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Contents
About the Authors xvii
Preface xix
Acknowledgments xxix

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1: The Nature of Science 3


Caves of Death
Bat Crazy 5
The Characteristics of Living Organisms 6
Prove Me Wrong 7
Catching the Culprit 9
No End in Sight 13
Infographic: Bug Zappers 15

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 16


THE QUESTIONS 16

CHAPTER 2: Evaluating Scientific Claims 21


A Critical Choice
True or False? 23
Flu Shot 24
Credentials, Please 25
To the Books 26
Correlation or Causation? 26
Real or Pseudo? 28
Fears versus Facts 31
Infographic: Safety in Numbers 34

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 35


THE QUESTIONS 35

vii
UNIT 1: CELLS

CHAPTER 3: Chemistry of Life 39


Ingredients for Life
One Picture, a Thousand Experiments 43
The World of Water 44
The Smell of Success 47
Getting the Right Mix 49
Life’s First Steps 51
Infographic: What’s It All Made Of? 54
Fifty More Years 55

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 55


THE QUESTIONS 56

CHAPTER 4: Life Is Cellular 59


Engineering Life
Life, Rewritten 61
Starting Small 61
Congratulations, It’s a . . . Cell 61
A Different Approach 62
Through the Barrier 64
Viruses—Living or Not? 66
Another Way Through 67
Prokaryotes versus Eukaryotes 68
What’s in a Cell? 68
Life Goes On 72
Infographic: Sizing Up Life 73

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 74


THE QUESTIONS 75

CHAPTER 5: HOW CELLS WORK 79


Rock Eaters
Energy for Life 81
An Unusual Pathway 82
Into the Light, Part 1 84
Catalyzing Reactions 85
Into the Light, Part 2 88

viii ■ Contents
Infographic: Making Way for Renewables 92
Bacterial Batteries 93

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 93


THE QUESTIONS 94

CHAPTER 6: Cell Division 97


Toxic Plastic
Divide and Conquer 99
Trade Secret 101
Cancer: Uncontrolled Cell Division 101
Good Cells Gone Bad 103
Unequal Division 104
Shuffling the DNA 108
What Can You Do? 108
Ten Years Later 108
Infographic: Cancer’s Big 10 112

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 113


THE QUESTIONS 113

UNIT 2: GENETICS

CHAPTER 7: Patterns of Inheritance 117


Dog Days of Science
Getting to the Genes 118
Pet Project 119
Crisscrossing Plants 120
Peas in a Pod 123
What Are the Odds? 124
Going to the Dogs 124
It’s Complicated 126
Most Chronic Diseases Are Complex Traits 127
Man’s Best Friend 128
The New Family Pet? 129
Infographic: Does Bigger Mean Better? 130

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 131


THE QUESTIONS 132

Contents ■ ix
CHAPTER 8: Chromosomes and Human Genetics 135
A Deadly Inheritance
A Mysterious Malady 136
Painful Pedigree 137
Looking for Loci 139
X Marks the Spot 142
Infographic: Genetic Diseases Affecting Americans 143
More Common, but No Less Deadly: Zoe’s Story 145
Deadly with One Allele 146
Replacing Deadly Genes: A Work in Progress 147
Prenatal Genetic Screening 148
A Happy Ending for Felix 150

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 150


THE QUESTIONS 150

CHAPTER 9: What Genes Are 155


Pigs to the Rescue
Deep in the DNA 156
Precise Cuts 159
Double or Nothing 161
Making Mutations 164
Pigs Are People Too? 166
Infographic: The Meteoric Rise of CRISPR 168

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 169


THE QUESTIONS 169

CHAPTER 10: How Genes Work 173


Tobacco’s New Leaf
Fighting the Flu with Tobacco 175
Two-Step Dance, Transcription: DNA to RNA 176
Two-Step Dance, Translation: RNA to Protein 179
Tweaking Gene Expression 183
To the Market 184
Infographic: The Deadly Price of a Pandemic 185

REVIEWING THE SC IENCE 187


THE QUESTIONS 187

x ■ Contents
UNIT 3: EVOLUTION

CHAPTER 11: Evidence for Evolution 191


Whale Hunting
Artificial to Natural 193
Fossil Secrets 195
The Ultimate Family Tree 200
Clues in the Code 201
Birthplace of Whales 203
Growing Together 205
Infographic: Watching Evolution Happen 206

