47.
Isolated And Modernized African Tribes
By Dr. Weston A. Price
Africa has been the last of the large continents to be invaded and explored by our modern civilization. It has one of the
largest native populations still living in accordance with inherited traditions. Accordingly, it provides a particularly favorable field for studying primitive racial stocks.
This study of primitive racial stocks, with the exception of some Indian groups, has been largely concerned with people living under physical conditions quite different from those which obtain in the central area of a large continent.
Considering that the most universal scourge of modern civilization is dental caries, though it is only one of its many degenerative processes, it is important that we study these people to note how they have solved the major problems of living in so severe and disciplining an environment as provided in Africa.
This was done during the summer of 1935. Our route took us through the Red Sea and down the Indian Ocean to enter the African continent at Mombasa below the equator and then across Kenya and Uganda into Eastern Belgian Congo, and thence about 4,000 miles down the long stretch of the Nile through Sudan to the modernized civilization of Egypt.
This journey covered most of the country around Ethiopia and gave us contact with several of the most primitive racial stocks of that country. These people are accordingly the neighbors of the Abyssinians or Ethiopians.
Since the various tribes speak different languages and are under different governments, it was necessary to organize our safari in connection with the local government officials in the differentdistricts.
During these journeys in Africa which covered about 6,000 miles, we came in contact with about thirty different tribes. Special attention was given to the foods, samples of which were obtained for chemical analysis. Over 2,500 negatives were made and developed in the field.
If any one impression of our experiences were to be selected as particularly vivid, it would be the contrast between the health and ruggedness of the primitives in general and that of the foreigners who have entered their country. That their superior ruggedness was not racial became evident when through contact with modern civilizations degenerative processes developed.
Very few of the many Europeans with whom we came in contact had lived in central Africa for as much as two years without serious illness or distinct evidence of physical stress. That the cause was not the severity of the climate, but something related to the methods of living, was soon apparent.
In all the districts it was recognized and expected that the foreigners must plan to spend a portion of every few years or every year outside that environment if they would keep well. Children born in that country to Europeans were generally expected to spend several of their growing years in Europe or America if they would build even relatively normal bodies.
One exacting condition of the environment that we encountered was the constant exposure to disease. Dysentery epidemics were so severe and frequent that we scarcely allowed ourselves to eat any food that had not been cooked or that we had not peeled ourselves. In general, it was necessary to boil all drinking water.
We dared not allow our bare feet to touch a floor of the ground for fear of jiggers which burrow into the skin of the feet. Scarcely ever when below 6,000 feet were we safe after sundown to step from behind mosquito netting or to go out without thorough protection against the malaria pests. These malaria mosquitoes which include many varieties are largely night feeders. They were thought to come out soon after sundown.
We were advised that the most dangerous places for becoming infected were the public eating houses, since the mosquitoes hide under the tables and attack the diner’s ankles if they are not adequately protected. We rigidly followed the precaution of providing adequate protection against these pests.
Disease-carrying ticks were so abundant in the grass and shrubbery that we had to be on guard constantly to remove them from our clothing before they buried themselves in our flesh. They were often carriers of very severe fevers.
We had to be most careful not to touch the hides with which the natives protected their bodies from the cold at night and from the sun in the daytime without thorough sterilization following any contact. There was grave danger from the lice that infected the hair of the hides.
We dared not enter several districts because of the dreaded tsetse fly and the sleeping sickness it carries.
One wonders at the apparent health of the natives until he learns of the unique immunity they have developed and which is largely transmitted to the offspring. In several districts we were told that practically every living native had had typhus fever and was immune, though the lice from their bodies could transmit the disease.
One also wonders why people with such resistance to disease are not able to combat the degenerative diseases of modern civilization. When they adopt modern civilization they then become susceptible to several of our modern degenerative processes, including tooth decay.
largest native populations still living in accordance with inherited traditions. Accordingly, it provides a particularly favorable field for studying primitive racial stocks.
This study of primitive racial stocks, with the exception of some Indian groups, has been largely concerned with people living under physical conditions quite different from those which obtain in the central area of a large continent.
Considering that the most universal scourge of modern civilization is dental caries, though it is only one of its many degenerative processes, it is important that we study these people to note how they have solved the major problems of living in so severe and disciplining an environment as provided in Africa.
This was done during the summer of 1935. Our route took us through the Red Sea and down the Indian Ocean to enter the African continent at Mombasa below the equator and then across Kenya and Uganda into Eastern Belgian Congo, and thence about 4,000 miles down the long stretch of the Nile through Sudan to the modernized civilization of Egypt.
This journey covered most of the country around Ethiopia and gave us contact with several of the most primitive racial stocks of that country. These people are accordingly the neighbors of the Abyssinians or Ethiopians.
Since the various tribes speak different languages and are under different governments, it was necessary to organize our safari in connection with the local government officials in the differentdistricts.
During these journeys in Africa which covered about 6,000 miles, we came in contact with about thirty different tribes. Special attention was given to the foods, samples of which were obtained for chemical analysis. Over 2,500 negatives were made and developed in the field.
If any one impression of our experiences were to be selected as particularly vivid, it would be the contrast between the health and ruggedness of the primitives in general and that of the foreigners who have entered their country. That their superior ruggedness was not racial became evident when through contact with modern civilizations degenerative processes developed.
