English:
Identifier: handbooktoethnog00brit (find matches)
Title: Handbook to the ethnographical collections
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: British Museum. Dept. of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography Joyce, Thomas Athol, 1878-1942 Dalton, O. M. (Ormonde Maddock), 1866-1945
Subjects:
Publisher: (London) : Printed by order of the Trustees
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN
View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.
Text Appearing Before Image:
en very graceful, though frequently overloaded with detail (fig. 185). The chief weapons are the throwing-assegai with tanged blade (fig. 164. 16), and the bow with sinew string. The AWemba and ALungu not long ago adopted Zulu methods and arms (stabbing-assegai and oval hide shield; but the latter shortly afterwards abandoned them. Missile clubs are universal, and also axes with very narrow blades passing through knobbed shafts. 210 AFRICA The eastern tribes live under the personal rule of chiefs; the BaRotse empire is administered by means of an elaborate organization of officials with the king at the head. The clan system exists among BaRotse and MaNganja. Marriage is by purchase. Initiation ceremonies are performed on boys and girls at puberty: burial customs are too various for description: contracted burial is found among the AwaNkonde and AJawa, upright burial among the MaKorikori. The poison ordeal is very prevalent. All these tribes are fond of music and dancing, especially in the
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 18.5.--Knives with wooden sheath?, and wooden pillows. MaKalanga, Mashonaland. south and west. Drums, rattles, xylophones, and pianos with iron keys (e. g. fig. 201) are universal; flutes and horns (Nyassa) and the musical bow (in the south and west) are also found. A form of mancala (see p. 202) is general throughout Nyassaland. Ancestor-worship is universal, and the mus^imo (ancestral spirits) are of primary importance, though a vague supreme divinity, to whom no offerings are made, is usually recognized. Belief in trans-migration is common (lower Zambesi, MaKalanga, BaRotse). Divination by means of wooden dice or knuckle-bones is also frequent, especially among the BaRotse and MaKalanga: black magic is much feared, and many hundreds have fallen victims to the charge of sorcery. AFRICA 211 The tribes next to be considered are those inhabiting a more southerly region of British South Africa than those last described,and German South-West Africa. They can be divided into three main groups.
Note About Images
Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.