est tiré à des milliers d'exemplaires, aggravés encore par l'atmosphère des tropiques. En fin de compte, ce que notre ancien élève lit le plus volontiers, ce qui lui donne le plus aisément l'illusion de comprendre, ce sont les journaux politiques, et Dieu sait le profit qu'il en retire!

On a bien essayé de meubler les bibliothèques scolaires d'ouvrages soigneusement choisis, triés sur le volet et moins éloignés des habitudes mentales des jeunes indigènes que la moyenne des ouvrages écrits pour les adultes; on a fait appel, par exemple, aux romans de Jules Verne, qui ont enchanté notre enfance et qui sont intéressants, amusants, bien écrits; mais si fécond qu'ait été Jules Verne, ses œuvres ne suffisent pas à remplir les rayons d'une bibliothèque même modeste, et ce n'est là qu'une pâture d'attente, un mâte-faim.

Il faudrait donc, sans aucun doute, attaquer résolument le problème, créer de toutes pièces cette littérature post-scolaire pour indigènes, qui n'existe nulle part. Un jeune instituteur indigène de l'Afrique occidentale française, M. Ahmadou Mapaté Diagne, a publié, dans cette intention, en 1920, dans la collection des livres roses de la Librairie Larousse, un petit roman de l'écolier noir: Les Trois volontés de Malic, qui est tout à fait remarquable. Mais l'entreprise en est restée là. Il serait pourtant assez facile de la poursuivre: romans simples et adaptés à la vie indigène, ouvrages de vulgarisation scientifique se rapportant au milieu, recueils de folk-lore, la matière ne manque pas; ce qui manque ce sont les maîtres d'œuvre, et peut-être aussi la claire vision de cette nécessité.

En essayant de dresser la librairie des écoles indigènes nous avons laissé résolument de côté la question de la langue véhiculaire, mais il nous semble que le problème de l'outillage est à peu près le même, qu'il s'agisse d'un enseignement en langue indigène ou en langue européenne.

Ce qui importe avant tout, une fois réglée cette question de principe, c'est qu'on détermine avec précision les outils dont on doit entreprendre tout de suite la fabrication et ceux qui peuvent attendre; nous nous sommes efforcés, on l'a vu, d'établir à cet égard quelque chose comme une échelle des valeurs.

Si nous estimons qu'il est nécessaire de choisir, c'est d'abord parce que la préparation de cet outillage représente une entreprise fort délicate, qu'elle exige la collaboration des meilleurs techniciens, et qu'il est sage, en conséquence, de ménager les efforts; c'est aussi qu'elle se heurte à toutes sortes de difficultés pratiques, tirage très limité et partant coûteux, clientèle pauvre, nécessité pour les gouvernements de prendre toute la charge de l'affaire, etc., et qu'il est prudent de demeurer dans des limites modestes si l'on veut aboutir.

Il est clair, en tous cas, qu'il faut aboutir. Les gouvernements coloniaux, que la politique scolaire paraît préoccuper de plus en plus, n'attacheront jamais trop d'importance à ce problème, qu'on tend trop volontiers à considérer comme accessoire. Tant qu'il ne sera pas résolu, les meilleurs de nos maîtres manqueront l'objet principal de leur mission; ils aggraveront plutôt qu'ils n'atténueront le verbalisme endémique des races attardées, et nos écoles les plus actives ne seront que des volières de perroquets.

GEORGES HARDY.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE KINGDOM OF
KONGO ON CENTRAL AFRICA

TH

By E. TORDAY.

[On trouvera à la page 277 un résumé en français de cet article.]

HE methodical investigation of African customs and institutions, which, notwithstanding tardy official recognition, has made such rapid strides within the last twenty or thirty years, brings us constantly up against phenomena which upset our most cherished theories. The best text-books have taught us that the method of making fire by the stick-and-groove method belongs to Oceania, and it is most disconcerting to come across some African tribe, like the Tophoke,' right in the centre of the continent, who practise it and know no other. The features of a Bena Lulua display unabashed curvilinear scorings which by all rights ought to adorn the face of some Maori. The Boloki3 employ a method of casting which is, but for its crudeness and the distinction that vegetable matter is used instead of wax, based practically on the same principles as the cire perdue process of higher civilizations. How is it that the Warega disdain the timehonoured African institution of slavery in whatever form and have social grades which find their nearest counterpart among the Edos and Ibo," twelve hundred miles west? Shall we ever find explanations for these and many other ethnological problems? The greatest difficulty we have to face when investigating matters of the past in Africa is the entire absence of dates: the African has never kept an account of time, which has always been of but little value to him, and

1 Torday and Joyce, Notes ethnographiques sur les populations habitant les bassins du Kasai et du Kwango Oriental, p. 208. Curiously enough some kind of outrigger is used in the same region. (Torday, Man, 1918, 41.)

