In Africa to-day the need for adequate investigation of nutritional problems is evident. As European civilization advances, the task of maintaining or providing for large sections of the native population diets which shall be adequate in quality as well as in quantity becomes more and more definite. In the practical sphere the problem is of a different complexion according to whether the community considered is an artificially induced concentration of people, as in schools, hospitals, prisons, and labour compounds, or is a comparatively spontaneous and free-moving aggregation in its own territory. A tribe which has been shifted back into a native reserve is in a kind of intermediate category. The index is, of course, the respective amount of initiative and control exercised by the European authority and by the native. What follows is a discussion of the dietetic situation in tribal conditions only. The maintenance of a balanced diet in a hospital or a labour compound is a comparatively simple matter if due scientific care is exercised; it is much more difficult to regulate the food-situation of a free-living native tribe. The two sets of problems are, however, not entirely unconnected, since with an increasing knowledge of the constitution of native foodstuffs, and experiment by the trial and error method, it has been found that quite a number of these are suitable for incorporation into a standard diet and can replace European foodstuffs. On the other hand, the advent of a money economy into the life of many tribes has made possible the purchase of imported foodstuffs to correct a deficiency in their diet if they so desire—though too often it has the opposite effect of inducing the abandonment of useful native elements. Here then the problem takes on an economic complexion, and relative costs of importation, local purchase, or home production have to be considered, with inevitable complications for the final decision.

The special branch of social anthropology which deals with peoples whose culture is undergoing rapid change as the result of contact with more highly developed societies is of interest from a number of different points of view. On the one hand there is the purely theoretic approach, which is concerned to discover rules governing this process—to find reasons for the assimilation of some elements of the alien culture and the rejection of others, or explanations of the fact that the dominant civilization has sometimes succeeded in imposing changes in social organization which analysis shows to be patently disadvantageous, while in other directions it may be powerless; perhaps to trace the basic human motives which come sharply into prominence when liberated by the breakdown of traditional standards of conduct and values. On the other hand this study has a severely and urgently practical importance. A recent American writer has suggested that in British colonies these problems are only considered relevant in their bearing on the maintenance of the labour supply. Such a view would appear to conflict with the fact that, as far as Africa is concerned, it is mainly in colonies governed under the system of Indirect Rule, where the economic policy is to encourage independent native production, that the study of social anthropology receives official encouragement. Actually it is being more and more clearly recognized by administrators directly concerned in moulding the development of the African peoples that this ‘sacred trust’ cannot be executed until the bases of a sound development are laid down; until it is known in each separate case how far the native social organization has been already rendered obsolete by changed conditions, how far it is capable of readjustment, what are the existing foundations on which the new institutions that the new needs require can be securely built. Experience is constantly bringing home to the man on the spot the need for some more practical criterion of policy than that inherent desirability of everything ‘civilized’, which the facts so plainly contradict.

Among the many comparatively new factors bearing on native education policies in East Africa the administrative policy of Indirect Rule is one which must be reckoned with. Though already practised to some extent on the eastern side of Africa, notably in Uganda, it may be said that Indirect Rule as a definite policy of Government in East Africa dates from its introduction by Sir Donald Cameron as Governor of Tanganyika Territory in 1925. Sir Donald came from Nigeria, where he had helped to carry on the policy started by Lord Lugard during the years immediately preceding the War.

Il faut sans doute compter les tribus du sud-ouest de l'Angola, c'est-à-dire les Ambo et puis toutes les petites peuplades qui habitent le pays qui s'étend de la mer jusqu'au Kunene à partir du 14° 30′ de latitude sud jusqu'à la frontière et au delà, parmi celles qui opposent le plus de résistance à la pénétration de la civilisation européenne. Encore y a-t-il sous ce rapport des différences assez notables entre elles. Tous ces peuples sont à la fois éleveurs de bétail et agriculteurs, sauf les Kuvale d'en bas des montagnes de la Chela, proches parents des Herero, qui se dédient uniquement à l'élevage. En laissant donc de côté cette dernière tribu, qui est du reste numériquement de peu d'importance, il nous reste pour l'ensemble de ces peuples au point de vue de la culture matérielle une homogénéité assez grande. Leur attitude différente en face de la civilisation européenne est d'autant plus curieuse. Les plus réfractaires sont sans doute les Nyaneka de la région de Huila et Gambos. Bien que, par endroits, leur pays soit occupé depuis des années par beaucoup de colons blancs, ils n'ont presque rien modifié dans leurs coutumes ancestrales. Les Ambo par contre, ayant été beaucoup moins soumis à l'influence directe des Blancs, ont cédé plus facilement sur certains points. Il serait certes intéressant d'étudier à ce point de vue ces divers peuples et de tâcher d'expliquer la raison de leur attitude — les raisons en seront surtout d'ordre psychologique — mais pour pouvoir donner des conclusions sérieuses, il faudrait une connaissance profonde puisée au contact direct de tous ces peuples. Comme cette condition préalable n'est pas réalisée pour le moment, le présent article ne comprend directement que les Ambo et plus particulièrement la tribu la plus importante de ce groupe, celle des Kwanyama.

The problem of the relationship between Pygmies and Bushmen is not yet solved. The earlier investigators contented themselves with the methods of Physical Anthropology which have predominated over all others. Father Wilhelm Schmidt, using more especially arguments based on his studies of religious history, was the pioneer of the ethnological approach. The only student to make use of linguistic evidence was Father Schebesta, who tried to establish the unity of all African Pygmies and Bushmen by means of tribal names.

Mba de icɛ icɛ na ala Igbo nwɛrɛ ɛmumɛ-ihɛ ha na-ɛmɛ na arɔ na arɔ de ka omɛ-na-ala ha si de. Na ala Owɛrɛ, otu ɛmumɛ-ihɛ de nkɛ ana-akpɔ Oru Owɛrɛ, ana-ɛmɛ na arɔ na arɔ mgbɛ iri ji ɔhɵrɵ fɔdɵrɵ ihɛ de ka otu ɔnwa. Ɔ bɵ ɛmumɛ-ihɛ nkɛ mɛrɛ ka ndi Owɛrɛ mɛfuɛ ɔtɵtɵ ɛgo na ogɛ ociɛ ma ɔ bɵgh kwa otu ahɵ ugbua na ihi na ɔtɵtɵ ndi Owɛrɛ aghɔɔla ndi Church wɛɛ rapɵ ya.