Very few of the many Europeans with whom we came in contact had lived in central Africa for as much as two years without serious illness or distinct evidence of physical stress. That the cause was not the severity of the climate, but something related to the methods of living, was soon apparent.
In all the districts it was recognized and expected that the foreigners must plan to spend a portion of every few years or every year outside that environment if they would keep well. Children born in that country to Europeans were generally expected to spend several of their growing years in Europe or America if they would build even relatively normal bodies.
One exacting condition of the environment that we encountered was the constant exposure to disease. Dysentery epidemics were so severe and frequent that we scarcely allowed ourselves to eat any food that had not been cooked or that we had not peeled ourselves. In general, it was necessary to boil all drinking water.
We dared not allow our bare feet to touch a floor of the ground for fear of jiggers which burrow into the skin of the feet. Scarcely ever when below 6,000 feet were we safe after sundown to step from behind mosquito netting or to go out without thorough protection against the malaria pests. These malaria mosquitoes which include many varieties are largely night feeders. They were thought to come out soon after sundown.
We were advised that the most dangerous places for becoming infected were the public eating houses, since the mosquitoes hide under the tables and attack the diner’s ankles if they are not adequately protected. We rigidly followed the precaution of providing adequate protection against these pests.
Disease-carrying ticks were so abundant in the grass and shrubbery that we had to be on guard constantly to remove them from our clothing before they buried themselves in our flesh. They were often carriers of very severe fevers.
We had to be most careful not to touch the hides with which the natives protected their bodies from the cold at night and from the sun in the daytime without thorough sterilization following any contact. There was grave danger from the lice that infected the hair of the hides.
We dared not enter several districts because of the dreaded tsetse fly and the sleeping sickness it carries.
One wonders at the apparent health of the natives until he learns of the unique immunity they have developed and which is largely transmitted to the offspring. In several districts we were told that practically every living native had had typhus fever and was immune, though the lice from their bodies could transmit the disease.
One also wonders why people with such resistance to disease are not able to combat the degenerative diseases of modern civilization. When they adopt modern civilization they then become susceptible to several of our modern degenerative processes, including tooth decay.
Dr. Anderson who is in charge of a splendid government hospital in Kenya, assured me that in several years of service among the primitive people of that district he had observed that they did notsuffer from appendicitis, gall bladder trouble, cystitis and duodenal ulcer. Malignancy was also very rare among the primitives.
It is of great significance that we studied six tribes in which there appeared to be not a single tooth attacked by dental caries nor a single malformed dental arch. Several other tribes were found with nearly complete immunity to dental caries. In thirteen tribes we did not meet a single individual with irregular teeth.
Where the members of these same tribes had adopted modern civilization many cases of tooth decay were found. In the next generation following the adoption of the European dietaries dental arch deformities frequently developed.
In this bird’s eye view we are observing changes that have been in progress during many hundreds or thousands of years. The Arabs have been the principal slave dealers working in from the east coast of Africa. They have maintained their individuality without much blending except on the coast. They have not become an important part of the native stock of the interior.
These primitive native stocks can be largely identified on the basis of their habits and methods of living. The Nilotic tribes have been chiefly herders of cattle and goats and have lived primarily on dairy products, including milk, with occasional blood and meat, and with a varying percentage of vegetable foods.
It was most interesting to observe that in every instance these cattle people dominated the surrounding tribes. They were characterized by superb physical development, great bravery and a mental acumen that made it possible for them to dominate because of their superior intelligence. Among these Nilotic tribes the Masai forced their way farthest south and occupy a position between two of the great Bantu tribes, the Kikuyu and the Wakamba. Both of these latter tribes are primarily agricultural people.
It is of great significance that we studied six tribes in which there appeared to be not a single tooth attacked by dental caries nor a single malformed dental arch. Several other tribes were found with nearly complete immunity to dental caries. In thirteen tribes we did not meet a single individual with irregular teeth.
Where the members of these same tribes had adopted modern civilization many cases of tooth decay were found. In the next generation following the adoption of the European dietaries dental arch deformities frequently developed.
In this bird’s eye view we are observing changes that have been in progress during many hundreds or thousands of years. The Arabs have been the principal slave dealers working in from the east coast of Africa. They have maintained their individuality without much blending except on the coast. They have not become an important part of the native stock of the interior.
These primitive native stocks can be largely identified on the basis of their habits and methods of living. The Nilotic tribes have been chiefly herders of cattle and goats and have lived primarily on dairy products, including milk, with occasional blood and meat, and with a varying percentage of vegetable foods.
It was most interesting to observe that in every instance these cattle people dominated the surrounding tribes. They were characterized by superb physical development, great bravery and a mental acumen that made it possible for them to dominate because of their superior intelligence. Among these Nilotic tribes the Masai forced their way farthest south and occupy a position between two of the great Bantu tribes, the Kikuyu and the Wakamba. Both of these latter tribes are primarily agricultural people.
Masai Tribe
The Masai are tall and strong. Typically these men and women were much taller than our six-foot guide. It is interesting to study the methods of living and observe the accumulated wisdom of the Masai.
They are reported to have known for over two hundred years that malaria was carried by mosquitoes, and further they have practiced exposing the members of their tribes who had been infected with syphilis by the Arabs to malaria to prevent the serious injuries resulting from the spirochetal infection.
Yet modern medicine boasts of being the discoverers of this great principle of using malaria to prevent or relieve syphilitic infections of the spinal cord and brain.