2 E. Torday, Man, 1913, 2. Wissmann, Im Inneren Afrikas, p. 164.

3 John H. Weeks, Among Congo Cannibals, p. 89.

♦ Le Commandant Delhaise, Les Warega, pp. 228–9, 337, 345. The titles taken by members of Baluba-Hemba town companies (Colle, Les Baluba, p. 176 et seq., where they are called 'clans', obviously a mistake) are of a quite different character. 5 N. W. Thomas, Anthrop. Report on the Edo-speaking peoples, vol. i, p. 11. "N. W. Thomas, Anthrop. Report on the Ibo-speaking peoples, vol. i, pp. 75, 76.

consequently the co-ordination of various events becomes extremely laborious, if not impossible. Besides, native traditions are not freely imparted to strangers by the xenophobe and conservative old gentlemen who preserve them, while the well-meaning interpreter who communicates without reserve with the passing tripper is generally an individual who has severed all connexion with his own people at an early age and is as ignorant of their folklore as the inquirer. Fortunately for the serious and patient workers in the field Father Van Wing's invaluable labours have revealed a new source of historical information in the Ndumbululu,' the clan song or clan rallying cry. We now know at any rate where to look for information, which, if collected before it is swept away by the inevitable break-up of the old social order, may supply us with most valuable material in the future. Each song contains a terse record of the respective clan's history, and by fitting many of them together they may help to solve problems which have hitherto baffled us. The outlook is all the more promising since these clan songs are apparently not confined to the Bakongo and kindred peoples; by the merest chance a song of identical nature was found far inland among the Batetela2 in 1908; but as this was

I J. Van Wing, S.J., Études Bakongo, p. 79.

2 Torday and Joyce, op. cit., p. 156:

'Olengo Kunji, of Kunji, came,

Came from the Lukenye to conquer
And conquered all the land.

We chased the Basonge and took their land

We took it all, the whole country

And Mokunji became Lord of the Sungu

And showed how to rule the land we conquered

Driving out the Basonge.

When all the Basonge fled in terror

One remained and slew Mokunji

Mokunji who by Kunjateli's advice

Had lopped off his finger.

He whose hand was severed by Jadeyenche
Begot Tambo Kunji whose children all
Reigned over the land,

He also begat Olengo Kunji.

With Mokunji came the Pungwa Sungu.

The Ganja Sungu followed later from the Lukenye

long before Father Van Wing had revealed their great importance, the traveller, though recording the song verbatim, lacked the learned Jesuit's flair and discernment and did not follow up the precious clue.

It is very probable that the carefully preserved traditions of the Bushongo are based on narratives in poetical form like the Bakongo clan songs, pieced together either for the present generation, which knows little or nothing of their archaic language, or simply for the benefit of the traveller who collected them. The task being thus simplified, it is intended to demonstrate that it is possible to connect through them this people's history with that of the known world and that they enable us even to fix approximately the date of certain memorable events in their past. This may lead to the explanation of one of the many curious African problems: the rise of a distinctive, high civilization in the midst of peoples of much lower culture. Some of the facts recorded in their traditions have already successfully stood the test of investigation. One of these is the account of a memorable event which was said to have taken place during the reign of the ninety-eighth king of their dynasty: the sun disappeared one day at noon. Thanks to Mr. Knobel, it was ascertained that a total eclipse of the sun, visible in Central Africa, took place on the 30th March 1680, and the total phase of it reached the site of the capital of Bushongo at 11.58 a.m. local time.' Another striking instance is that relating to King Miele, who must have lived in the early sixteenth century. Tradition credits him with having been a remarkably clever smith whose skill was so great that he wrought in iron figures of men and beasts which were preserved as valuable heirlooms by the nation.2

After Mokunji had taken possession.

All Basonge were driven away
Not one of them remained behind.

And the Sungu remained, Mokunji's followers

And Mokunji is lord of the Sungu, Vua Sungu, Sanga Sungu, Osasi Sungu
Mokunji who from the Lukenye

Came to conquer our country.'

It will be seen that this song tells us, at any rate, whence the Sungu Batetela came, under whose leadership and what people they drove out of the country they now occupy. See also i-Hubo in Bryant's Zulu Dictionary, p. 268.

1 Torday and Joyce, Notes ethnographiques, etc., Les Bushongo, p. 36.

2 Torday and Joyce, Bushongo, p. 25.