The Witwatersrand gold mines are a series of approximately forty gold mines situated in the Witwatersrand district of the Transvaal. The mining area runs roughly from east to west for a distance of about sixty miles. All the gold mines are what is known as ‘deep’ mines, the average working depth being well over 4,000 ft. below the surface. Some mines are considerably deeper, and a few are now working at a depth of approximately 7,000 ft. The Witwatersrand is situated at an elevation of between 5,000 to 6,000 ft. above sea-level.

It would be an impertinence for any one writing about the Kanuri not to acknowledge his great debt to the immense work of investigation undertaken by Sir H. Richmond Palmer. In his Sudanese Memoirs particularly, he has written much about their origin and history which no one interested in the Kanuri should fail to read. Much also was written about the condition of Bornu in the nineteenth century by the travellers Denham, Barth, and Nachtigal. All these men visited Kukawa, the new capital of the Shehus; Denham, with Oudney and Clapperton, in 1823, Barth in 1851, and Nachtigal in 1870, and all wrote detailed accounts of their travels and experiences which are of absorbing interest to-day. No attempt is made here to give even a brief summary of the history of the Kanuri, but before dealing with certain present-day customs it will be advantageous to refer to two events of primary importance, one at the beginning, the other at the end of the nineteenth century, in order to appreciate the present political and social condition of Bornu.

A Survey of the Nigerian Railway workers would constitute a record of every tribe living in the southern and northern provinces, inasmuch as the government-owned and controlled railway, extending over 1,892½ miles of territory, employs natives of the various tribes in each of its four departments. As these native workers show ability they are gradually permitted to fill posts when they become vacant that were formerly held by Europeans. During the year ending March 31st, 1934, despite drastic measures of economy to meet financial conditions and the lessening of the European staff by twenty-three officials, the number of Africans employed has increased by slightly over 900, mostly in the labouring class.

The diet at present used fot the African workers in the gold mines on the Rand is described in the preceding article by Dr. Orenstein, of the Central Mining Group. Dr. Orenstein is in charge of all health and welfare control for the Central Mines, and his recommendations are generally followed also by all the other mining groups on the Rand. A few comments on the diet may perhaps enable readers to visualize, in a more personal way, one of the largest undertakings in feeding great numbers of human beings from common kitchens that exists anywhere in the world.

I. L'Utilisation du Lait dans l'Alimentation. Il existe en Afrique tropicale quelques pays d'élevage où le lait figure, pour une part importante, dans l'alimentation. Le Fouta-Djallon (Guinée Française) est un de ces pays, et le Docteur Patenostre, dans un travail sur l'alimentation des Peuls au Fouta-Djallon, nous fournit au sujet de l'utilisation du lait les précisions suivantes:

The Umundri coronation ceremony as described in Africa, vol. viii, no. 3, requires the addition of two more steps. Though they are not recorded by Hocart in his Kingship yet one of them, the Prostration or the Humiliation, is described by Professor James in his book, Christian Myth and Ritual. The other, the Scourging or Buffeting, has not been described before as a ritual step. Though neither were recorded in the Umundri coronation ceremony, yet there are good grounds for believing that either these two steps do occur but were not narrated, or else that they did occur but have recently dropped out, because they are found in the coronation rituals of other Nigerian and associated tribes. These two steps make a total of sixteen more to be added to the twenty-six described by Professor Hocart.

The hinterland of the Gold Coast north of the 10th parallel N. Latitude is a land of sparse forestation lying within the Sudanese Zone. The continuous plains, the monotony of which is, in the dry season, broken only by scattered trees, occasional patches of low bush or a low range of hills, have been described as belonging to an ‘Orchard bush’ type of country. The Tale settlements occupy an area of some 200 square miles, immediately north of the White Volta river, and have a population density of over 170 to the square mile in the settled parts. Agriculture is the basic industry of the Tallensi and their neighbours, but their farms yield only a bare living to the majority of the populace. Unduly late rains or a visitation of locusts spells food deficiency bordering on famine for thousands.

There are two factors affecting the diet of urban Natives: on the one hand there is the expansive influence of assimilation to and adoption of European food habits, and on the other hand there is active a restrictive influence in the shape of poverty. The urban Native, through his close contact with European culture which residence in an urban environment inevitably entails, has been introduced to an extraordinarily wide range of new foodstuffs and new ways of preparing food. Consequently the range of his food desires has been much increased. But his desires are not allowed free play among this new and wide selection. The factor which narrows down his choice and curbs his desire is his poverty. The urban Native eats according to the capacity of his pocket and his food is usually the first item of expenditure which is marked out for especial economy.