These people stood against slavery and lived alongside most wild animals with an aversion to eating game and birds. Maasai land now has East Africa’s finest game areas. Maasai society never condoned traffic of human beings, and outsiders looking for people to enslave avoided the Masai.
These members of the Masai tribe illustrate the splendid nutrition provided by their diet of cattle products namely: milk, butter and very occasional blood and meat. The chief was also well over six feet. Masai ladies wear the customary decorations of coils of copper wire bracelets and anklets which largely constitute the attire of the girls.
I saw the native Masai operating on their cattle with skill and knowledge. The Masai have no currency and all their transactions are made with cows or goats.
They are reported to have known for over two hundred years that malaria was carried by mosquitoes, and further they have practiced exposing the members of their tribes who had been infected with syphilis by the Arabs to malaria to prevent the serious injuries resulting from the spirochetal infection.
Yet modern medicine boasts of being the discoverers of this great principle of using malaria to prevent or relieve syphilitic infections of the spinal cord and brain.
These people stood against slavery and lived alongside most wild animals with an aversion to eating game and birds. Maasai land now has East Africa’s finest game areas. Maasai society never condoned traffic of human beings, and outsiders looking for people to enslave avoided the Masai.
These members of the Masai tribe illustrate the splendid nutrition provided by their diet of cattle products namely: milk, butter and very occasional blood and meat. The chief was also well over six feet. Masai ladies wear the customary decorations of coils of copper wire bracelets and anklets which largely constitute the attire of the girls.
I saw the native Masai operating on their cattle with skill and knowledge. The Masai have no currency and all their transactions are made with cows or goats.
A valuable cow was not eating properly, and I observed them taking a thorn out of the inside of her mouth. The surgical operation was done with a knife of their own making and tempered by pounding. The wound was treated by rubbing it with the ashes of a plant that acted as a very powerful styptic.
Their knowledge of veterinary science is quite remarkable. I saw them treating a young cow that had failed to conceive. They apparently knew the cause and proceeded to treat her as modern veterinaries might do in order to overcome her difficulties.
For their food throughout the centuries they have depended very largely on milk, reinforced with vegetables and fruits and occasional blood and meat. Their diet has largely been free from meat which helped the wildlife to flourish in their areas. Former Masai lands are now the world’s biggest wildlife reserves. They have been the protectors of nature.
They milk the cows daily. They bleed the steers occasionally, especially during the drought period but never more than once a month. In one such instance, a torque was placed around the neck before the puncture was made. The animals did not even flinch when struck by the arrow, the operation was done so quickly and skillfully. When sufficient blood was drawn, the torque was removed and the blood immediately stopped flowing. A styptic made of ashes referred to above was used. This serves also to protect the wound from infection.
Their estimate of a desirable dairy stock is based on quality not quantity. They judge the value of a cow for keeping in their herd by the length of time it takes her calf to stand on its feet and runafter it is born, which is only a very few minutes.
Their knowledge of veterinary science is quite remarkable. I saw them treating a young cow that had failed to conceive. They apparently knew the cause and proceeded to treat her as modern veterinaries might do in order to overcome her difficulties.
For their food throughout the centuries they have depended very largely on milk, reinforced with vegetables and fruits and occasional blood and meat. Their diet has largely been free from meat which helped the wildlife to flourish in their areas. Former Masai lands are now the world’s biggest wildlife reserves. They have been the protectors of nature.
They milk the cows daily. They bleed the steers occasionally, especially during the drought period but never more than once a month. In one such instance, a torque was placed around the neck before the puncture was made. The animals did not even flinch when struck by the arrow, the operation was done so quickly and skillfully. When sufficient blood was drawn, the torque was removed and the blood immediately stopped flowing. A styptic made of ashes referred to above was used. This serves also to protect the wound from infection.
Their estimate of a desirable dairy stock is based on quality not quantity. They judge the value of a cow for keeping in their herd by the length of time it takes her calf to stand on its feet and runafter it is born, which is only a very few minutes.
This is in striking contrast with the practice of our modern dairymen who are chiefly concerned with the quantity of milk and quantity of butter fat rather than with its value as a source of special factors for nutrition.
Many of the calves of the modern high-production cows of civilized countries are not able to stand for many hours after birth, frequently twenty-four. This ability to stand is very important in a country infested with predatory animals; such as lions, leopards, hyenas, jackals and vultures.
This reminded me of my experience in Alaska in studying the reindeer of the Eskimos. I was told that a reindeer calf could be dropped in a foot of snow and almost immediately it could run with such speed that the predatory animals, including wolves, could not catch it. And, moreover, that these fawns would go almost immediately after their birth with a herd on a stampede and never be knocked down.
The problem of combating the predatory animals, particularly the lions, calls for greater skill and bravery than is required by other tribes in Africa. The lions live on the large grazing animals, particularly the cattle, from which they select the strongest. In driving over the rural areas, we frequently saw one or two men or boys guarding an entire herd with only their spears.
Their skill in killing a lion with a spear is one of the most superb of human achievements. I was interested to learn that they much prefer their locally made spears to those that are manufactured outside and brought in, because of their certainty that they will not break, will withstand straightening regardless of how much they are bent and because due to the process of manufacture will take a very sharp edge.