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 207


THE QUESTIONS 208

CHAPTER 12: Mechanisms of Evolution 211


Battling Resistance
Birth of a Superbug 213
Rising Resistance 215
Enter Enterococcus 218
Primed for Pickup 222
Sex and Selection 223
After Vancomycin 225
How Can You Make a Difference? Help Prevent Antibiotic Resistance! 226
Infographic: Race against Resistance 227

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 228


THE QUESTIONS 228

CHAPTER 13: Adaptation and Species 231


Fast Lizards, Slow Corals
Leaping Lizards 232
What Makes a Species? 234
Why Sex? 235
Caribbean Corals 237
Different Depths, Different Habitats 239
So Many Chromosomes 240
Infographic: On the Diversity of Species 244

Contents ■ xi
REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 245
THE QUESTIONS 245

UNIT 4: BIODIVERSITY

CHAPTER 14: The History of Life 249


The First Bird
Dinosaurs and Domains 250
Feathered Friends 253
The History of Life on Earth 256
Tussling with Trees 261
Infographic: The Sixth Extinction 264

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 265


THE QUESTIONS 266

CHAPTER 15: Bacteria and Archaea 269


Navel Gazing
Merry Microbes 273
Talk, but No Sex 276
All Hands on Deck 277
Healthy Balance 279
Infographic: The Bugs in Your Belly Button 280

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 281


THE QUESTIONS 282

CHAPTER 16: Plants, Fungi, and Protists 285


The Dirt on Black-Market Plants
Fungi Play Well with Others 287
Peculiar Protists 288
Two Cells Are Better Than One 289
Green-Fingered Thieves 289
Searching for Flowers 292
Truffle Trouble 294

xii ■ Contents
Infographic: Food Banks 296
Fighting for the Future 297

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 298


THE QUESTIONS 298

CHAPTER 17: Animals and Human Evolution 301


Neanderthal Sex
Animal Kingdom 302
Get a Backbone! 305
Mammals R Us 306
Rise of the Apes 308
Infographic: Hereditary Heirlooms 309
Hominins United 312
All in the Family 316
Uniquely Human? 316

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 320


THE QUESTIONS 320

UNIT 5: ECOLOGY

CHAPTER 18: General Principles of Ecology 323


Amazon on Fire
Hot and Dry 325
A Warmer World 326
Fire and Water 330
Infographic: Forest Devastation 331
How Big Is Your Ecological Footprint? 332
The Carbon Games 335
Waiting and Watching 337

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 338


THE QUESTIONS 338

Contents ■ xiii
CHAPTER 19: Growth of Populations 341
Zika-Busting Mosquitoes
Population Control 343
Rapid Spread 345
Mosquito-Borne Diseases 346
Reaching Capacity 346
Seeking Change 347
Friendly Fight 350
Just the Beginning? 352
Infographic: World’s Deadliest Animals 353

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 354


THE QUESTIONS 354

CHAPTER 20: Communities of Organisms 357


Of Wolves and Trees
A Key Loss 361
A Second Ripple Effect 363
Infographic: Cause and Effect 366
Back in the Park 367
Safety in Numbers and Colors 368
A Community Restored 371

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 373


THE QUESTIONS 374

CHAPTER 21: Ecosystems 377


Here and Gone
Going Green 378
Bottom of the Pyramid 380
A Multitude of Measurements 382
The Precious 1 Percent 383
Phyto-Fight 386
Infographic: Productive Plants 388
Heating Up 389

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 390


THE QUESTIONS 390

xiv ■ Contents
UNIT 6: PHYSIOLOGY

CHAPTER 22: Homeostasis, Reproduction, and Development 393


Baby Bust
Seeking Stability 395
All in the Timing 399
Spotlight on Sperm 402
Infographic: Preventing Pregnancy 403
Driven by Hormones 404
“Do It for Denmark” 404

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 409


THE QUESTIONS 409

CHAPTER 23: Digestive, Muscular, and Skeletal Systems 413


The Sunshine Vitamin
The Skin We’re In 416
You Are What You Eat 416
Building Bones 420
Show of Strength 422
Beyond Bone 424
Infographic: Nutritional Needs 426

