It is much more prevalent among the African races. Yet, even among
them, there are many instances where succession runs in the male line.
A king or chief of the Somals[554] and Ba-kwileh[555] is succeeded by
his son. Among the Fulah, this dignity is transmitted to the brother,
while, in other instances, succession goes from father to son.[556]
Among the Negroes of the Gold Coast, according to Bosman, the eldest
son succeeded his father in office, though kinship was reckoned through
the mother all along this coast, except at Accra.[557] Dr. A. Sims
writes that, among the Bateke, “the child is considered as belonging
to the father and mother equally,” and takes the grandfather’s or
grandmother’s name. Among the Waguha, according to Mr. Swann, children
are generally named after the father. In Lánda, the eldest son inherits
all his father’s possessions, wives included.[558] Among the Damaras,
whose divisions into clans are derived from the mother, the eldest son
of the chief wife, nevertheless, is the successor of his father;[559]
and the same rule prevails among the Bechuanas.[560] The Rev. A.
Eyles states that all Zulu children belong to the father’s tribe, and
are called by his name or by the name of some of his ancestors.[561]
According to Mr. Cousins,[562] this is essentially true of various
Kafir tribes, the first son, however, never being named after the
grandfather, but always after the father. Warner, Brownlee, and E.
v. Weber assert also that, among the people, inheritance passes
from father to son.[563] Le Vaillant and Kolben state the same with
reference to the Hottentots and Bushmans;[564] and Andersson affirms
that, among the Namaquas, daughters take the father’s name, sons the
mother’s.[565] Finally, in the part of Madagascar where Drury was,
kinship does not seem to have been, in every case, reckoned through the
female, though in that island children generally follow the condition
of the mother.[566]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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