590 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— H. 



Friday, September 7. 



Prof. T. F. McIlwraith. — Secret Societies of the North-West Coast of 



America. 



The complex social life of the coastal Indians of British Columbia is due largely 

 to interactions between the highly organised, matrilineal northern peoples and those 

 dweUing in the patrilineal village communities of the south. Secret societies are most 

 important in the central region, whence they have spread in either direction, affecting 

 all phases of indigenous culture. The primary function of all branches of the organisa- 

 tion is the performance of dramatic dances at which supernatural beings, ia reality 

 masked actors, appear. Only members of the society can approach these visitants, 

 so that, during the months of their intermittent sojourn, the normal social divisions 

 are replaced by a cleavage between the initiated and the uninitiated. Transition 

 from the latter group to the former depends upon the possession of an hereditary 

 prerogative, which, however, remains inoperative unless sanctioned by the group. 

 A lengthy initiation, entailing considerable expense to the candidate, is necessary to 

 validate the step. The secret societies thus exercise religious, social and economic 

 functions, and, in addition, the respect shown to senior members has important 

 political significance. 



Mr. Egbert Kerr. — The Gordon Munro Collection of Japanese Antiquities 

 in the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh. 



This paper described the large collection of prehistoric Japanese antiquitiee 

 collected by Dr. N. Gordon Munro, of Yokohama, Japan, and presented by him to 

 the Royal Scottish Museum. The prehistoric age of Japan falls into two principal 

 periods, which Dr. Munro has termed ' Neolithic ' and ' Yamato.' Relics of the 

 Neolithic period have been found mostly on the sites of ancient dwellings of the 

 early race which inhabited Japan, and especially in shell mounds. The objects 

 recovered consist chiefly of implements of horn, bone and stone, and of vessels and 

 fragments of coarse hand-made pottery. ' Yamato ' was the name applied to itself 

 until the seventh century a.d. by the race which invaded Japan from the Asiatic 

 continent. Amongst the most remarkable remains of this period are the burial 

 mounds containing stone vaults. These tombs have yielded weapons and implements 

 of iron and bronze, and imitations of these La stone ; also personal ornaments in 

 various materials ; and several types of pottery, mostly turned on the wheel. 



Capt. G. E. H. Wilson. — Deductions from the Remains of an old Agri- 

 cultural System in Uhehe, Tanganyika Territory. 



In Uhehe there are the remains of an agricultural system of an ancient date. It 

 has been noted that where these occur there are place names beginning with RU, a 

 prefix now fallen into disuse, that these names are traceable over a large area extending 

 from the Ruaha, latitude eight degrees south, to Rutiaha, about latitude three degrees 

 north, when all trace is lost until the name reappears at Khartoum as Rufaa. From 

 these deductions it would appear that at one time, possibly that of the Himyarites, 

 there was in the neighbourhood of the Central African Lakes a great dominant race 

 who traded with the outside world to the north via the Nile to Ptolemais and the 

 west by way of the Ruaha to Rhapta. It also appears from these deductions that 

 the coast line of Ptolemy can be closely identified, particularly the position of ancient 

 Rhapta. The problem it is desired to submit for discussion and further investigation 

 s, who were these ancient people ? 



Mr. G. W. B. HuNTiNGFORD. — The Hunting Tribes of Kenya. 



The hunting tribes who live in various forest regions of Kenya Colony are termed 

 collectively Dorobo, or, in their own language, Okiek. The majority, it appears, 

 speak a dialect of Nandi ; there are certain peculiarities which are presumed to be 

 remnants of the original Okiek language. The most reasonable supposition is that 

 the Dorobo are autochthonous, and that the Nandi language has been superimposed 

 on their own. The Dorobo of the Kamelilo-Kapchepkendi district, S.E. of the Nandi 

 Reserve, live in temporary shelters made of branches. They keep no cattle, and 



