Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/280

 244 Reviews.

into one people which is still going on. Hitherto we have been dependent for most of what we know of the Yao and Anyanja upon the Rev. Duff Macdonald's Africana, a book invaluable for the student of the Bantu race. But Macdonald, with all his merits, was nothing of an anthropologist. It was quite time that his book should be — not superseded : that is probably impossible, but — supplemented by some one who knows the problems anthrop- ologists are trying to solve, and is able to assist in so doing. Although Miss Werner addresses primarily an audience of a popular character, her wide knowledge of the Bantu, her compre- hension of the scientific issues, her sense of proportion, and her clear and pleasant style, combine to render her work useful to more than " the general reader."

The book opens with a geographical account of the country, its climate, fauna, and flora. The authoress passes on to a list of the tribes, and an account of their physical characteristics, dwelling chiefly on those of the Mang'anja and Wayao. She care- fully discusses their artificial deformities, (keloids, the perforation of the lip for a plug, and the filing of the teeth), and their fashions in hairdressing. Then come two important chapters on Religion and Magic. After this native life, from birth to death and burial, comes under review. Arts and industries, the language and folk- lore, music and dancing, follow. The tribal organisation and government are explained, and finally the history and migrations, so far as we know them from civilised records, or can infer them from the traditions of the natives, are traced. It will thus be seen that the entire ground is covered, and Miss Werner is able from her own experience constantly to add details, or to give explanations which throw considerable light on the subject. It is true that exact references to authorities are dispensed with, according to what I think the indefensible plan of the series. But the want of them is, to some extent, compensated by the security that the reader feels that where the author is quoting she always has her own personal knowledge of the tribes chiefly described in the background to satisfy her that the statements quoted are accurate, and thus though the information may be conveyed by quotation, it is, to some extent at any rate, to be received on her personal authority.