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 427


THE QUESTIONS 428

CHAPTER 24: Circulatory, Respiratory, Urinary,


and Nervous Systems 431
Body (Re)Building
Emergency Meeting 433
Breathe In, Breathe Out 436
Waste Not 439
Coming to Your Senses 442
What’s in Your Head? 444
Infographic: Have a Heart 447

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 448


THE QUESTIONS 449

Contents ■ xv
CHAPTER 25: Endocrine and Immune Systems 453
Testing the Iceman
Hormonal Changes 455
Brain-Body Connection 457
Innate Defenders 459
What Makes HIV So Deadly? 460
Team Effort 460
Adapting to the Enemy 463
Infographic: Driven by Hormones 465
The Iceman Cometh 466

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 467


THE QUESTIONS 467

CHAPTER 26: Plant Physiology 471


Amber Waves of Grain
Perfecting Plants 472
Breeding Begins 476
Crop Collaboration 479
Infographic: GM Crops Take Root 482
Perennial Pancakes 484

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE 485


THE QUESTIONS 486

Answers A1
Glossary G1
Credits C1
Index I1

xvi ■ Contents
About the Authors
ANNE HOUTMAN is Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Rose-Hulman Institute
of Technology, where she is also a full professor of biology. Anne has over 20 years of experience
teaching nonmajors biology at a variety of private and public institutions, which gives her a broad
perspective of the education landscape. She is strongly committed to evidence-based, experiential
education and has been an active participant in the national dialogue on STEM (science, technol-
ogy, engineering, and math) education for over 20 years. Anne’s research interests are in the ecology
and evolution of hummingbirds. She grew up in Hawaii, received her doctorate in zoology from the
University of Oxford, and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Toronto.

MEGAN SCUDELLARI is an award-winning freelance science writer and journalist based in


Boston, Massachusetts, specializing in the life sciences. She has contributed to Newsweek, Scientific
American, Discover, Nature, and Technology Review, among others, and she was a health columnist
for the Boston Globe. For five years she worked as a correspondent and later as a contributing editor
for The Scientist magazine. In 2013, she was awarded the prestigious Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award
in recognition of outstanding reporting and writing in science. She has also received accolades for
investigative reporting on traumatic brain injury and a feature story on prosthetics bestowed with a
sense of touch. Megan received an MS from the Graduate Program in Science Writing at the Massa-
chusetts Institute of Technology and worked as an educator at the Museum of Science, Boston.

CINDY MALONE began her scientific career wearing hip waders in a swamp behind her home in
Illinois. She earned her BS in biology at Illinois State University and her PhD in microbiology and
immunology at UCLA. She continued her postdoctoral work at UCLA in molecular genetics. She
is currently a distinguished educator and a professor at California State University, Northridge,
where she is the director of the CSUN-UCLA Stem Cell Scientist Training Program funded by the
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Her research is aimed at training undergraduates
and master’s degree candidates to understand how genes are regulated through genetic and epigen-
etic mechanisms that alter gene expression. She has been teaching nonmajors biology for almost
20 years and has won teaching, mentorship, and curriculum enhancement awards at CSUN.

