TRIBAL STUDIES IN NORTHERN NIGERIA By C. K. Meek Tribal
Studies in Northern Nigeria, by C. K. Meek (Kegan Paul, 25s.), is not a book for the general reader, but should prove invaluable to the administrators responsible for the fifty or so pagan tribes with which it deals. It embodies a series of tribal reports submitted to the Nigerian Government by the Government anthropologist, and presumably—though this is not stated—Mr. Meek must have received a considerable amount of help from the local officials, either in response to questionaires or as the result of direct inquiries. Such a tribal survey must necessarily be rather arid : only the dry bones of culture are served up, and these will have to be revivified by fuller independent accounts, which this survey will do much to stimulate. It is impossible to give a more adequate review of the contents of this book in a short space,
but anthropologists who care to read its rather dull page,, will be rewarded by finding new light shed upon some OR problems and by a diversity of cultures which is really remark. able. This is the first volume of a series, and we trust that the author will not forget to include an index, which this volume badly lacks. There is an excellent map.
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