Alexander Mayunge's father was, before he died, headman of Mayunge Village in the Lala area of Northern Rhodesia—that is, some 100 miles east of Broken Hill. He was a professional Kalimba maker, and Alexander his son, to whom I am indebted for the facts in this essay, used to help him. Mayunge used to make all kinds of Tulimba—the Kankoŵela, the Ndande, and the Tulimba-twa-masaŵu: he also made Malimba which, among the Lala, means single-note xylophones.

To give the first Lugard Memorial Lecture upon Lord Lugard himself is at once a task of great honour and of great difficulty. I need not explain to this audience why it is an honour: we know that we are here to recall the life and work of a great man, who was a creator of our Institute and for nearly nineteen years (1926-45) its Chairman. But the difficulty does need some explanation. I must attempt at least a preliminary evaluation of a life that was immense in the period of time covered and in the range, both in space and in character, of its activities. Yet I cannot assume that you have a full knowledge of that life since its story has yet to be told. Some here knew him in his later years; there are, indeed, some still alive who worked with him in the vigorous days of his prime. There is also his own vivid account of four of his most adventurous early years, and there is the impressive documentation of his governorships. But there are large areas in his youth and even in his manhood which are still quite unknown. And when these have been explored the parts have still to be put together to form a biographical whole. Here is my difficulty: I cannot, in the time we have this evening, attempt both to tell the story, even in outline, and to comment. Yet how can the story and the comment be divorced? I must attempt a compromise. I must offer you something not much more than a chronology of his life, and tell you a little—and how little it must be—of some of his earlier, less known achievements; and then, assuming your knowledge of his later life, offer, in all humility, my first provisional evaluation. I emphasize provisional because my biography is only half drafted and there is much, especially between his leaving Nigeria in 1906 and the latest part of his life when I knew him, that is still, for me, a subject for research.

Jusqu'a une date très récente l'usage du gnomon chez les Bambara du Soudan français était, on peut dire, général. Il se trouvait presque sans exception dans tous les villages des masa dont les attributions et le rôle dans la société bambara, malgré des travaux importants consacrés à cette ethnie, sont loin d'être exactement connus. Actuellement, l'influence musulmane, comme aussi le contact avec notre civilisation, ont fait disparaître l'emploi de cet instrument astronomique; les vieux Bambara n'en parlent plus que comme d'une chose du passé. Mais la mémoire des informateurs très divers est vive à son endroit, et, sans rien vouloir exagérer, il semblerait qu'il s'agisse là d'un des plus vieux et des plus authentiques édifices de la civilisation Noire.

This article is concerned with tribal ideas on insanity among the Bemba of the Northern Province of Northern Rhodesia.

Dr. Alan Gregg, the Director of Medical Services Division of the Rockefeller Foundation, states that ‘Psychiatry as the study of disordered conduct is intimate to an almost suspicious degree with ethics, with cultural anthropology, with sociology, with metaphysics, with religion, with artistic activities . . . ’, and adds that many mental disorders are ‘often discernible only in terms of the patient's relationships with other human beings in some given intellectual or cultural or social or moral system’. He thus definitely emphasizes the necessity of studying the sociological background of the insane patient when cures are attempted.

The Swahili people are unique among the Bantu of East Africa in possessing an heritage of written literature of considerable range and antiquity. The earliest reasonably authentic examples consist of mashairi, song-poems, attributed to Liongo Fumo, prince of Ozi, c. A.D. 1150–1200. Many of the well-known mashairi were impromptu compositions of the minstrels who vied with one another at the songtourneys.

The existence of the country and people of the Gurage in Ethiopia has long been known in Europe from the writings of the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. A few references to the Gurage may also be found in Ludolf's Historia Aethiopica (1681), and Bruce's Travels (vol. iv, pp. 147 et seq.) contain some amusing accounts of Gurage activities. Bruce thought they were ‘troglodytes and all robbers; their constant occupation is attending the Abyssinian camps, and stealing horses, mules, or whatever they can get, which they do in a very singular manner’. He then describes such a Gurage robbery in some detail and remarks that when the culprit was finally apprehended, he was found to speak ‘the Amharic language as well as his own, contrary to what the villain had all along pretended’.

This paper forms part of a short general account of the Luo based on a rapid survey made in 1936. The survey was financed by the Leverhulme Grants Committee. An earlier part, describing the political structure of the Luo, has recently appeared in another journal.

Apart from information provided by Father Hartmann and a fuller account by Mr. K. C. Shaw, early accounts of Luo marriage are slight, and in some cases misleading. Mr. Shaw's account covers a good part of the ground covered by the present paper, but it is useful to have two independent accounts, especially as both were written from information obtained through interpreters. When I went to Kenya I did not expect to visit the Luo and I had not therefore read Mr. Shaw's article. Mr. Shaw and I disagree in a number of particulars in the overlapping parts of our papers. It does not follow from this that either of us is wrong in our statements because, as Mr. Shaw points out, there is some variation in local custom in the different tribes of Luoland. My own information on this particular subject was mostly obtained from the Alego tribe of Central Kavirondo. In the main I have followed the account given me by Pastor Ezekiel of that tribe. In doing so I have omitted much detail.

Une particularité des langues bantoues, dont on ne connaît encore ni l'origine, ni toute l'étendue, est l'emploi de prépréfixes devant les substantifs. On donne le nom de prépréfixes à des éléments qui précèdent les préfixes nominaux ordinaires; cette particularité a été constatée dans assez bien de langues bantoues, tant dans le sud — par exemple, Zulu, Xhosa, Thonga — que dans le nord-est — Ziba, Ruanda, Ganda — de l'Afrique.

The Bibliography section of this Journal shows an increasing number of books which, whether written in African vernaculars or in English, are intended primarily to be for Africans rather than about Africans; and an increasing proportion are written by Africans. ‘Notes and News’ items mention Publications Bureaux to encourage African authors and arrange the production and distribution of books. Something is going on in Africa which may be of importance for the artistic and social life of the people, something more important than the formation of new Departments of Government. This article attempts to make a provisional assessment of what is going on; to consider the aims and functions of organizations for promoting African literature, and to arrive at some general principles; to get the work of these Publications (or Literature) Bureaux in perspective. It is based on experience in Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, experience over some length of time, but perhaps rather parochial. The Government, while providing funds from Development and Welfare accounts, has happily avoided laying down any set of rules for the working of these Bureaux. A great deal of valuable guidance—all the more valuable for being brilliantly informal—was given to workers in Africa for many years by Margaret Wrong. The writer of this article has had the opportunity of seeing something of the work of the East Africa Literature Bureau and of discussion with Mr. C. G. Richards; these discussions discovered a surprising and pleasing range of independent agreement on principles to be followed (and misconceptions to be cleared) in East and Central Africa; some differences in conditions and therefore in suitable attack; and the need for more liaison.