xvii
Preface
A good biology class can improve the quality of and the science. More important, textbooks have
students’ lives. Biology is a part of so many deci- not been successful at helping students become
sions that students will need to make as individ- active learners and critical thinkers, and none
uals and as members of society. It helps parents emphasize the process of science or how to assess
to see the value of vaccinating a child, because scientific claims. It was our goal to make Biol-
they will understand what viruses are and how ogy Now relevant and interactive, and to be sure
the immune system works. It helps homeown- that it emphasized the process of science in short
ers in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico as they chapters that students want to read, while still
decide how to respond to the ongoing cleanup covering the essential content found in other
from 2017’s Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, nonmajors biology textbooks.
because they understand how an ecosystem func- Following the model of the first edition, each
tions. It helps students make more informed chapter in our book covers a current news story
decisions about their own nutrition because they about people doing science, reported firsthand by
understand the effects of fat, cholesterol, and vita- Megan, an experienced journalist who specializes
mins, and minerals on our health. The examples in reporting scientific findings in a compelling and
are endless. Making informed decisions on these accurate way, and fleshed out with a concise intro-
real-world issues requires students to be comfort- duction to the science by Anne and Cindy. For this
able with scientific concepts and the process of second edition we decided to direct our energies
scientific discovery. toward writing five current stories that will help
How do we instill that capability in students? instructors keep their courses grounded in real
The last decade has seen an explosion of research world events, and toward adding content requested
on how students learn best. In a nutshell, they by our first-edition adopters. Specifically, we’ve
learn best when they see the relevance of a added a full unit—comprising two new chapters
subject to their lives, when they are actively and two revised chapters—on the amazing diver-
engaged in their learning, and when they are sity of life on planet Earth. Not only was more
given opportunities to practice critical thinking. substantial coverage of this topic a common request
In addition, most faculty who teach nonmajors in feedback about the first edition; it is also essen-
biology would agree that our goal is to introduce tial material for non-biology-major students, for it
students to both the key concepts of biology (for is partly through an appreciation of the diversity of
example, cells, DNA, evolution) and the tools to life that students develop a personal relationship
think critically about biological issues. Many would with the natural world.
add that they want their students to leave the class Finally, we are thrilled for our book to be part
with an appreciation for the value of science to of the online-assessment revolution! The second
society, and with an ability to distinguish between edition is accompanied by two excellent online
science and the nonscience or pseudoscience that homework platforms: a formative system called
bombards them on a daily basis. InQuizitive, and a summative system called
How can a textbook help combine the ways Smartwork5. We no longer worry that our students
students learn best with the goals of a nonmajors aren’t seeing the forest for the trees when they
biology class? At the most basic level, if students read the textbook. These systems are rich learn-
don’t read the textbook, they can’t learn from ing environments for students and automatically
it. When students read them, traditional text- graded assignment platforms for instructors.
books are adept at teaching key concepts, and We sincerely hope you enjoy the fruits of our
they have recently begun to emphasize the rele- long labors.
vance of biology to students’ lives. But students
may be intimidated by the length of chapters Anne Houtman
and the amount of difficult text, and they often Megan Scudellari
cannot see the connections between the story Cindy Malone

xix
What’s New in the
Second Edition?
• New chapter stories on current, fun, and unexpected topics like the Zika
virus outbreak, the human microbiome, and the discovery of a CRISPR
gene editing technology. New stories include:

Chapter 5: How Cells Work—Rock Eaters


Unusual electricity-“eating” microbes could someday provide a new way to store and produce
energy as “bacterial batteries.”

Chapter 9: What Genes Are—Pigs to the Rescue


CRISPR is perhaps one of the most exciting discoveries of the last century. Chapter 9 describes
one application of the CRISPR genome editing technology: creating organs for transplant . . .
in pigs.

Chapter 15: Bacteria and Archaea—Navel Gazing


A team at North Carolina State University leads a citizen science project to sequence the human
belly button microbiome and gets some surprising results.

Chapter 16: Plants, Fungi, and Protists—The Dirt on Black-Market Plants


Poaching is illegal, and trafficking of tropical plants such as orchids threatens their survival. A
group of scientists is tracking illegal plants from the United States to their source.

Chapter 19: Growth of Populations—Zika-Busting Mosquitoes


The spread of Zika throughout the Americas quickly became a health crisis. Genetically
modifying mosquitoes is one of the ways that scientists are using to try to control Zika’s spread.

xx ■ Preface
• A new unit on biodiversity, which significantly expands coverage of the
vast diversity of life on Earth, with two completely new chapters and two
significantly revised chapters. Instructors who wish to continue teaching
a brief introduction to biodiversity can do so with the “overview” chapter
(Chapter 14). But for those wishing to spend time exploring life on Earth,
Chapters 15, 16, and 17 provide thorough science coverage and lively
stories.
• New, earlier placement of the chapter on applying science to making
critical choices. The “capstone” final chapter in the second edition is
now Chapter 2: Evaluating Scientific Claims. Introducing the concept of
scientifically literate evaluation of scientific claims early in the book gives
students the maximum amount of time to benefit from that skill.
• A new end-of-chapter question type—Challenge Yourself—which
encourages students to think critically about the chapter’s important
biological concepts.
• New animation, interactive, and visually based questions in Smartwork5
and InQuizitive that promote critical thinking, interaction with data, and
engagement with biology in the real world.
• New resources in the Ultimate Guide to Teaching with Biology Now,
which will be accessible through the online Interactive Instructor’s Guide
platform, providing instructors with the ability to easily search and sort for
active learning resources by topic, objective, and type of resource.

