SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—H. 529 
considerably modified by the use of foreign tools or vessels. Such use of 
introduced implements has in itself caused a number of ancillary occupations 
to be forgotten. Similarly the means adopted for personal enhancement are 
now largely those used by Europeans: clothing has replaced the use of oil 
and native-made ornaments are now rare and becoming rarer because no 
longer made. The Kava ceremony is an example of a custom which has 
stood the test of pressure from extraneous influences, only, however, 
because it is a ceremony essential to many social occasions. 'Tatuing is 
not now practised, but the processes have not yet been fully described. 
The old men to whom one naturally turns for information are passing out 
and with them is being lost the possibility of recording customs hitherto 
unrecorded, for the younger generation take little interest in the practices 
of their forefathers. 
Wednesday, September 13. 
Prof. E. E. Evans-PritcHarD.—The nature of bride-wealth among the 
Azande (10.0). 
Dr. A. N. Tucker.—Primitive music in the Southern Sudan, with tllus- 
trations on native instruments (10.40). 
This paper is concerned only with the pagan tribes of the upper reaches 
of the Nile, not with Arabs. 
Music plays a great part in the life of these people, and has many aspects. 
A very tentative analysis of Nilotic music is here given, obtained from 
studying their songs and illustrated with some of their musical instruments. 
Nilotic scale —Fundamentally pentatonic, but difficult for us to ascertain 
which note may be regarded as the ‘ key’ note in any song. Certain notes 
in any song seem to vary, within half a tone, according to the mood of the 
singer, which have a profound influence on our interpretation of the song. 
These the author calls the ‘ uncertain ’ notes. 
This fluctuating pentatonic scale is illustrated on flutes from the Acholi 
country, which give a reliable scale (since their intervals cannot be altered 
by any ‘ tuning’; in other instruments, one has to rely on a conception of 
native tuning). 
Rhythm.—This aspect of African music is by far the harder for Europeans 
to grasp. In playing the instruments here, the rhythm is relatively steady, 
and is often marked by tapping the instrument or the ground. The main 
rhythms are 4/4, 3/4 and a fast 6/8. Drum rhythms, which are the most 
complicated, are not dealt with here. 
Types of instruments.—F lute, horn, harp, lyre, sanza, and their distribu- 
an in the Southern Sudan, and their probable origin. Songs to illustrate 
their use. 
Dr. S. F. Napvet.—Anthropological aspects of musical research, with 
illustrations by gramophone records (11.25). 
This paper demonstrates the réle which the study of primitive music 
can play in anthropological research. Central phenomenon of human life as 
it is, music becomes a paradigm of that complex interrelation and intersection 
of the different scientific aspects which is so characteristic for anthropological 
method. The study of music in primitive society can even claim to open 
to anthropology new ways of approach to some of these aspects. Four 
T2 
