Though the Tsimihety tribe is the subject of three monographs by Molet (1953, 1956, 1959) and a number of papers by various authors (e.g. Mattei, 1938; Magnes, 1953), its social structure has not yet been adequately described. Indeed, there is no adequate account of the social structure of any Malagasy group, although Ottino's (1963) analysis of aspects of Vezo social structure is very illuminating. The primary aim of this paper therefore is to describe two of the major features of Tsimihety social structure—kinship and descent. As there are facets of Tsimihety kinship and descent that have some bearing on recent discussion of these topics, a secondary aim is to contribute, in a minor way, to that discussion.

In Part I of this paper, I pushed as far as it would go the thesis that important continuities link the religious thinking of traditional Africa and the theoretical thinking of the modern West. I showed how this view helps us to make sense of many otherwise puzzling features of traditional religious thinking. I also showed how it helps us to avoid certain rather troublesome red herrings which lie across the path towards understanding the crucial differences between the traditional and the scientific outlook.

Quiconque s'est quelque peu penché sur les sociétés peules ne peut être que frappé par la rareté des traits culturels qui leur sont propres et la quantité considérable d'emprunts que les fulbe ont fait, dans les domaines les plus divers, aux sociétés et aux civilisations avec lesquelles ils se sont trouvés en contact. Cette perméabilité aux influences extérieures a naturellement entrainé l'assimilation au peul d'une grande quantité d'éléments signifiants provenant d'autres langues. Parmi ces apports, les emprunts faits à l'arabe occupent une place particulière tant de par leur mode particulier de transmission que par leur importance numérique et leur présence dans tous les dialectes de la langue.

This article deals with the system of beliefs of an Independent African Church, the Apostles, founded in 1932 in the eastern province of Rhodesia by John Maranke. It seeks to define the Apostles' concept of ‘the Holy Spirit’, around which their whole religion centres. An analysis of this concept will make it clear that it has arisen out of a synthesis of elements from two older religions, namely traditional Karanga religion and Christianity as it has been presented to Rhodesian Africans by Catholic and Protestant missionaries.