Preface ■ xxi
The perfect balance
of science and story
Every chapter is structured around a story about people doing science
that motivates students to read and stimulates their curiosity about
biological concepts.

Dynamic chapter-
opening spreads
GENETICS

Pigs to the CHAPTER

09 inspired by each
Rescue WHAT GENES
ARE
chapter’s story draw
Using CRISPR, a hot new genome-editing tool,
scientists hope to create a steady stream of transplant
students in to the
organs—from pigs.
material.
After reading this chapter you should be able to:
◆ Describe the structure of DNA, using appropriate terminology.
◆ Use the base-pairing rules to determine a complementary strand of DNA based on a
given template strand.
◆ Describe how the genome editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 works.
◆ Label a diagram of DNA replication, identifying the location of each step in the
process.
◆ Identify when PCR and gene sequencing technology should be used in an
experiment.
◆ Explain the cause of DNA replication errors, and describe how they are repaired.
◆ Give an example of a mutation and its potential effects on an organism.

155

“After reading
EVOLUTION

this chapter Whale CHAPTER

11
you should be Hunting EVIDENCE FOR
EVOLUTION

able to” introduces


Fossil hunters discover Moby Dick’s earliest
ancestor—a furry, four-legged land lover.

learning outcomes that After reading this chapter you should be able to:

preview the concepts


◆ Define evolution and list the six types of evidence for evolution.
◆ Compare and contrast artificial selection and natural selection.
◆ Summarize the argument that the fossil record provides evidence in support
of evolution.

presented in each
◆ Give an example of a homologous or vestigial trait, and explain how such traits
support the theory of common descent.
◆ Explain why even distantly related species have similar DNA.
◆ Use your knowledge of evolution and continental drift to make a prediction about the
geographic location of a given set of fossils.

chapter.
◆ Relate similarities in embryonic development among species to their shared
evolutionary past.

