Abstract
THE growing interest in the study of anthropology as a branch of university teaching is illustrated by the publication of the Proceedings of the Anatomical and Anthropological Society of Aberdeen, of which Prof. R. W. Reid is chairman, for the years 1906—8. The most important contribution in the volume is a report by Dr. G. A. Turner on the natives of Portuguese East Africa south of latitude 22°. The habits, customs, and mode of life of the three chief races in this territory, the Myambaams, Mtyopis, Shangaans, and Lourenço Marques Boys, are described chiefly with reference to the principal forms of disease which appear in their kraals. Incidentally, some remarkable customs of much interest to the anthropologist are discussed. Thus, if a man dies of a disease like consumption, which causes constant gasping for breath, the officiant at the burial has to open the thorax of the deceased in the middle line and remove both the lungs and heart. These are so placed in the grave that they will not slip back into the thorax when they are laid upon it. The rite is obviously a piece of sympathetic magic intended to save the person conducting the interment from contracting the disease.
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Studies in Anthropology . Nature 79, 264 (1908). https://doi.org/10.1038/079264a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/079264a0