On one occasion, after we had been kept awake much of the night by the roaring of the lions and neighing of the zebras that were being attacked by the lions, we visited a Masai manyata nearby in the morning to learn that when they let their cattle and goats out of the corral of acacia thorns, three or four spearsmen went ahead in search of the lions that might be waiting to ambush the cattle. They apparently did not have the slightest fear. The lions evidentally had made a kill nearby. This the natives determined by the number of coyotes.
Many of the calves of the modern high-production cows of civilized countries are not able to stand for many hours after birth, frequently twenty-four. This ability to stand is very important in a country infested with predatory animals; such as lions, leopards, hyenas, jackals and vultures.
This reminded me of my experience in Alaska in studying the reindeer of the Eskimos. I was told that a reindeer calf could be dropped in a foot of snow and almost immediately it could run with such speed that the predatory animals, including wolves, could not catch it. And, moreover, that these fawns would go almost immediately after their birth with a herd on a stampede and never be knocked down.
The problem of combating the predatory animals, particularly the lions, calls for greater skill and bravery than is required by other tribes in Africa. The lions live on the large grazing animals, particularly the cattle, from which they select the strongest. In driving over the rural areas, we frequently saw one or two men or boys guarding an entire herd with only their spears.
Their skill in killing a lion with a spear is one of the most superb of human achievements. I was interested to learn that they much prefer their locally made spears to those that are manufactured outside and brought in, because of their certainty that they will not break, will withstand straightening regardless of how much they are bent and because due to the process of manufacture will take a very sharp edge.
On one occasion, after we had been kept awake much of the night by the roaring of the lions and neighing of the zebras that were being attacked by the lions, we visited a Masai manyata nearby in the morning to learn that when they let their cattle and goats out of the corral of acacia thorns, three or four spearsmen went ahead in search of the lions that might be waiting to ambush the cattle. They apparently did not have the slightest fear. The lions evidentally had made a kill nearby. This the natives determined by the number of coyotes.
The heart and courage of these people has been largely broken by the action of the government in taking away their shields in order to prevent them fighting with the surrounding native tribes as formerly. They depended upon their shields to protect them from the arrows of the other tribes. The efforts to make agriculturists of these Masai people are not promising.
In a typical manyata the chief has several wives. Each one has a separate dwelling. Timber and shrubbery are so scarce in this vicinity that the dwellings are built of clay mixed with cow dung which is plastered over a framework of twigs. Many chiefs are over six feet in height.
The Masai live in a very extensive game preserve in which hundreds of thousands of grazing animals enjoy an existence protected from man since even the natives are not allowed to kill the animals.
They seemed to be preserved for the numerous lions which occasionally become very bold since they have an abundance of food and no enemies. Recently the local government authorities found it necessary to shoot off eighty of the lions in a particular district because of their aggressiveness.
In the Masai tribe, a study of 2,516 teeth in eighty-eight individuals distributed through several widely separated manyatas showed only four individuals with caries. These had a total of ten carious teeth, or only 0.4 per cent of the teeth attacked by tooth decay.
In a typical manyata the chief has several wives. Each one has a separate dwelling. Timber and shrubbery are so scarce in this vicinity that the dwellings are built of clay mixed with cow dung which is plastered over a framework of twigs. Many chiefs are over six feet in height.
The Masai live in a very extensive game preserve in which hundreds of thousands of grazing animals enjoy an existence protected from man since even the natives are not allowed to kill the animals.
They seemed to be preserved for the numerous lions which occasionally become very bold since they have an abundance of food and no enemies. Recently the local government authorities found it necessary to shoot off eighty of the lions in a particular district because of their aggressiveness.
In the Masai tribe, a study of 2,516 teeth in eighty-eight individuals distributed through several widely separated manyatas showed only four individuals with caries. These had a total of ten carious teeth, or only 0.4 per cent of the teeth attacked by tooth decay.
On one occasion, after we had been kept awake much of the night by the roaring of the lions and neighing of the zebras that were being attacked by the lions, we visited a Masai manyata nearby in the morning to learn that when they let their cattle and goats out of the corral of acacia thorns, three or four spearsmen went ahead in search of the lions that might be waiting to ambush the cattle. They apparently did not have the slightest fear. The lions evidentally had made a kill nearby. This the natives determined by the number of coyotes.
Kikuyu Tribe, Kenya.
In contrast with the Masai, the Kikuyu tribe, which inhabits a district to the west and north of the Masai, are characterized by being primarily an agricultural people. Their chief articles of diet are sweet potatoes, corn, beans, and some bananas, millet, and Kafir corn, a variety of Indian millet.
The women use special diets during gestation and lactation. The girls in this tribe, as in several others, are placed on a special diet for six months prior to marriage. They nurse their children for three harvests and precede each pregnancy with special feeding.
The Kikuyus are not as tall as the Masai and physically they are much less rugged. One of the striking tribal customs is the making of large perforations in the ears in which they carry many metal ornaments.
The development of the faces and dental arches in many African tribes is superb.
The women use special diets during gestation and lactation. The girls in this tribe, as in several others, are placed on a special diet for six months prior to marriage. They nurse their children for three harvests and precede each pregnancy with special feeding.
The Kikuyus are not as tall as the Masai and physically they are much less rugged. One of the striking tribal customs is the making of large perforations in the ears in which they carry many metal ornaments.
The development of the faces and dental arches in many African tribes is superb.