191

xxii ■ Preface
found documenting whales’ unique transition is heterozygous for that gene. Having one domi- con
from land-living mammals to the mammoths nant allele and one recessive allele, a heterozygous exa
of the sea, during which whale populations ser
individual will show the dominant phenotype;
developed longer tails and shorter and shorter
BIODIVERSITY in
legs. But one crucial link in the fossil record Thick
medial for
was missing: the closest land-living Billionsrelatives of (bya)
of years ago Millions of years ago (mya)
CarlosGORDON LARK
tympanic
whales. What did the ancestors of whales look wall Prada transplants
4.6
like before they entered the water? Staring at the
3.8 540 490of different
coral to waters tan
Cast-of-character bios The molars of Indohyus (topWhite-tailed
strange fossil in his hand, Thewissen ofrealized
molars inhe
the shapePrecambrian
left) are similardeer
A geneticist
contemporary
to
aquatic at the
depths.
University of Utah in Salt Lake
Paleozoic
ha
could be holding the ear ofplant-eating
that missing City,
link.like hippos (top Gordon
and Lark initiated the Georgie Project in no
highlight
Figure 13.8 the scientists,
bottom left).
animals
These
Geologic
Whales are but one of the many organisms molars
period 1996
have to
right
study
crushing the genetics of Portuguese water dogs.
basins for
Different corals at
researchers, and thatdifferent depths
professors
for grinding up tough plant fibers.The national research project has led to valuable
share our planet. Every species is exquisitely pro
Precambrian Cambrian Ordovician
These two corals were once considered the same species, Eunicea flexuosa, commonly knowledge called a “sea about
fan.”the geneticPhotos
(Source: basis of health
courtesy and
pa
fit for life in its particular environment: whales
at
of the
Carlos
Figure 11.8 center
Prada.) of each story.
in the open ocean, hawks streaking through Major
theevents
disease in humans and dogs.
pe
Comparing the skulls and jawstransplanting
carefully theIndohyus
of fossilized anddeep-
corals, moving aOrigin
modern oflong
hippopotamus
been fascinatedLarge
life; photosynthe- withand
how oneThin
species
medialsplits
Further increases in
These organisms’ teeth indicate their ability to eat plant 120
material.
■ CHAPTER sis Patterns
07causes oxygenofcontent
Inheritance
relativelyin
sudden diversity
tympanic wallof marine
water sea fans to shallow depths and vice versa to become two, especially the ocean. “Say you
of Earth’s atmosphere to increase in the invertebrates and
J. G. M.
(Figure 13.8). He“HANS”
found that THEWISSEN
when trans- have
increase; first a new lake forming,
eukaryotes; diversityand a species
of animal becomesplants and
vertebrates;
planted, the corals did change. The shallow- first multicellular
isolated organisms
in the life; Then
lake. increaseit’sin pretty fungiobvious
begin to colonize
Figure 11.1 diversity of algae; land; mass extinction at
thick bones,” says Cooper, waternowseaanfans became
assistant
Paleontologist taller and more
improved
and embryologist M.spindly
function
J. G. “Hans”in a there’s not goingenviron-
competitive tofirst
be vertebrates
a lot of interbreeding
end of periodto
when planted in deep water, and the deep-wa- fi
Theagainst,
ght
mysterious and the
ear bonejust adapts. To me,
species
Thewissen is a professor and
professor at Northeast Ohio Medical Univer- ment. By being able to easily whale expert at wade and dive
The Indohyus fossil ear inbone (top) looks more like
sity. Modern animals thatter livesea fansNortheast
in shallowbecame Ohio Medical
water,wider water,
University
in shallow
Indohyus
in the
waters,
had anthere’s no mystery
advantage over in that,” says Hellberg. This
other
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology. the ear bone of whales (middle) than that of any
such as manatees and hippos, but—critically—neither
also have thick made a complete
116-134_BioNow2e_Ch07.indd
organisms in tran- predators
120
escaping would
modern beland
an mammal
and example
accessing of allopatric
(bottom). (Source:speciation.
Indohyus
He and his lab study ancestral whale
sition to
bones, which help prevent them from floatingthe alternate shape.
fossils and plantsThe lack
moderntowhale
of
eat on a total “I’ve
and always
whale tried
photos
the river floor. Adaptive traits
species.
to target
courtesy groups
of where
Thewissen species
Lab,
transformation by either form to the
and enable them to dive quickly (Figure 11.9). take many forms, from an anatomical feature other look closely
NEOMED.) related and where ranges of the
suggested to Prada that the corals, while theyLifespecies begins overlap. That makes things
Invertebrates a lot harder.”
Plants begin
“It isn’t just isolated to whales,” says Cooper.
likely share a common ancestor, are actually Hellberg welcomed fill the seas
Prada into his to colonize
crew, and land
“Bones 192 have
■ 11 Evidence
thickened
CHAPTER again andfor Evolution
again as
two species that have adapted to their respec- the two set out to extend Prada’s work to find
different groups of vertebrates entered the
tive water depths. LISA
Figure 14.3 COOPER out whether his idea—that coral evolve different
water. When you trace back through the fossil
When Prada finished his graduate geologicwork in adaptive traits events
at different depths in the ofocean,
record, there is a pretty good correlation TheLisa timescale
Cooperatis Loui-an assistant
and major
professor at formation
in the history
Northeast of new species—was
life
Puerto Rico, he e-mailedThe a professor
history of life can be leading
divided to
into 12themajor geologic time periods, beginning with the
between thickness of bone and State
siana whether some- who Ohio
University Medical
studied Universityunique
in the Department of in Puerto Rico or could be
extending tospeciation
the Quaternary (2.6 myato coral
to thereefs
present). This time line is not drawn to scale
thing was living in the water.” in ocean animals. With diagram Anatomy and Neurobiology. She earned her PhD in
wavy, bleached-blond
190-209_BioNow2e_Ch11.indd 192 off the book pageobserved to the leftin byother
more areas
than 5aroundfeet (1.5the Caribbean.
meters). M 9/26/17 11:47
Indohyus’s thick bones hair, are an example of an Thewissen’s lab.
Michael Hellberg looks more like a Cali- With Hellberg’s support, Prada traveled to the
adaptive trait, a feature that gives an fornia individual
surfer than a professor, but Bahamas, Panama, and Curaçao to observe and
this evolutionary biologist has take samples from sea fan colonies.
● Archaea, which consists As Whale he waited
Hunting for
of single-celled ■ 199 to Bact
Prada to return home
MICHAEL HELLBERG AND CARLOS with the data, Hellberg Archae
organisms best known for living in extremely
harsh environments
PRADA remained skeptical of tionally
● Eukarya, which includes all other living prokary
the idea of ecologi- Prok
Michael Hellberg (right) is an evolutionary organisms, fromatamoebas to plants to fungi to
biologist cal isolation, that two at abou
Louisiana State University who studiesanimals how species evolve
90-209_BioNow2e_Ch11.indd 199
closely related species9/26/17 the11:48
firsA
in marine environments. Carlos Prada (left) was a graduate
Humans,
student in Hellberg’s lab, and is now a postdoctoral dinosaurs, in
and the same
birds are territory
all part billion
researcher at Penn State studying ofhow theorganisms
Eukarya cope domain. couldThey be reproductively
are eukary- eukaryo
with changes otes.in the environment.
Bacteria and Archaea isolated arebytwo
slightdiffdiffer- group o
erent
ences in
domains—Archaea are more closely related and thesis habitat. But
in some ways more similar to Eukarya than As a re
238 ■ CHAPTER 13 Adaptation and Species atmosp
2.1 billio
XU XING otes ev
reached
Xu Xing is a paleontologist at the Chinese years a
Academy of Sciences in Beijing. He has comple
discovered more than 60 species of dinosaurs
230-247_BioNow2e_Ch13.indd 238 sible,8:34
9/25/17 i
and specializes in feathered dinosaurs and
the origins of flight. insects,
reptiles

