<i>Bw Anga</i> Among the Bemba

Opening Paragraph The conception of bwanga among the Bemba of Northern Rhodesia is very similar to that recorded by Edwin Smith among the Ila and by C. Doke among the Lamba. In collecting the following material I have, however, followed a slightly different method. The traditional method of studying this subject has been in the main categories of ‘Magic’, ‘Taboo’, ‘Omen’, and so on. While this has proved useful in collecting together many facts under their appropriate heads it has resulted in taking, as it were, a cross-section through native thought. The native does not think in these categories, he observes an object and knows certain facts about it; whether it is edible, fierce, or dangerous, whether if found in a certain way it constitutes an evil omen. The arrangement of my material, therefore, has been according to this latter method, i.e. taking one object at a time and recording as much about it as possible. The two methods are represented diagrammatically on a later page, the traditional method being equivalent to reading the columns vertically: the method here adopted reads them horizontally.