It is now possible to give an outline of the religious ideas of the more important tribes of the White Nile between Khartum and the southern boundary of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Actually our knowledge is not so excessively limited as would appear from the following narrative; for lack of space I have omitted much that might be said of rain-makers, totemism, and the cult of the dead, and have avoided all discussion of sacred spears (a considerable cult) and the ‘People of the Nile’ and their river cattle.

It is important to understand native opinion about black magic, not only for the anthropologist but also for the colonial administrator and missionary, if they wish to show to the peoples whom they govern and teach that they understand their notions about right and wrong. The native does not so much distrust European justice and education as he despairs of the administrator and missionary ever understanding, or attempting to understand, his point of view as expressed in laws and public opinion. This despair springs largely from the handling by Europeans of such matters as sorcery, with which both missionaries and administrators frequently have to deal. The native becomes convinced finally that the European is quite incapable of seeing the difference between right and wrong, between the proper use of a cultural weapon fully sanctioned by public opinion, such as white magic, and a heinous and cold-blooded murder, such as the crime of black magic or sorcery. He eventually reaches the conclusion, through long experience, that to white men all magic is shameful and criminal, and that they will either laugh at it or penalize it.

Si l'on consulte un tableau des langues parlées dans les possessions françaises de l'Ouest-africain, ou si l'on examine une carte linguistique de ces régions, on est frappé par la multitude des idiomes qui y sont en usage. On peut en compter, en effet, cent cinquante environ des rives de l'Océan Atlantique au Tchad. Plusieurs sont connus seulement de quelques milliers d'individus, beaucoup, qui s'étaient conservés intacts dans le sauvage isolement de la barbarie, disparaissent lentement avec la facilité plus grande des moyens de communication, des voyages, des échanges et l'introduction du commerce dans les parties les plus reculées du territoire. Bientôt, dans une génération peut-être, ils cesseront d'être compris en dehors du cercle des vieillards. Le Comité Permanent de Linguistes, dont Monseigneur Schrijnen est l'actif secrétaire-général, s'est inquiété de cette extinction rapide et étudie les moyens de faire noter par des spécialistes les langues menacées, avant qu'il ne soit trop tard. On ne peut évidemment qu'applaudir a un tel programme. Aussi ai-je été heureux de me mettre en rapport avec l'organisme en question, de lui fournir quelques suggestions et de collaborer dans une certaine mesure à son œuvre en recueillant, au cours de mon dernier voyage en Afrique, dix-sept vocabulaires de parlers soudanais qui n'ont pas encore été notes à ma connaissance.

The preamble to one of the clauses in the Charter under which the British Crown entrusted the administration of the natives of Northern Rhodesia to the British South Africa Company runs as follows:

It enunciates a very important principle of our policy in dealing with backward races. ‘Careful regard shall always be had to their laws and customs…’ but there is a saving clause to be added, ‘in so far as such laws or customs are not repugnant to natural justice, equity, and good government’. The extension of this principle to all branches of native administration has of late years been strongly emphasized in various pronouncements by those whose duty it is to supervise or comment upon British government of native communities in general and of those of East Africa in particular. All that is best in tribal organizations and tribal institutions must be preserved and adapted to the machinery of government in the native territories which we administer.

My recent article on the ‘Development of the Swahili Language’ was written before the publication of Pastor Roehl's article on ‘The Linguistic Situation in East Africa’. The former, therefore, though published six months after the latter, contains no reference to it. But Pastor Roehl's interesting article requires a reply. With much that he says I am in agreement, and I do not fail to appreciate his scholarship, but I must here confine myself to points of criticism.

Nachdem gewichtige Stimmen auf höchst beachtenswerte Spuren bildender Kunst in dem zu lange unterschätzten schwarzen Erdteil aufmerksam gemacht haben, richtet sich die Frage auf das, was Afrika in der Dichtung geleistet hat. Märchen als die verbreitetste epische Spielart sind in grossem Umfange gesammelt worden, doch mit Lücken, die einen Gesamtüberblick noch nicht zulassen, und noch weniger gewährt ihn, was bisher an Lyrik, also gebundener Rede, zu Tage gefördert wurde. So mag ein Versuch, das Augenmerk auf ein Feld zu lenken, das sich durch die Fülle seiner Früchte vor andern hervortut und immer weiter ausdehnt, der Mühe wert erscheinen.