On one occasion, after we had been kept awake much of the night by the roaring of the lions and neighing of the zebras that were being attacked by the lions, we visited a Masai manyata nearby in the morning to learn that when they let their cattle and goats out of the corral of acacia thorns, three or four spearsmen went ahead in search of the lions that might be waiting to ambush the cattle. They apparently did not have the slightest fear. The lions evidentally had made a kill nearby. This the natives determined by the number of coyotes.
Muhima Tribe, Uganda
This tribe resides in southern Uganda. They, like the Masai, are primarily a cattle raising people and live on milk with occasional blood and meat. The district in which they live is to the east of Lake Edward and the Mountains of the Moon. They constitute one of the very primitive and undisturbed groups.
While the Masai raise chiefly the hump-backed cattle, the herds of this Muhima or Anchola tribe are characterized by their large wide-spread horns. Like the Masai, they are tall and courageous.They defend their herds and their families from lions and leopards with their primitive spears.
Like the other primitive cattle people, they dominate the adjoining tribes. In a study of 1,040 teeth of thirty-seven individuals, not a single tooth was found with dental caries. This tribe makes their huts of grass and sticks.
While the Masai raise chiefly the hump-backed cattle, the herds of this Muhima or Anchola tribe are characterized by their large wide-spread horns. Like the Masai, they are tall and courageous.They defend their herds and their families from lions and leopards with their primitive spears.
Like the other primitive cattle people, they dominate the adjoining tribes. In a study of 1,040 teeth of thirty-seven individuals, not a single tooth was found with dental caries. This tribe makes their huts of grass and sticks.
Watusi Tribe
This is a very interesting tribe living on the east of Lake Kivu, one of the headwaters of the West Nile in Ruanda which is a Belgian Protectorate. They are tall and athletic. Their faces differ markedly from those of other tribes, and they boast a very noble inheritance.
According to legend, a Roman military expedition penetrated into central Africa at the time of Anthony and Cleopatra. A phalanx remained, refusing to return with the expedition. They took wives from the native tribes and passed laws that thereafter no marriage could take place outside their group. They have magnificent physiques. Many stand over six feet without shoes.
The Government of Kenya has for several years sponsored an athletic contest among the various tribes, the test being one of strength for which they use a tug-of-war. One particular tribe has carried off the trophy repeatedly. This tribe resides on the east coast of Lake Victoria. The members are powerful athletes and wonderful swimmers.
They are said not to have been conquered in warfare when they could take the warfare to the water. One of their methods is to swim under water to the enemy’s fleet and scuttle their boats. They fight with spears under water with marvelous skill. Their physiques are magnificent. In a group of 190 boys who had been gathered into a government school near the east coast of Lake Victoria only one boy was found with dental caries, and two of his teeth had been affected.
As one travels down the West Nile and later along the western border of Ethiopia many unique tribes are met. Members of these tribes wear little or no clothing. They have splendid physiques and high immunity to dental caries.
The reward of obeying nature’s laws of nutrition is illustrated in these tribes. Breadth of the dental arches and the finely proportioned features are worth noting. Their bodies are as well built as their heads. Exceedingly few teeth have been attacked by dental caries while on their native foods.
According to legend, a Roman military expedition penetrated into central Africa at the time of Anthony and Cleopatra. A phalanx remained, refusing to return with the expedition. They took wives from the native tribes and passed laws that thereafter no marriage could take place outside their group. They have magnificent physiques. Many stand over six feet without shoes.
The Government of Kenya has for several years sponsored an athletic contest among the various tribes, the test being one of strength for which they use a tug-of-war. One particular tribe has carried off the trophy repeatedly. This tribe resides on the east coast of Lake Victoria. The members are powerful athletes and wonderful swimmers.
They are said not to have been conquered in warfare when they could take the warfare to the water. One of their methods is to swim under water to the enemy’s fleet and scuttle their boats. They fight with spears under water with marvelous skill. Their physiques are magnificent. In a group of 190 boys who had been gathered into a government school near the east coast of Lake Victoria only one boy was found with dental caries, and two of his teeth had been affected.
As one travels down the West Nile and later along the western border of Ethiopia many unique tribes are met. Members of these tribes wear little or no clothing. They have splendid physiques and high immunity to dental caries.
The reward of obeying nature’s laws of nutrition is illustrated in these tribes. Breadth of the dental arches and the finely proportioned features are worth noting. Their bodies are as well built as their heads. Exceedingly few teeth have been attacked by dental caries while on their native foods.
Bogora Mission, Belgian Congo
This mission is located west of Lake Albert and includes members of the Bahema and Balendu tribes. While the Bahema tribe originally lived very largely on cattle products, milk with occasional blood and meat, in this district, the herds were small and they were using a considerable quantity of cereals, chiefly corn and beans, some sweet potatoes and bananas. These latter were the chief foods of the other tribes, in addition to goats’ milk.
Baitu Tribe, Nyunge, Ruanda, Belgian Protectorate
This district lies south of Uganda and east of Belgian Congo proper, northwest of Tanganyika. It lies just east of Lake Kivu. When we learn that Lake Kivu was only discovered in 1894, even though it is one of the important sources of the Nile waters, we realize the primitiveness of the people of this and adjoining districts. This group lives largely on dairy products from cattle and goats, together with sweet potatoes, cereals and bananas.
In a study of 364 teeth of thirteen individuals, not a single tooth was found to have been attacked by dental caries.
