TRAN5ACTI0NS OF SECTION H. 901 



The Portuguese writer Dos Santos describes the people of Monomatapa much 

 as they are to-day. 



Origiu of the Makalangas much more obscure, but references to them adduced 

 from earl}' Arabian writers prove beyond doubt that a similar people inhabited 

 this country 1,000 years ago. 



Customs are still inherent in the race, pointing to external influence. The 

 dynastic names of the chiefs, the succession to the chiefdoms. 



The totems of the Makalangas. 



Their religion and monotheistic teudeucy, sacrifice to ancestors, and sacrifice of 

 goats to ward off calamities. 



The burial of their dead. 



The day of rest during the ploughing season, co-operative labours, circumcision, 

 and reference to points which connect them with an Asiatic or northern origin. 



Similar instances produced from private life. The pillows or head-rests. The 

 calculating game of is ufuba. The beer they drink — the chief and headmen drink 

 tirst. The thick milk or mast. The Mashona piano. The strigil — iron sceptre of 

 chief — and iron smelting. 



Arab type of countenance and reBnement of manner. 



4. The Report of the Mashonaland Committee. — See Reports, p. 538. 



5. On the Value of Art in Ethnology. By Professor A. C. Haddon. 



In order to study such an intricate subject as decorative art from the point 

 ■of view of the biologist, it is necessary tirst to confine one's attention to savage 

 art, where the problems are presented in a simpler form. In taking a definite area 

 into consideration, such as Biitish New Guinea, it is found that there are several 

 distinct and well-defined artistic provinces. The Torres Straits district is charac- 

 terised by the prevalence of straight and angled lines, to the exclusion of curved 

 lines, and the representation of animal forms, the latter being associated with 

 totemism. In the Gulf district the human face and form are the basis of almost all 

 their art. In the Port Moresby district decoration is in the form of panels, and 

 mainly straight and angled lines; whereas in the South Cape and Archipelago 

 district there is a wonderful richness of design, in wliicli curved lines are 

 abundant. It is well known that in this latter district there has been a great 

 mixture of race. It would appear that homogeneous peoplss have a uniform style 

 in their art, but that race mixture tends to varied artistic treatment. It is an 

 established dictum in biology that all life comes from pre-existing life, so we may 

 assert for savage art, and possibly for that of more civilised peoples, that all 

 artistic designs arise from, or are suggested by, natural objects. Savages do not 

 invent or create patterns or schemes of ornamentation ; the latter are arrived at by 

 a kind of almost undirected evolution. 



G. Similarity of Certain Ancient Necropoleis in the Pyrenees and in North 

 Britain. By Dr. Phene, F.8.A. 



In the personal surveys and investigations made by the author in Western 

 Europe tradition was often the beacon which led to the most interesting dis- 

 coveries. The tradition of St. Patrick driving the serpents, not of Ireland, as 

 popularly uow expressed, but of Sligo into the Atlantic, whence they returned to 

 Donegal, led to the examination of ancient relics very similar to those existing in 

 the Pyrenees and in several parts of England and Scotland, wliich have been 

 rendered classical by the Arthurian legends, which legends evidently had existence 

 in those localities long prior to the age of the historical Arthur. In the present 

 case the author selected Luchon, a spot where the traditions of the Pyrenees are 

 most concentrated, and where remarkable customs have been till very lately 



