29 AUGUST 1914, Page 24

Anthropological Report on The-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria. Parts IV., V.,

and VI. By Northcote W. Thomas. (Harrison and Sons.)—Mr. Thomas is the Government Anthropologist for Nigeria, and has collected a great mass of interesting details about the people of that country. In this continuation of his Report on the Ibo-speaking peoples he deals in Part IV. with their laws and customs, and in Part VI. with their proverbs, while Part V. is an addendum to the Ibo dictionary already published. Among the thousand proverbs here given we note some curious variants of English proverbs: "I can't crush my hand because of insects" is evidently a variant of "Cutting off one's nose to spite one's face," and "The day one knows all let him die" recalls "Never

too old to learn." Amongst the numerous proverbs on war we note "Two strong men meet, it is not good," and "When a man's yams are done he considers."