After a brief survey of the organization of Guthrie's Comparative Bantu, consideration is devoted to the putative prehistorical interrelationships of the Bantu languages, in the light of Guthrie's and subsequent scholarship. The intended ‘introductory’ nature of Guthrie's work is stressed, his comprehensive survey covering only 28 Test Languages (among over 350). Recent criticisms of and divergences from Guthrie's prehistorical conclusions are considered, together with the inadequacy of the ‘genealogical tree’ approach. The apparent contradiction of Guthrie by Henrici and Heine in particular is shown to be less substantial than at first appears: maps based on the work of all three confirm the remoter relationship of NW. Bantu to the remainder, and also a basic East-West division (but with Luba and Bemba occupying an intermediate position). It seems probable that some NW. languages are to be traced directly to a proto-language in the Cameroun area, rather than to Guthrie's Katangan nucleus, but this means only that Guthrie cast his net too wide, not that his whole thesis is false. It is recommended that the use of the term ‘Proto-Bantu’ be clarified by use of the term ‘Proto-Bantu 1’ for an original NW. nucleus, ‘Proto-Bantu 2’ for a secondary nucleus S. of the Congo forest, and ‘Proto-Bantu 3’ for a tertiary (and overlapping) nucleus to the east of 2. An amended version of Guthrie's sequence of Bantu linguistic expansion is proposed, although attention is drawn to the hazards of necessarily basing this on the evidence of modern Bantu languages only. Henrici's statistical treatment of Guthrie's data assists in distinguishing temporal from spatial distance among the Test Languages.

In the discussion of the reliance which should be placed on the Igbo-Ukwu radiocarbon dates, it is necessary to make certain that what evidence we have is correctly used. The precise locations of the samples used for dating are recalled and possible sources of error discussed. Consideration is given to the arguments for a date later than that suggested by the radiocarbon dates, stemming from the state of preservation of the textiles, the character of the beads, the pottery evidence, analogies with the presumed dating of Ife and Benin, the quantity and the source of the copper, and what is known of pre-European trading patterns in West Africa. The latter is probably the most serious objection to a very early date, but the question will only be settled with the acquisition of more archaeological evidence.

This article offers a new reconstruction of Bantu, Galla and Somali migrations in the Horn of Africa, with particular reference to the area between the Juba and the Tana rivers. It is suggested that Garre or proto-Garre Somali gained control of the area between the Juba and the Tana rivers before the Galla arrived in this area, and that in the process the Garre were responsible for pushing Bantu-speaking peoples back to the river Tana. However, it is also argued that the area initially controlled by Bantu-speaking peoples in the Horn of Africa was much more limited than is generally assumed. It is then suggested that around the sixteenth century the Orma Galla migrated to the coast from southern Ethiopia via the Lorian Swamp and the river Tana and not by the river Juba as is generally argued. The arrival of the Orma led to a further retreat of Bantu-speaking peoples towards the Sabaki river, and then to a retreat of the Somali northwards in the direction of the Juba river. In this way the nineteenth-century Somali drive southwards can be seen to some extent as a reconquest of land occupied earlier by them.

Inoculation for smallpox, the forerunner of vaccination, has had a long and variegated history. The earliest known descriptions of the practice in sub-Saharan Africa were given by African slaves in colonial America in the early and mid-eighteenth century. Subsequently it is mentioned in accounts from widely scattered parts of the continent. It seems to have been most extensively used in the Western and Central Sudan, Ethiopia and Southern Africa. Local diffusion patterns emerge from the evidence available at this time, but broader questions of origin must await further investigation. Similarly it is as yet impossible to assess its demographic impact in Africa although it clearly provided some defence against smallpox in spite of the risks involved.