In a study of 364 teeth of thirteen individuals, not a single tooth was found to have been attacked by dental caries.
Native Hotel Staff at Goina, Belgian Congo
This group consisted of the inside and outside servants of a tourist hotel on Lake Kivu.
An examination of 320 teeth of ten individuals revealed twenty teeth with caries, or 6.3 per cent. It is significant that all of these carious teeth were in the mouth of one individual, the cook. Theothers all boarded themselves and lived on native diets. The cook used European foods.
Where the members of the African tribes had attached themselves to coffee plantations and were provided with the imported foods of white flour, sugar, polished rice and canned goods, tooth decay became rampant.
Wherever the Africans have adopted the foods of modern commerce, dental caries was active, thus destroying large numbers of the teeth and causing great suffering.
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan has an area approximately one-third that of the United States. It is traversed throughout its length from south to north by the Nile. There are several tribes living along this great waterway, which are of special interest now owing to their close proximity to Ethiopia.
There are wonderful hunters and warriors among them. In hunting they use their long-bladed spears almost entirely. The shores of the Nile for nearly a thousand miles in this district are lined with papyrus and other water plants to a depth of from several hundred yards to a few miles.
Back of this area the land rises and provides excellent pasturage for the grazing cattle. Some of the tribes are very tall, particularly the Neurs. The women are often six feet or over, and the men seven feet, some of them reaching seven and a half feet in height.
I was particularly interested in their food habits both because of their high immunity to dental caries which approximated one hundred per cent, and because of their physical development.
Many of these tribes, like the Neurs, wear no clothing and decorate their bodies with various designs, some of them representing strings of beads produced by putting foreign substances under the skin in definite order.
They have maintained a particularly bitter warfare against the Arab slave dealers who have come across from the Red Sea coast to carry off the women and children. In isolated districts even to this day they are suspicious of foreigners. We were told that in one district adjoining Ethiopia all light skinned people are in danger and cannot safely enter that territory without a military escort.
An examination of 320 teeth of ten individuals revealed twenty teeth with caries, or 6.3 per cent. It is significant that all of these carious teeth were in the mouth of one individual, the cook. Theothers all boarded themselves and lived on native diets. The cook used European foods.
Where the members of the African tribes had attached themselves to coffee plantations and were provided with the imported foods of white flour, sugar, polished rice and canned goods, tooth decay became rampant.
Wherever the Africans have adopted the foods of modern commerce, dental caries was active, thus destroying large numbers of the teeth and causing great suffering.
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan has an area approximately one-third that of the United States. It is traversed throughout its length from south to north by the Nile. There are several tribes living along this great waterway, which are of special interest now owing to their close proximity to Ethiopia.
There are wonderful hunters and warriors among them. In hunting they use their long-bladed spears almost entirely. The shores of the Nile for nearly a thousand miles in this district are lined with papyrus and other water plants to a depth of from several hundred yards to a few miles.
Back of this area the land rises and provides excellent pasturage for the grazing cattle. Some of the tribes are very tall, particularly the Neurs. The women are often six feet or over, and the men seven feet, some of them reaching seven and a half feet in height.
I was particularly interested in their food habits both because of their high immunity to dental caries which approximated one hundred per cent, and because of their physical development.
Many of these tribes, like the Neurs, wear no clothing and decorate their bodies with various designs, some of them representing strings of beads produced by putting foreign substances under the skin in definite order.
They have maintained a particularly bitter warfare against the Arab slave dealers who have come across from the Red Sea coast to carry off the women and children. In isolated districts even to this day they are suspicious of foreigners. We were told that in one district adjoining Ethiopia all light skinned people are in danger and cannot safely enter that territory without a military escort.
Neurs, Malakal, Sudan.
The Neurs at Malakal on the Nile River are a unique tribe because of their remarkable stature. Many of the women are six feet tall and the men range from six feet to seven and a half feet in height. They also make extensive use of dairy products in their diet. A study of 1,268 teeth of thirty-nine individuals revealed only six teeth with dental caries, or 0.5 per cent. Only three individuals had caries, or 7.7 per cent.
It is of interest that of the two boys in the Arab school at Omdurman with dental caries one was the son of a rich merchant and used liberally sweets and European foods.
The Arabs in several districts use camels’ milk extensively. It is nutritious, and in much of the desert country constitutes the mainstay of the nomads for months at a time. The primitive Arabsstudied had fine dental arches with very little deformity.
Even the horses ridden by the Arab chiefs in moving their camel herds across the desert are often dependent, sometimes for as long as three months, upon the milk of the camels for their nutrition.
The primitive Arab girls have splendidly developed faces and fine dental arches. Their natural beauty, however, is rapidly lost with modernization.
In the hot desert countries of Asia and Africa camel’s milk is an important item of human nutrition. The teeth of the Arabs are excellent. Large areas could not maintain human life without the camel and its milk.
Both girls and boys in the modernized colonies in Cairo showed typical deformity patterns in faces and dental arches. The health of these groups is not comparable to that of those living on the native dietaries. Reproductive efficiency in these generations is greatly reduced.
While slavery of the old form no longer exists in the so-called civilized countries, in its new form it is a most tragic reality for many of the people. Taxes and the new order of living make many demands. For many of these primitive tribes a new suit of clothes could formerly be had every day with no more trouble than cutting a new banana leaf.
