Chapter I: Front Matter

THE NATIVES OF BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA

The Native Races of the British Empire

THE NATIVES
OF
BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA

BY
A. WERNER

WITH THIRTY-TWO FULL-PAGE
ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON
ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE
AND COMPANY, LTD.
1906

Edinburgh: T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty

IN MEMORIAM
J. R. W.
ELMINA, AUGUST 16, 1891

... ‘_Desiderio_ ...
_Tam cari capitis_....’

CONTENTS

PAGE

LIST OF PLATES xi

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

Geography. Botany: bush-fire. Climate. Fauna: beasts, birds,
fish, insects, 1

CHAPTER II

INHABITANTS

Classification of tribes. Physical characters. Keloids and
tribal marks. Ear ornaments. Tooth-chipping. Hair, 24

CHAPTER III

RELIGION AND MAGIC—I

Ancestor-worship. Offerings. Mulungu. Mpambe. Chitowe.
Evil spirits. Spirits of the dead. Dreams. Morality, 46

CHAPTER IV

RELIGION AND MAGIC—II

Creation. Origin of death. Lake Nyasa. Rain-making. Charms.
Witchcraft. Lycanthropy, Divination. Food tabus. Dances, 70

CHAPTER V

NATIVE LIFE—I. CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH

Villages. Huts. Birth. Naming. Dress. Childhood’s rights.
Games. Plastic art-work. Daily life, 99

CHAPTER VI

NATIVE LIFE—II

Initiation. Marriage. Division of labour. Meals. Food.
Hut-building. The _bwalo_. Affection, 123

CHAPTER VII

FUNERAL RITES

Wailing and mourning. The grave. Inheritance. The cause of
death. Ordeal, 154

CHAPTER VIII

ARTS, INDUSTRIES, ETC.

Agriculture: Maize, tobacco, gardens, etc. Hunting, trapping.
Ant-catching. Fishing. Weaving. Basket-making. Bark
cloth. Ironwork. Wood-carving. Pottery. Salt, 176

CHAPTER IX

LANGUAGE AND ORAL LITERATURE

Structure of the Bantu languages. Riddles. Songs. Music and
dancing. Story-telling, 208

CHAPTER X

FOLK-STORIES

Methods of story-telling. Animal stories. _Brer Rabbit._
Borrowed tales. Value of native folk-lore, 230

CHAPTER XI

TRIBAL ORGANISATION, GOVERNMENT, ETC.

Totemistic clans. Kinship counted through women. The paramount
chief: his powers. Succession to the chieftainship.
Administration of justice. Crime and punishment. Slavery, 252