The Rev. EDWIN SMITH : ' Central
Africa-The Ila People'
THE ilia-speaking tribes-called spitefully by their neighbours
, 'Mashukulumbwe,' on account of the way they do their hair, or 'Matjokotjoko ' because of their accent -live in Northern Rhodesia. They had never seen a white man before they were visited by Livingstone in his Zambesi trip of 1855. Mr.
Edwin Smith, who has given talks before on Africa and on languages, was missionary there from 1898 until the War, when he became a Chaplain to the Forces. He is among the few living people, apart from the Ila tribes themselves, who
' know their language and, unlike them, he can write it; he has, for example, translated the New Testament into Ila. This is the first of a series of talks similar to those on ' The Day's Work in Other Lands ' last spring, and ' The Romance of Everyday Things' in the summer, both of which evoked streams of appreciative letters. It is hoped that this series will meet the widespread demand for more of the same.'