With the new order they are requested to cover their bodies with clothing. Cloth of all kinds including the poorest cotton has to be imported. They must pay an excessive charge due to the long transportation cost for the imported goods, a charge which often exceeds the original cost in the European or American markets by several fold.
In order to pay their head tax they are frequently required to carry such products as can be used by the government officials, chiefly foods, over long distances and for part of each year. These foods are often those which not only the adults, but particularly the growing children sorely need for providing body growth and repair. This naturally has produced a current of acute unrest and a chafing under the foreign domination.
As we encircled Ethiopia we found the natives not only aware of what was going on in that border country, but deeply concerned regarding the outcome. From their temper and sympathetic attitude for the oppressed Ethiopians, it would not be surprising if sympathizers pass over the border into that country to support their crushed neighbors.
The problem is accordingly very much larger than the interest of some particular foreign power. It deals directly with the future course of events and the attitude of the African natives in general toward foreign domination.
The native African is not only chafing under the taxation by foreign overlords, but is conscious that his race becomes blighted when met by our modern civilization. I found them well aware of the fact that those of their tribes who had adopted European methods of living and foods not only developed rampant tooth decay, but other degenerative processes.
In one of the most efficiently organized mission schools that we found in Africa, the principal asked me to help them solve a serious problem. He said there was no single question asked them so often by the native boys in their school as why it is that those families that have grown up in the mission or government schools were physically not so strong as those families who had never been in contact with the mission or government schools.
The happiness of the people in their homes and community life is everywhere very striking. A mining prospector who had spent two decades studying the mineral deposits of Uganda was quoted to me as stating that if he could have the heaven of his choice, it would be to live in Uganda as the natives of Uganda had lived before modern civilization came to it.
While inter-tribal warfare has largely ceased, a new scourge is upon them, namely the scourge which comes with modern civilization. As in the primitive racial stocks previously studied and reported, we found that modernizing forces were often associated with a very marked increase of the death rate over the birth rate.
In some districts in Africa a marked degeneration is taking place. Geoffrey Gorer in his book, “Africa Dances,” which was written after making studies in West Africa, discusses this problem at length.
He quotes figures given by Marcel Sauvage in his article on French Equatorial Africa: “In 1911 French Equatorial Africa had twenty million negro inhabitants; in 1921 there were seven and a half million; in 1931 there were two and a half million.”
It is of interest that of the two boys in the Arab school at Omdurman with dental caries one was the son of a rich merchant and used liberally sweets and European foods.
The Arabs in several districts use camels’ milk extensively. It is nutritious, and in much of the desert country constitutes the mainstay of the nomads for months at a time. The primitive Arabsstudied had fine dental arches with very little deformity.
Even the horses ridden by the Arab chiefs in moving their camel herds across the desert are often dependent, sometimes for as long as three months, upon the milk of the camels for their nutrition.
The primitive Arab girls have splendidly developed faces and fine dental arches. Their natural beauty, however, is rapidly lost with modernization.
In the hot desert countries of Asia and Africa camel’s milk is an important item of human nutrition. The teeth of the Arabs are excellent. Large areas could not maintain human life without the camel and its milk.
Both girls and boys in the modernized colonies in Cairo showed typical deformity patterns in faces and dental arches. The health of these groups is not comparable to that of those living on the native dietaries. Reproductive efficiency in these generations is greatly reduced.
While slavery of the old form no longer exists in the so-called civilized countries, in its new form it is a most tragic reality for many of the people. Taxes and the new order of living make many demands. For many of these primitive tribes a new suit of clothes could formerly be had every day with no more trouble than cutting a new banana leaf.
With the new order they are requested to cover their bodies with clothing. Cloth of all kinds including the poorest cotton has to be imported. They must pay an excessive charge due to the long transportation cost for the imported goods, a charge which often exceeds the original cost in the European or American markets by several fold.
In order to pay their head tax they are frequently required to carry such products as can be used by the government officials, chiefly foods, over long distances and for part of each year. These foods are often those which not only the adults, but particularly the growing children sorely need for providing body growth and repair. This naturally has produced a current of acute unrest and a chafing under the foreign domination.
As we encircled Ethiopia we found the natives not only aware of what was going on in that border country, but deeply concerned regarding the outcome. From their temper and sympathetic attitude for the oppressed Ethiopians, it would not be surprising if sympathizers pass over the border into that country to support their crushed neighbors.
The problem is accordingly very much larger than the interest of some particular foreign power. It deals directly with the future course of events and the attitude of the African natives in general toward foreign domination.
The native African is not only chafing under the taxation by foreign overlords, but is conscious that his race becomes blighted when met by our modern civilization. I found them well aware of the fact that those of their tribes who had adopted European methods of living and foods not only developed rampant tooth decay, but other degenerative processes.
In one of the most efficiently organized mission schools that we found in Africa, the principal asked me to help them solve a serious problem. He said there was no single question asked them so often by the native boys in their school as why it is that those families that have grown up in the mission or government schools were physically not so strong as those families who had never been in contact with the mission or government schools.
The happiness of the people in their homes and community life is everywhere very striking. A mining prospector who had spent two decades studying the mineral deposits of Uganda was quoted to me as stating that if he could have the heaven of his choice, it would be to live in Uganda as the natives of Uganda had lived before modern civilization came to it.
While inter-tribal warfare has largely ceased, a new scourge is upon them, namely the scourge which comes with modern civilization. As in the primitive racial stocks previously studied and reported, we found that modernizing forces were often associated with a very marked increase of the death rate over the birth rate.
