have occurred later will tend in the same direction 
as that of the Hamitic. The diversity in the physical characters of the Bantu is 
due to the different proportions of mixture of all the races of Africa, What 
we now require is a thorough investigation of these several elements in as 
pure a state as possible, and then by studying the various main groups of Bantu 
peoples their relative amount of racial mixture can be determined. 
The physical characteristics of the Bantu vary very considerably. The skin 
colour is said to range from yellowish-brown to dull slatey-brown, a dark choco- 
late colour being the prevalent hue. The character of the hair calls for no special 
remark, as it is so uniformly of the ordinary Negro type. The stature ranges 
from an average of about 1.640 m. (5 ft. 4} in.) to about 1.715 m., (5 ft. 7% in.). 
Uniformity rather than diversity of head-form would seem to be the great cha- 
racteristic of the African black races, but a broad-headed element makes itself felt 
in the population of the forest zone and of some of the upper waters of the Nile 
Valley. It appears that the broadening of the head is due to mixture with the 
brachycephalic Negrillo stock, for, whereas the dolichocephals are mainly of 
tall stature, some of the brachycephals, especially the Aduma of the Ogowe, 
with a cephalic index of 80:8, are quite short, 1.594 m. (5 ft. 23 in.). ‘The cha- 
racter of the nose is often very useful in discriminating between races in a mixed 
population, but it has not yet been sufficiently studied in Africa, where it will 
probably prove of considerable value, especially in the determination of amount 
of Hamitic or Semitic blood. The results already obtained in Uganda are most 
promising. Steatopygy is not notable among men; fatty deposits are well 
developed among woolen, but nothing approaching the extent characteristic of 
the Hottentots and Bushmen. 
It appears that the Bantu peoples may be roughly divided according to culture 
into two groups: a western zone, which skirts the West African region or Congo 
basin and extends through Angola and German West Africa into Cape Colony ; 
and an eastern zone. (1) The western Bantu zone is characterised by beehive 
huts, the absence of circumcision, and the presence of wooden shields (plain or 
covered with cane-work) in its northern portion, though skin shields occur to the 
south ; (2) In the eastern Bantu zone, except among the Zulu peoples, the huts 
are cylindrical, with a separate conical roof. 
Certain characteristics are typical of the Bantu culture. The natives live in 
rounded huts with pointed roofs; their weapons comprise spears, in which the 
head is fastened into the shaft by a spike, bows with bowstrings of animal pro- 
ducts, clubs and skin shields, but slings are usually absent; the clothing is of 
skin and leather, and there is a predominance of animal ornaments; knocking out 
or filing incisors is general except in the south, circumcision is common, though 
amoug the Zulu tribes it seems to be dying out; ancestor-worship is the preva- 
lent form of religion, fetishism and polytheism are undeveloped; masks and repre- 
sentations of human figures are rare, and there are no secret societies ; anthropo- 
phagy is sporadic and usually temporary ; the domestic animals include the dog, 
goat, and sheep, and cattle are found wherever possible; coiled basketry is made, 
and head-rests are a characteristic feature. 
M. A. de Préville has drawn a broad line of distinction between the religion 
of the pastoral Bantu tribes and that of the hunters of the forest belt. The 
cattle-raisers of the small pastures recognise that the rain and necessary moisture 
depend on an invisible and supreme power whom they invoke in his location 
in the sky; his intermediaries are the rain-makers, and he has no human form, 
neither are there idols in the pantheon. In Central Africa there is more than 
sufficient rain, but rain is of little importance to the hunter. What he requires 
is to find game, to be able to capture it and to avoid danger; the ‘ medicine-men ’ 
