Discovery an African Number

Abstract

Discovery of June, in an opportune moment, is concerned almost exclusively with Africa. It opens, immediately after editorial notes and comments, with an article by Prof. C. G. Seligman on human types in tropical Africa. Prof. Seligman explains how it has come about that the usual classification of the native peoples of the continent is based on linguistics rather than on physical characters, and then sets out the distribution and characteristics of the major racial divisions in the tropical area. Dr. H. E. Hurst, in a study of the Upper Nile, discusses questions relating to water supply at the source, and indicates where there is necessity for further research. Of the remaining articles, two in particular require mention. Capt. William Hichens's account of demoniac possession is a valuable report by an eye-witness of a recent outbreak of Kupagawa na pepo (“ridden by demons”), which amounted almost to an epidemic in Mombasa and other towns of East Africa. He describes the various forms of demon dances by which the spirits were exorcised. In another article, G. A. Gardner, field director of the Archaeological Committee of the University of Pretoria, describes the results of further excavations at Mapunggubwe on the south side of the Limpopo River. The partial excavation of a mound, which was found to consist of village refuse, confirms the results of previous excavation on an adjacent area which has been described by Prof. C. van Riet Lowe. He ascribed the earlier of the two occupations then discovered to the Sotho. This is regarded as the earliest trace of Bantu culture known in the Union. The mound excavated by Capt. Gardner was entirely Sotho. It had a depth of 20 ft. and consisted of about 40,000 tons of material. It was found to be centrally situated in a village from which had come the refuse of which it was composed. There was no iron, but copper ornaments, bangles and bracelets were plentiful. The burials were disarticulated with the skull on top of the bones. In several instances cow bones were associated with the human remains.