TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 625 
2. The Historical Value of the Traditions of the Baganda. 
By HE. Srpney Harruanp. 
The recent tendency among ethnological inquirers to accept the oral traditions 
of peoples in the lower culture at their face value as historical evidence is 
contrary to true critical principles. The influence of imagination in recon- 
stituting the past, the measures taken by various African peoples to preserve 
the memory of past events, and the special dangers attendant on such measures. 
The length of time to which genuine historical memory extends may be illus- 
trated by the pedigrees of the Thonga chiefs. A summary examination of the 
traditions of the Baganda as recorded by the Rev. J. Roscoe and Sir Harry 
Johnston. Their historical value has been greatly over estimated. 
3. A Gypsy Pedigree and its Lessons. 
By Rey. Grorce Haut and W. H. R. Rivers, M.D., F.R.S. 
The pedigree of a well-known family, extending over six generations, has been 
analysed with the object of ascertaining how far the collection of gypsy pedi- 
grees is likely to furnish data of sociological and biological interest. 
One result has been to show a great increase in the proportion of marriages 
outside the gypsy community in the later as compared with the earlier genera- 
tions of the family. The pedigree also shows a large proportion of marriages 
between relatives. In the earlier generations there is one case of marriage 
with a half-sister, and two between uncle and niece. Marriages between cousins 
of various kinds occur throughout, but less frequently in proportion to the total 
number in the later generations. In the cases of the marriage of first cousins 
the children of two brothers have married more frequently than the children 
of brother and sister or of two sisters. 
Several cases of polygamy are recorded, and an examination of the marriages 
of widows and widowers show no trace of the Levirate, and only one case of 
marriage with the deceased wife’s sister. 
The chief points of biological interest to be learnt from the pedigree are that 
there is no evidence of any diminution in the size of the family, and that, as 
among other peoples, there is an excess of male births, while the first-born 
child is more often male than female. There is also evidence that the con- 
sanguineous marriages have been as fertile as those between persons unrelated to 
one another. 
The analysis is only intended as an example of the method by which the 
social and biological characters of the gypsies may be studied when more of 
their pedigrees have been recorded. 
4. Gypsy Taboos and Funeral Rites. By 'T. W. Tuompson, M.A. 
This paper, which contained a selection from a large mass of material, 
collected from all available sources, dealt especially with the British gypsies, 
with some two or three thousand of whom the author is personally acquainted, 
and with the German gypsies, who are more closely akin to our own than any 
other, whose taboos and funeral rites have just been completely revealed to us 
in the writings of one of their number, Englebert Wittich, and of whom the 
author has some first-hand knowledge. 
A woman’s dress must not be allowed to touch any article of food, or any 
vessel in which food is prepared or from which it is eaten, otherwise the food 
or vessel in question becomes mokhadi (ceremonially contaminated), and must 
be destroyed. There are many other similar prohibitions based on the belief 
that the same contaminating influence emanates from anything used in the 
washing of apparel or of the person, and anything connected with the toilet or 
with the bed; also from any sick person. These prohibitions are multiplied and 
intensified on the occasion of child-birth. 
But it is not only dirt and disease that cling to and are conveyed in clothing ; 
amongst other things may be mentioned spells and bad luck. This seems to 
throw some light on the custom of burning, or otherwise destroying, the effects 
1913. ss 
