TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 525 
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 Ba-Ronga 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 compre- 
hensive 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 which 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 Ama-Zulu is due to the labours 
of Bishop Callaway. The number of native texts, including folk-tales, pub- 
lished 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 inves- 
tigation? The answer again is obvious. Those that will disappear first. All 
over South Africa this work is pressing. Forsome 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 judgment 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 ? 
A Short Bibliography on the Ethnology of South Africa, 
Ankermann, B. ; . Kulturkreise und Kulturschichten in Afrika. ‘ Zeitschrift 
fiir Ethnologie,’ vol. 38. Berlin, 1905. 
Arbousset, T., and Narrative of an Exploratory Tour to the North-east of the 
Daumas, F’. Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. (Translated by J. C. 
Brown.) Cape Town, 1846; London, 1852, 
