Having received through the generosity of the Rockefeller Foundation additional funds for the extension of research in Africa, the Council of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures are of opinion that the best use that can be made of the resources at their disposal is to encourage and assist studies directed to a single main objective. The fundamental problem arising from the interpenetration of African life by the ideas and economic forces of European civilization is that of the cohesion of African society. African society is being subjected to a severe strain, and there is a danger lest the powerful forces that are entering the continent may bring about its complete disintegration, the results of which must be calamitous for the individuals who compose it and at the same time render impossible an orderly evolution of the community. It is proposed, therefore, that the inquiries fostered by the Institute should be directed towards bringing about a better understanding of the factors of social cohesion in original African society, the ways in which these are being affected by the new influences, tendencies towards new groupings and the formation of new social bonds, and forms of co-operation between African societies and western civilization.

Among the vast range of subjects found in African sculpture, the representations of Janus occupy an important position, primarily for purely artistic reasons. On the whole, African sculptors chiefly excel in their treatment of single figures, be they masks or statues. Each piece of work which is more than one figure is in itself a notable advance on the usual African style. Now there are Janus masks which in their formal structure are chefs-d'œvre of African sculpture and, indeed, of all primitive art. A number of these come from the Cross River district. It is not only, however, because of their artistic form and powerful expression that these masks are interesting. Again and again men have racked their brains in order to solve the problem of their inner meaning, and have risked the most daring hypotheses, as is shown in the book by R. Karutz, Das Rätsel des Janus (1927, Basle): I shall discuss this critically at the end of this article.

Um weitschweifigen Umschreibungen auszuweichen, wird hier das Nomen ‘Gar’ und das Zeitwort ‘garen’ gebraucht, wofür es kein deutsches Wort gibt. Die Bedeutung der beiden Ausdrücke ergibt sich aus dem Folgenden. Das ‘Gar’ ist die Vornahme der den Nuer kennzeichnenden Stirnschnitte, und damit die Einführung in den Mannesstand.

L'Afrique possède des richesses immenses que les indigènes, pendant des siècles, n'ont pas su exploiter. Cette carence des indigènes a été la principale cause de la venue et de l'installation des blancs en Afrique. Elle est considérée, par beaucoup de sociologues, comme la meilleure justification du fait de la colonisation. Dans l'intérêt des colonisants et aussi, sans doute, des colonisés, il faut exploiter ces richesses. En tout cas, aucune nation ne consentirait des sacrifices considérables d'hommes et d'argent dans un but exclusivement sentimental et humanitaire. D'autre part, l'exploitation industrielle du sol et du sous-sol africain suppose nécessairement la collaboration des indigènes. D'immenses travaux doivent être exécutés pour lesquels il est besoin d'une énorme main-d'œuvre qui ne peut être qu'indigène. Mais ou trouver cette main-d'œuvre et comment l'organiser? Problème difficile qu'on a jusqu'aujourd'hui résolu dans des conditions telles qu'elles inspirent les plus graves inquiétudes à ceux que préoccupe l'avenir des populations africaines.

The family life of an African is primarily based on polygamy and patriarchy. Each family has its own village and the head of the family is elder of the village. As soon as a youth gets married and has children he thinks of establishing his own village in order to obtain sufficient land for cultivation for himself and his children. This is the start of a native village. He calls the village by some name which comes to his fancy. Probably after a few months few people join him at the newly established village; thus the village grows and the founder is called the elder of the village. The next thought of the African after he has acquired a little wealth is to increase the number of his wives to the number that his wealth can provide him. Very often he keeps them in different huts and at different villages which he calls Mtaa, meaning a quarter. He spends days and nights proportionately at each hut, usually three nights at each hut if they are in close proximity or seven days if they are far. He calls it Kugawa ngono, which means the distribution of conjugal rights. Each wife has her own farm which she cultivates with her children, her husband doing the heavy work. The husband has his own farm over which he has authority. Each wife harvests and keeps her own food in her granary in the hut. She has full control over her own food. She feeds and clothes her children from the proceeds of the sale of her crop; and feeds her husband with the same food when he stays with her. The crop from the husband's farm is stored in the senior wife's hut. The senior wife is the first wife in marriage. She keeps all the money of the husband and distributes food to the other wives from the husband's store when the other wives have run short of food.

Kono Country is situated in the eastern part of Sierra Leone and is about two thousand square miles in extent with a population of roughly eighty-five thousand souls. The administrative head-quarters is situated at Sefadu, itself in Kono country, and distant fifty-eight miles approximately due north of the railway station of Segbwema on the main Freetown-Pendembu railway line and connected with that station by a motor road. This head-quarters has been opened since 1927 before which the district was administered from Panguma in the Mende country. The opening of the head-quarters in Kono country itself and the better communication established by the motor road has already greatly benefited the Kono people.

The orthography used here is that recommended by the International Institute of African Languages in conjunction with the Board of Education, Lagos.

A Survey of hygiene books used in English-speaking areas in Africa appeared in Volume iii, No. 4 of this journal. At that time no other lists of this kind were being published, but information with regard to new literature both in European languages and in the vernacular is now published regularly in Books for Africa, the bulletin of the International Committee on Christian Literature for Africa, in Oversea Education, published with the approval of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and in the Bibliography of current literature relating to Africa which appears in this journal. Those interested in the subject can, therefore, obtain the information they need in regard to new literature from these various publications and it does not appear that a further paper dealing with these books is required.