This article argues that the !Kora, an essentially Khoisan group in central South Africa, consisted not of hereditary tribes, but of people who had chosen a predatory, raiding way of life. It then traces the history of those !Kora who were based on the jungle-covered islands of the middle Orange river, concentrating particularly on the three wars that occurred between them and the Cape Colony: in 1832–4, when the !Kora were led by Stuurman, 1868–9, when they were under Piet Rooi and Jan Kivido, and the final episodes during 1879–80. Pointing out the difficulty that the colonial forces had in reducing the islands, it shows how the !Kora were able to raid up to 250 kilometers across the Bushmanland Flats, and thus make colonial subsistence over a wide area of the northern Cape Colony non-viable. Nevertheless, it argues that the way of life that the !Kora had chosen could not be sustained in face of the consolidation of colonial society, and describes the processes whereby they were destroyed.

This paper is a comparative study of the impact of colonial rule on two African societies, the Gbaya and the pastoral Fulani, inhabiting the Adamawa Plateau in central Cameroon. The main discussion focuses on the difficulties experienced by the French in their attempts to administer these two politically uncentralized and geographically mobile peoples. Geographical mobility was not the result of population pressure or other ecological constraint but was a political strategy and means of dispute regulation frequently employed by these societies living in a lightly populated region. Conflicting with this structural tendency towards mobility in both societies was the French policy of regroupement, the concentration and resettlement of subject peoples in stable villages. Examination of the historical record reveals that despite more or less stringent attempts on the part of the colonial powers to restructure Gbaya and pastoral Fulani societies along more politically amenable lines, these societies have changed little in this respect up to the present day and continue to pose the same problems of administration for the modern government of the United Republic of Cameroon.

Par l'analyse comparée de l'évolution, depuis le début du siècle, des deux plus grandes firmes d'import-export de l'Afrique francophone, l'article teste une méthode d'analyse des bilans visant à préciser l'histoire des investissements privés dans l'Empire colonial français, en privilégiant tour à tour les analyses de conjoncture et le trend à long terme.

Les firmes ont trouvé dès le milieu des années 20 leur extension géographique définitive. La C.F.A.O., représentative du commerce colonial marseillais, a toujours été plus timorée, mais aussi plus rentable dans le cadre restreint de ‘l'économie de traite’ coloniale. La S.C.O.A., plus dynamique et liée aux milieux bancaires, s'est montrée plus sensible à la conjoncture (crise de 1921 et grande Dépression), mais s'est reconvertie plus tôt aux méthodes financières contemporaines.

Dans le long terme, ce qui ressort le plus nettement, c'est une croissance régulière des profits jusqu'au tournant de l'année-charnière 1952, qui marquait l'apogée de la hausse des cours des produits tropicaux. Au-delà, la détérioration accélérée des termes de l'échange et l'accroissement des charges sociales ébranlèrent les profits coloniaux ‘classiques’. C'est surtout depuis l'indépendance que les firmes ont modernisé leurs structures, caractérisées par l'ampleur nouvelle des investissements d'équipement, la diversification des activités et l'internationalisation des investissements.

Néanmoins, l'investissement global reste médiocre, et le renversement tardif de la tendance confirme l'hypothèse d'un impérialisme colonial français archaïque et malthusien.

Owing to a postal strike in France, the article by Yves Person, ‘Dauma et Danhome’, Journal of African History, vol. xv, no. 4, 547–61, was published without the author having an opportunity to correct the proofs. This led to a number of mis-prints, and also to the author's concluding observations being incorrectly printed as the Summary of the article. The Editors regret these errors and would like to express their apologies to Prof. Person.

Readers are asked to note the following detailed corrections:

p. 550, line 3: for ‘garder’, read ‘guider’.

line 24: for ‘Blaue’, read ‘Blaeu’.

line 36: for ‘cartes qu'ils’, read ‘cartes qui les’.

p. 554, line 13: for ‘au-delà’, read ‘en dehors’.

p. 555, line 6: for ‘Magrizi’, read ‘Maqrizi’.

line 32: for ‘à près’, read ‘à peu près’.

p. 556, line 16: after ‘1549’, replace the comma by a full stop.

line 18: for ‘apparait les’, read ‘apparait dès’.