The performance of Yoruba hunters' funeral dirges is of great human interest. As an indispensable rite at all the major crises that may affect members of the hunters' guild, it is evidently a means of emotional outlet. These dirges are known as irèmòjé, a name which Yoruba mythology claims was coined by Ifá, the god of wisdom and of divination, to denote this type of lament. These songs are credited with a divine origin, and are demanded by the god Ogun to be performed by his followers as part of a rite of passage for deceased hunters from earth to heaven. Ogun himself was said to have set the model of the performance of irèmòjé for his followers to emulate. The observance of the ritual is seen by Ogun devotees as an act of worship, of propitiating their god, of communicating with the departed hunters, and of making a thorough appraisal of the successes and failures of deceased hunters in their professional career on earth. The task of making an oral evaluation of a man's career is always difficult. The device of artists who are vested in Yoruba history and folklore use, however, is to dwell on the lineage salutes — salutes which normally embody significant historical points relating to ancestors of the deceased. It is to be observed, however, that these singers of irèmòjé laments, as is the case with rárà chanters, usually emphasize the victories and heroic deeds of the deceased and carefully gloss over his failures; this is only to be expected since it is his fame that artists are gathered to celebrate. Thus they praise his fine character, his kind heart, his professional skills and techniques, commend his memorable deeds as a hunter, or at least the courage with which he faced ordeals in life.

The comparative philology of former times mainly occupied itself with the collection of such words in different languages as showed some similarity in sound, and even this phenomenon was not thought worthy of too much attention. It was not before the beginning of the nineteenth century that the scientific importance of the problems here involved were recognized, and it was seen that they called for thorough and exact investigation. First of all, the differences in structure that exist between the various European languages were examined more closely than had been done before, and those languages that were seen to possess a number of characteristics in common were then brought together into one group, which was called the Indo-European family of languages. Next, another group was found, namely that of the Semitic languages, the relationship to each other of which had been recognized long before on account of the greater uniformity in grammar and vocabulary. Indo-European and Semitic were then both classed together by virtue of their being ‘inflecting’ languages, that is to say, they change words not by means of endings only, but also through vowel change within the stem, and have grammatical gender.

Bantu ancestor-worship varies from one tribal area to another in much the same way as Bantu language, though to a lesser extent. It is not an organized or systematic religion: it has no sacred books, no pontificial standards of belief or practice, nor even past-masters of cult whose deliverances carry the general consent of the faithful. So far as I know, no Bantu ancestor-worshipper has ever written a reasoned exposition of the faith that is in him. We have, therefore, to rely upon first-hand reports from aliens scattered over a field of very wide scope, who peer into the gloom from their own little coigns of vantage and tell us what they partly see and partly infer; and there is unfortunately no known method of accurately assessing the allowance that ought to be made for each observer's astigmatism or slowness in noting phenomena. The best that can be done, perhaps, is to notice an observer's attitude towards religion, especially the non-Christian expressions of it, compare his findings on well-known points with those that seem to lie nearest the truth, and then make a rough guess at his personal equation. All writers on this subject, whether field-workers or synthetists, are therefore purveyors of opinion, not of unclad truth—enlightened opinion, perhaps, but still opinion; and their opinions are unwittingly coloured by their prepossessions.

With some previous knowledge of these people I had expected to ascertain on inquiry that they had a set if simple form of government and something more or less regular in their group and tribal organization, whereas I find that there is no cohesion or co-operation between groups or collections of groups, chieftainship hardly exists, and there is little or nothing in the way of a judicial system. What may have been custom seems to have been replaced to a great extent by habit and impulse, the interest of the individual is paramount to the exclusion of the good of the community—in short their mode of life, in spite of what may be said cf co-operative food quest, is the most complete expression of individualism, and any man who in astuteness and cunning, bravery and endurance, or in other similar qualities shows himself to be ahead of his fellows becomes their unacknowledged leader.

As I write, the United States and the United Kingdom have begun their invasion of Iraq. Thus, the most developed forms of violence are being brought into relationship with some of the world's most complexly layered local identitites—all on global television. The unpredictability of this situation points, I believe, to one of the more profound aspects of the post-Cold War order.

The town of Winneba is situated on the coast of Ghana some forty miles west of Accra and fifty miles east of Cape Coast. It is the seat of the paramount chief (Omanhene) of the Effutu people and was formerly an important seaport providing storage and loading facilities for cocoa produce. Since the construction of modern harbours at Takoradi and Tema, however, Winneba's maritime importance has declined. With a population of over 25,000, its major sources of income are fishing and farming and it also serves as a market centre for the people of the local area.

Quatorze berceuses Gurage d'Ethiopie, dans leurs transcriptions inor et leurs traductions anglaises, sont brièvement introduites et annotées. L'inor appartient au groupe linguistique de l'ouest du Gurage; cette série de berceuses complémente celles d'eza (une autre langue de l'ouest du Gurage) qui avaient été publiées auparavant par l'auteur.

La verticalité ne se prête qu'à une seule opposition fondamentale, celle entre le Haut et le Bas. Pour saisir pleinement la portée de sa symbolisation, il importe de savoir d'abord comment les Komo se represéntent le Haut et les phénomènes qu'ils y voient.

Les radicaux du type CV, tels qu'ils ont été donnés par Meinhof pour le bantou commun, se répartissent en cinq groupes vocaliques, la voyelle étant le plus souvent représentée par y ou w devant -a dans chacune des langues:

i̧pi̧ (cracher), ni̧ (aller à selle);

i pi (brûler), ni (pleuvoir), di (manger), gi (aller), ki (poindre), ti (mettre);

a p(a) (donner), b(a) (demeurer);

u pu (sécher), gu (tomber), cu (se coucher — soleil), mu (raser), du (se battre), ku (crier);

u̧ mu̧ (boire), du̧ (sortir de), ku̧ (mourir).