Reaction to Conquest: By Monica Hunter. With an introduction by General the Right Hon. J. C. Smuts. (Oxford University Press, London, 1936. Pp. xx + 582. Price 30 s. net.)

Anthropological books fall roughly into two types: those that are content to describe, and those that attempt to interpret. Dr. Hunter's work is descriptive: it contains an immense collection of well-ordered acts—unsullied and unadorned by theory—about the Pondo of South Africa. Pondoland was the last block of territory in the Cape to be annexed (in 1894) and is therefore the least effected by European contact. War and the execution of witches have been suppressed and the authority of the chiefs weakened, but the life of the people, together with their customs and beliefs, has not greatly changed.

Pondo children crawl or walk later than Europeans. They are not expected to be clean before two or three. Formerly they were suckled three hoeing seasons—now eighteen months or two years. At the end of this period, the mother may put bitter aloe or pipe oil on her nipples, or tie up her breasts. The children do not give 'much trouble' but may 'cry a little' (p. 158). Full intercourse between the parents is not permitted till after weaning. A father who breaks this rule is said to be