The Negro Races. By Jerome Dowd. Vol. I. (Macmillan and
Co. 10s. 6d. net.)—This volume is divided into two sections. In the first of these we have the " Negritos " (Pygmies, Bushmen, and Hottentots), in the second the " Nigritians " (Mandingos, Hansas, Ashantis, Dahomans, and others, with finally the Fellatahs of the Central Soudan). The Pygmies, who were discovered leas than half-a-century ago after a long disappearance, come first; a very curious race indeed, of whom the best thing that can be said is that they have no slavery among them. The Bushmen are on a somewhat higher plane ; and the Hottentots, again, considerably above the Bushmen. The story of the Bushmen and the whites is melancholy reading. The Dutch settlers destroyed them as if they were vermin. " Were the savages troublesome ? " a Boer was asked in the Secretary's office. "I shot only four," he replied. Since the institution of the British protectorate over the Bechnanas their lot has been improved. But they seem doomed to extinction. Civilisa- tion, however benevolent, takes away their livelihood. Among the Hottentots women hold a better position than they do anywhere else in Africa. "The married woman," says one traveller, "reigns supreme mistress. Her husband cannot without her permission take a bit of meat or a drop of milk." Generally " they rank much above the average of the negro races," but for them, too, civilisation spells destruction. The Nigritians and Fellatahs are divided by Mr. Dowd into " Zones," which he enumerates thus : "Banana," "Millet," "Cattle," and "Camel." In each of these the various aspects of life are considered,—economic, family, political, customs and ceremonies, religious, aesthetic, psycho- logical. Under each heading we find a vast collection of details which we cannot attempt to analyse. The whole deserves careful study, though we must not be understood as accepting the author's conclusions and suggestions. One quotation we will make : " Primitive societies are intensely individualistic and not at all communistic, as is often alleged, especially by Socialists. Com- munistic institutions are a later development, and apparently belong only to peoples having a pastoral organisation."
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