Abstract
IN view of the increasing importance of native policy as a factor in determining the future of British and Mandated Africa, it is essentiallydesirable that accurate information about the native should be availablein a readily accessible and easily assimilable form. For this purpose this volume is in every way admirable. The life of the Bantu-speaking peoples of South Africa is described from every side as lived before modification by European contacts. Each chapter is written by an acknowledged expert among South African anthropologists. Among those dealing with the more general questions, Prof. Raymond Dart writes on racial origins and Dr. A. J. H. Godwin describes the geographical environment, while Dr. N.J. van Warmilo deals with grouping and racial history. Dr. C. M. Doke isresponsible for the account of language and Mrs. Hoernle analyses their social organization and records their magical and medical practices. Theother aspects of native life and culture are covered by writers of equalauthority ; the editor himself has been responsible for economics, politics, and law and justice.
The Bantu-speaking Tribes of South Africa:
an Ethnographical Survey. Edited for the (South African) Inter-University Committee for African Studies by I. Schapera. Pp. xv + 453 + 24 plates. (London: George Routledge and Sons, Ltd., 1937.) 21s. net.
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The Bantu-speaking Tribes of South Africa. Nature 141, 669 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/141669b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/141669b0