in.] SOUTH AFRICAN TRIBES. 101 



arising from the animal-worship on the banks of the Nile. 

 For a like reason the Bechuanas will not eat fish. 



The Makololo pound maize in large wooden mortars; the 

 exact counterpart of which may be seen on the Egyptian 

 monuments '. 



The mode of weaving cotton in Angola, and throughout 

 central Africa, is so like that of the same people, that our 

 traveller has introduced a wood-cut from Sir Gardener Wil- 

 kinson's Ancient Egyptians ', illustrative both of this and the 

 above practice 2 . 



With reference to the peculiarities of race, our traveller 

 says; " The monuments of the ancient Egyptians seem to me 

 to embody the ideal of the inhabitants of Londa, better than 

 the figures of any work of ethnology I have met with 3 ." 



As regards the mode of dressing the hair among the 

 Banyai, he says : " As they draw out their hair into small 

 cords a foot in length, and entwine the inner bark of a certain 

 tree round each separate cord, and dye this substance of a 

 reddish colour, many of them put me in mind of the ancient 

 Egyptians 1 ." 



Other traces of that wonderful people may be seen ; such as 

 the rite of circumcision, the doctrine of the metempsychosis, 

 and some other arts and customs. 



These indications are interesting and important, since they 

 help the question of the unity of our race, and shew how in- 

 fluential and permanent the teaching of one people becomes on 

 the minds and practice of another ; hence bidding us to hope 

 the more for the lasting influence of true civilization and 

 Christianity on untaught heathen and idolaters. 



t. .. This question is merely mooted here. Dr 



Do climate * J 



and geographi- Pritchard says such is largely the case; Dr 



cal situation Li vm p- S t ne says hut little. The former reasons 

 influence race? a J . . _ _^ 



a posteriori; the latter a prion. Drirntchard 



1 Travels, p. 196. 8 Ibid. p. 4°°- 



3 Ibid. p. 624. 4 Ibid. p. 379. 



15— 2 



