400 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS— H. 



They are thus deserving of attention in that they provide a ' norm ' on 

 which a study of the changed and changing Bantu can be based. 



Mrs. Nora K. Chadwick. — A study of poetic inspiration and the trance 

 of the seer (11.35). 



The materials for such a study are wider than is generally supposed. 

 Oral literature is one of our most important sources of information for the 

 phenomenon of trance, and is indispensable to the researches of psycholo- 

 gists into the mental condition of the seer. The ancient literatures of 

 northern and western Europe afford valuable evidence especially for the 

 more technical side of manticism. From Asia and Polynesia much additional 

 information is to be obtained from stories of the past and from current oral 

 poetry. In Africa certain traditional institutions have an important bearing 

 on contemporary mantic practices. A comparative survey leads to the con- 

 clusion that prophecy is generally uttered in the most elevated form of speech 

 of which the seer is capable — most commonly in poetry as we understand 

 the term ; but poetry does not diflfer essentially from chanted prose. Poetic 

 inspiration is not distinguished from prophetic inspiration among backward 

 and primitive peoples. Wherever manticism i? a living institution inspira- 

 tion has reference primarily not to the form, but to the matter, and embraces 

 the whole field of human knowledge — of the present and the past, as well 

 as the future. Recent observers are tending to stress the intellectual 

 element in the seer's equipment. 



Dr. Christoph von Furer-Haimendorf. — Field-work among the Konyak 

 Nagas of Assam (12.15). 



The Konyak Nagas, among whomi I have done field-work for twelve 

 months in 1936 and 1937, form the north-eastern group of the Naga tribes 

 of Assam and live in the mountains between the Patkoi Range and the 

 Brahmaputra valley. Only a small part of the Konyak country is under 

 British rule ; most villages enjoy complete independence and many of them 

 have even never been visited by any white man. 



In their appearance and in many aspects of their culture the Konyaks 

 are considerably different from the other Naga tribes. There is no doubt 

 that they largely represent an old type of culture, which was at one time 

 prevalent all over the Naga country. 



Their form of agriculture is very primitive : taro, not rice, is in many 

 villages the staple crop and cultivation on irrigated terraces is completely 

 unknown. Cattle-breeding is not done to a great extent, and the fact that 

 the pig is to this day the sacrificial animal proper to most ceremonial occasions 

 suggests that, except for dog and chicken, it was until recently the only 

 domestic animal. 



The Konyaks are the only Nagas who blacken their teeth ; one group of 

 them has elaborate face-tattoos and the men very often go completely 

 naked, while the women wear only minute skirts. 



The most outstanding feature in the social sphere are the autocratic 

 chiefs, who form a nobility with enormous privileges. The chief's clan is 

 not exogamous like the clans of the commoners, but endogamous ; for only 

 a man of pure aristocratic blood can succeed as chief. 



The religion of the Konyak is characterised by the cult of a sky-god and 

 the almost complete absence of any spirit- worship. Like all Nagas the 

 Konyaks are inveterate head-hunters. 



