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Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. 
kuowii to the Arabs in the Middle Ages, being referred to in the commentary 
to the Kitah al Aghani, the "Book of Songs'';* and stone boards f and 
fragments of boards — some of them obviously very old — identical w^ith those 
in use at the present day, are found in, and in the neighbourhood of, the 
ancient ruins of Southern Rhodesia. 
At the present day many varieties of the game are in existence, but 
while these differ considerably among themselves they all present sufficient 
identity of feature to justify the assumption that they have a common 
ancestry. In regard to its origin diverse views prevail. Culin, from the 
comparatively early mention of the game in Arabic literature and the 
retention of its Aral)ic name (mancala or manqala) in Northern Africa, 
concludes that Arabia was the source whence it was disseminated, and 
regards its distribution as marking the limits of Arab culture. Schwein- 
furth,]: on the other hand, believes that it originated i]i Central Africa and 
looks upon its wide diffusion in the continent " as evidence, in its degree 
indirect and collateral, of the essential unity of the African nations." Until 
more is known of the distribution and rules of the game in diff'erent parts 
of Africa, it would be idle to dogmatise in regard to these mutually destruc- 
tive hypotheses, but the facts in our possession appear to the writer to 
favour the views of Schweinfurth. 
The distribution of the game in South Africa is peculiar. It is played 
by the Hottentots, the Berg Damaras, and by practically all the Bantu 
tribes with the exception of the Basutoland Basutos,§ the Zulus, Matabele, 
and the tribes inhabiting the eastern districts of the Cape Province, || among 
whom it is, however, being introduced by natives returning from the mine 
compounds, where it is one of the favourite recreations. There is no evidence 
to show that the game was ever practised by the Bushman.^ 
The writer has only recently taken up the study of the game and is 
presenting these notes with the object of stimulating interest in and raising 
■discussion on a branch of ethnography that has hitherto been neglected by 
.students of the native races of Africa. 
As far as he has been able to ascertain from his own investigations and 
* Of. Culin, loc. cit. 
t Similar game-boaids have been found and are depicted in paintings in Egyptian 
tombs as old as the pre-dynastic period (4000 b.c), but from the fact that astragels 
or oblong dice usually accompany the boards, it is presumed that the games played 
on them Aveve dice-games. Vide Murray, H. J. E., The History of Chess, p. 30. 
X Cf. The Heart of Africa, vol. ii, p. 29. 
§ Among the Rasutos of Basutoland the European game of Mill {Gevm.a,nMuhle) 
is very popular under the name Maraharaha. It was evidently taught them|_ by 
missionaries. 
II For much of this information the writer is indebted to Mr. H. M. Taberer. 
•[[ The game known as Bushman Cards, which is described by G. W. Stow in 
The Native Races of South Africa, is something totally different. 
