When first published in 1933, this monograph shed new light on the life of the Valenge women of Portuguese East Africa. It discusses their social organisations, family relationships, education, tribal customs, and contains detailed information concerning initiation rites, religion, magic and sorcery. The volume collects a large number of native texts, rituals and formulae, thereby converting oral tradition into material of great value not only to students of Africcan ethnography but also to anthropologists more widely.