Preface ■ xxiii
252 ■ CHAPTER 14 The History of Life
An inquiry-based approach that
builds science skills—asking
questions, thinking visually, and
interpreting data.
Most figures in the book are accompanied
by three questions that promote
understanding and encourage engagement
with the visual content. Answers are
provided at the back of the book, making the
questions a useful self-study tool.
Diploid parents
2 The virus is sequenced, 3 Medicago identifies a
Mother Father and the genetic sequence portion of the DNA to
1 Outbreak! Samples of the is sent to Medicago (and synthesize—in this 4 The synthesized hemagglutinin
Diploid cells in the Diploid cells in the flu virus are taken from other vaccine producers). case, the gene for gene is inserted into the
ovary undergo testes undergo sick people and sent to hemagglutinin, a protein Agrobacterium genome, and
meiosis to produce 2n 2n meiosis to produce medical labs to be from the virus’s surface. the bacteria replicate.
sequenced.
haploid egg cells. haploid sperm.

Meiosis

Haploid Haploid
egg sperm

Gametes are
n n haploid: they have
only one copy of
each type of
chromosome and
5 The tobacco is infected
Fertilization therefore half the
with Agrobacterium,
chromosome set. which transfers the
synthesized
hemagglutinin gene to
the tobacco genome.
2n
Maternal
chromosome
Fertilization
Paternal combines
chromosome chromosomes
Diploid zygote from two haploid
gametes and
Mitosis therefore restores
the diploid set. 6 The tobacco expresses the
hemagglutinin gene, producing
the hemagglutinin protein that
9 Healthy people are the gene encodes.
injected with the flu
vaccine and develop 8 The hemagglutinin 7 The tobacco is harvested,
immunity to the flu virus proteins are purified to and the hemagglutinin
Diploid offspring (2n) (see Figure 2.1 for details). produce a vaccine. proteins are extracted.

Q1: Is a zygote haploid or diploid? Q1: In which of the step(s) illustrated here does DNA replication
Q2: Which cellular process creates a baby occur? In which step(s) does gene expression occur?
from a zygote? Q2: Why do vaccine producers not simply replicate the entire viral
Q3: If a mother or father was exposed to genome, instead isolating the gene for one protein and replicating only
BPA prior to conceiving a child, how might that gene?
that explain potential birth defects in the Q3: What role do the bacteria play in this process? Why are they
fetus? needed?

xxiv ■ Preface
Engaging, data-driven infographics appear in every chapter. Topics range
from global renewable energy consumption (Chapter 5) to genetic diseases
affecting Americans (Chapter 8) and many more. The infographics expose
students to scientific data in an engaging way.

What’s It All
Everything in the universe is composed of matter—from

World’s
ordinary matter, made of atoms, to dark matter, which may You may have heard that humans are the deadliest animals on
consist of unknown types of particles. Here, we stick with the planet. It’s true that we, as a species, kill hundreds of

Made Of? what we know and describe the common elements that
compose the world around us.
Deadliest Animals
thousands of humans. But there’s one family of animals that
has us beat: mosquitoes. Many species of these small, pesky
Assessment available in insects transmit harmful infections, including Zika fever,
malaria, West Nile disease, dengue fever, and many more.

