116 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



regarded, and is still so regarded in many places, as the task of propitiating 

 these spirits. The European arrives and tells the native that these maladies 

 are not caused by evil spirits but by mosquitoes and the tsetse fly ! We 

 must not be surprised if we were not believed. 



I do not wish to draw an exaggerated picture, and the marvel is that 

 the African native is accommodating himself so rapidly, and on the whole 

 so cheerfully, to all this new world that has been brought into his midst. 



It is, of course, a mistake to generalise about Africans as a whole, for 

 there are probably just as great differences between the different races of 

 Africa as there are between the different races of Europe, but generally 

 speaking the African is probably the most imitative and adaptable of all 

 races of the human family. He starts with a far cleaner slate than the 

 populations of Asia with their ancient civilisations and intensely conserva- 

 tive traditions. 



To the African the steam-engine is not so much a foreign devil as a new 

 and wonderful toy. The African, too, has no idea of caste; he is ready to 

 turn his hand to any trade or craft, and to try anything new. He is perhaps 

 even too ready to jettison his old ideas and customs. The Mohammedan 

 peoples of Northern Nigeria, the Sudan, and Somaliland are more 

 conservative and more stable, but, for the rest, Africans are eager to 

 adopt hurriedly European clothing and European ideas. The moment they 

 acquire wealth they demand education, and the particular form of 

 education which they seek most is what is described in West Africa as 

 ' education for book.' The main source of attraction to the Missions is 

 the Mission school. 



It is true that the impact and sudden development of the African 

 produce changes which are only skin-deep. This must necessarily be 

 so where things are moving so rapidly. The mere fact that the African 

 native so readily abandons his own primitive paganism for Christianity 

 or Mohammedanism is an indication not that his conversion is ungenuine 

 but that it is frequently not very profound. Reversions and breakdowns 

 are inevitable. Remove the impetus and the example and the African 

 will quickly sUp back into old ways. The fact is that both the African 

 himself and we ourselves are setting a very fast pace, and we must expect 

 that the results of our efforts will be frequently superficial. 



I have already said that we still know comparatively little about the 

 history and mental traditions and aptitudes of the African native. The 

 work of the anthropologists is yearly widening our knowledge. Anthro- 

 pology is a science which is rapidly expanding in its scope. It is now recog- 

 . nised that it must include a study of native law and customs, methods of 

 agriculture, beliefs, and languages. Their variety is infinite, and as we are 

 still in the stage of collecting a vast mass of data there has as yet been 

 little time or opportunity to develop adequately the comparative and 

 synthetic side of the work ; still less to be able to deduce from our know- 

 ledge those lessons which will be most useful in guiding polic3^ There are 

 so many tribes, so many languages to be studied, and such a variety of 

 local problems, that it is very difficult to ensure that scientific investigation 

 shall keep pace with the practical day-to-day running of Government 

 administration and of economic development. Consequently our methods 

 and the whole character of our administrations in different parts of Africa 