In some districts in Africa a marked degeneration is taking place. Geoffrey Gorer in his book, “Africa Dances,” which was written after making studies in West Africa, discusses this problem at length.
He quotes figures given by Marcel Sauvage in his article on French Equatorial Africa: “In 1911 French Equatorial Africa had twenty million negro inhabitants; in 1921 there were seven and a half million; in 1931 there were two and a half million.”
"But have people really become healthier or happier by developing such a high-tech, dependent, urbanized life-style? Has the quality of life really improved? Has it been a fair trade, fresh water for the recycled chemicals and sewage called city water? Or clean air for the manmade gaseous substances now substituting for air? Or fresh fruits, vegetables, and milk for the canned, preserved, frozen, flavorless, watered-down products sold as eatables in the markets?
~ Rupanuga dasa, (Krishna's Bread-and-Butter Economics)
Major Browne, a high official of the British Government Administrative Department of Kenya, with long experience, states in the closing paragraph of his book entitled, “The Vanishing Tribes of Kenya,” the following:
It must also be remembered that the “blessings of civilization” are not in practice by any means as obvious as some simple-minded folk would like to believe. It can be said with fair accuracy that among the tribes with which we have been dealing there is, in their uncontaminated society, no pauperism, no paid prostitution, very little drunkenness, and on the whole astonishingly little crime; while practically everyone has enough to eat, sufficient clothing, and an adequate dwelling, according to the primitive native standard. Of what civilized community can as much be said?
Civilizations have been rising and falling not only through all the period of recorded history, but long before as evidenced by archeological findings. If we think of Nature’s calendar as one in which centuries are days and civilizations are years, the part current events are playing in the history of a great continent like Africa may be mere incidents.
This much we do know that throughout the world some remnants of several primitive racial stocks have persisted to this day even in very exacting environments and only by such could they have been protected.
In my studies of these several racial stocks I find that it is not accident but accumulated wisdom regarding foods that lies behind their physical excellence and freedom from our modern degenerative processes, and further, that on various sides of our world the primitive people know many of the things that are essential for life-things that our modern civilizations apparently do not know. These are the fundamental truths of life that have put them in harmony with Nature through obeying her nutritional laws.
Whence this wisdom? Was there in the distant past a world civilization that was better attuned to Nature’s laws and have these remnants retained that knowledge? If this is not the explanation, it must be that these various primitive racial stocks have been able through a superior skill in interpreting cause and effect, to determine for themselves what foods in their environment are best for producing human bodies with a maximum of physical fitness and resistance to degeneration.
To conclude, primitive native races of eastern and central Africa have in their native state a very high immunity to dental caries, ranging from 0 to less than 1 per cent of the teeth affected for many of the tribes. Where modernized, however, the incidence increased to 12.1 per cent.
In the matter of facial deformity thirteen tribes out of twenty-seven studied presented so high a standard of excellence that not a single individual in the group was found with deformed dental arches.
Their nutrition varied according to their location, but always provided an adequate quantity of body-building and repairing material, even though much effort was required to obtain some of the essential food factors.
Many tribes practiced feeding girls special foods for an extended period before marriage. Spacing of children was provided by a system of plural wives.
It must also be remembered that the “blessings of civilization” are not in practice by any means as obvious as some simple-minded folk would like to believe. It can be said with fair accuracy that among the tribes with which we have been dealing there is, in their uncontaminated society, no pauperism, no paid prostitution, very little drunkenness, and on the whole astonishingly little crime; while practically everyone has enough to eat, sufficient clothing, and an adequate dwelling, according to the primitive native standard. Of what civilized community can as much be said?
Civilizations have been rising and falling not only through all the period of recorded history, but long before as evidenced by archeological findings. If we think of Nature’s calendar as one in which centuries are days and civilizations are years, the part current events are playing in the history of a great continent like Africa may be mere incidents.
This much we do know that throughout the world some remnants of several primitive racial stocks have persisted to this day even in very exacting environments and only by such could they have been protected.
In my studies of these several racial stocks I find that it is not accident but accumulated wisdom regarding foods that lies behind their physical excellence and freedom from our modern degenerative processes, and further, that on various sides of our world the primitive people know many of the things that are essential for life-things that our modern civilizations apparently do not know. These are the fundamental truths of life that have put them in harmony with Nature through obeying her nutritional laws.
Whence this wisdom? Was there in the distant past a world civilization that was better attuned to Nature’s laws and have these remnants retained that knowledge? If this is not the explanation, it must be that these various primitive racial stocks have been able through a superior skill in interpreting cause and effect, to determine for themselves what foods in their environment are best for producing human bodies with a maximum of physical fitness and resistance to degeneration.
To conclude, primitive native races of eastern and central Africa have in their native state a very high immunity to dental caries, ranging from 0 to less than 1 per cent of the teeth affected for many of the tribes. Where modernized, however, the incidence increased to 12.1 per cent.
In the matter of facial deformity thirteen tribes out of twenty-seven studied presented so high a standard of excellence that not a single individual in the group was found with deformed dental arches.
Their nutrition varied according to their location, but always provided an adequate quantity of body-building and repairing material, even though much effort was required to obtain some of the essential food factors.
Many tribes practiced feeding girls special foods for an extended period before marriage. Spacing of children was provided by a system of plural wives.