In central Nigeria, between 8° 30' and 10° 30' N. lat., lies Nupe-land. Two rivers form its boundaries, the Niger to the south and west, the Kontagora river to the north. Another river marks its central axis: the Kaduna. The boundary to the east is formed by the gradually rising land, which eventually reaches the hills of Gwari country. It is a low, open, fertile country, covering roughly 7,000 sq. m., inhabited by a population who were known from the ancient days, and all over Nigeria, as an industrious and able people. The census of 1931 gives their number as 326,000, but for various reasons one may safely take it to be considerably higher, probably up to half a million.

Lord Lugard in, an article which appeared in the Daily Telegraph for July 30th, 1934, indicated some of the directions in which anthropology could assist the administration of primitive peoples. He referred to functional anthropology, but the limits of his article did not allow him to indicate the methods through which such assistance could be sought by the administrator and supplied by the anthropologist.

Previous contributors to this symposium have described in some detail the problem of culture contact as it appeared to them in their own fields, and the methods they employed in studying it there. I do not propose here to cover similar ground, particularly as I have already published a short statement of the lines along which I have been attempting during the last five years to inquire into the presentday culture of the Kxatla in Bechuanaland Protectorate. My purpose is rather to set down briefly what appear to me as the essential elements to be considered in any field study of modern culture contacts, as reflected, shall we say, in the relations between the European and Native inhabitants of South Africa.

Are there elements in indigenous African cultures which might be used as vehicles for alien acculturation? Since cultural contacts in Africa must inevitably increase, thus tending to modify the native political, economic, and social order, can we distinguish features in African society which might well be retained, at least long enough to serve as aids in articulating the two cultures, native and foreign, or ease the transition, to the advantage of both?

Dans les notes qui vont suivre je me propose d'exposer les règles coutumières relatives au mariage chez les Guissiga, Moundang et Toubouri. Ces trois peuplades indigènes sont avec maintes autres appelées ‘Kirdi’. Ce terme, d'usage courant, n'a cependant aucune valeur raciale: il est employé par les indigènes islamisés, foulbé ou bororo, pour désigner indistinctement tous les païens.

This paper is based on personal research among the Igbo, and more especially among the Umundri group. It describes the coronation-ceremony of two divine kings who are the spiritual heads of the Umundri. The two divine kings occupy different towns which are in the Awka District, Onitsha Province. This Province is in Southern Nigeria and lies on the left bank of the Niger. Originally there was only Aguku and only one divine king. Dissensions arose and a part of Aguku seceded, to found the town of Oreri with its own divine king.

Der Gottesglaube der Bakwiri ist monotheistisch. Neben Gott stehen noch andere Kräfte, die unabhängig von ihm wirken: Dämonen, Hexen, Kraftmittel, gute und böse, Orakel, während die Ahnengeister eine Art Verbindungsglied zwischen Gott und Menschen darstellen. Mokase, von dem später die Rede ist, und Efas' á mote sind zu den Dämonengeistern zu zählen.