Assessment available in

Snake
50,000

Dog (rabies)
Earth’s Atmosphere The Universe 25,000
78% Nitrogen 75% Hydrogen
21% Oxygen 23% Helium
Freshwater snail
<1% Argon 2% Other Elements (schistosomiasis)
<<1% Other Elements Human
10,000
475,000
Assassin bug
(Chagas disease)
10,000

Tsetse fly
Mosquito (sleeping sickness)
725,000 10,000

Ascaris roundworm
2,500

Tapeworm
2,000
The Human Body Earth’s Crust
65% Oxygen 46% Oxygen
Crocodile
18% Carbon 28% Silicon 1,000
10% Hydrogen 8% Aluminum
Hippopotamus
3% Nitrogen 5% Iron
500
2% Calcium 4% Calcium
1% Phosphorus 3% Sodium Lion
1% Other Elements 2% Potassium 100
2% Magnesium
Elephant
2% Other Elements
100
Shark
10
All proportions are by mass except Earth’s atmosphere, which is by volume
Wolf
[These 15 deadliest animals are ranked in order of the average number of deaths they
10
are responsible for in a year, both directly and through the diseases they transmit.]

The Meteoric Cancer’s Big 10


The genome editing tool CRISPR, short for “clustered regularly interspaced short When the cell cycle spirals out of control, cancer emerges:
palindromic repeats,” has taken molecular biology laboratories by storm over abnormal cells divide in a frenzy and can invade other
the past 5 years. It has been used to edit the genomes of crops and tissues. There are more than 100 types of cancer, but some

Rise of CRISPR livestock to improve breeding and production, to control populations of


disease-carrying insects, to silence genetic disorders in animal models, and
more. Here are a few highlights from the short but shining history of CRISPR.
are more prevalent than others. And some are more deadly
than others, because of their location in the body or how

Top 10 cancer sites


quickly the cells divide. New treatments, screening
Assessment available in procedures, and vaccines can reduce these rates.
2,143 by rate of incidence Assessment available in
Incidence rates per 100,000

Male Top 10 cancer deaths


Prostate 101.6 by rate of incidence
Incidence rates per 100,000
Lung and bronchus 69.8

Male
Colon and rectum 44.2
Search results article count 1,258
Urinary bladder 34.9
Lung and bronchus 53.9
Melanomas of Prostate 19.2
the skin 26.6
Colon and rectum 17.3
PubMed search results for “CRISPR” by year Pancreas 12.4

CRI SP R 607 Liver and interhepatic


bile duct 9.5

282
Pancreas 14.1
126
45 79 Leukemias 16.9
5 6 12 21 32 Non-Hodgkin
1 1 0 Kidney and renal pelvis 5.6
lymphoma 22.4 Oral cavity and pharynx 17.4
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Leukemias 9.1 Esophagus 7.1
Kidney and renal pelvis 21.7
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma 7.4

Female
The first human trial to Urinary bladder 7.7
use CRISPR genome editing
gets approval from the
CRISPR repeats are Researchers propose The CRISPR-Cas9 National Institutes of
Female
Female breast 123.7
first observed in that CRISPR functions system is used to edit Health, in a cancer
bacterial genomes. in nature as part of a targeted genes in both therapy trial to edit a
Their significance bacterial adaptive human and mouse cells, patient’s own immune Lung and bronchus 51.5
is not yet known. immune system. and later plant cells. system cells. Lung and bronchus 35.4
1987 2006 2013 2016 Colon and rectum 33.6
Female breast 20.7

Corpus and uterus 25.9 Colon and rectum 12.1


Pancreas 9.4
Thyroid 21.6
Ovary 7.2

2002 2011 2015


The term “CRISPR” is The final necessary piece In China, scientists use
coined by researchers for the genome editing system CRISPR-Cas9 to edit
in Spain and the is identified: a second preimplantation human embryos, Brain and other
Netherlands. small RNA needed to guide repairing a mutated gene that nervous system 3.6
Cas9 to its targets. would cause a blood disorder.
Subsequently, an international Pancreas 10.9 Leukemias 5.0 Liver and interhepatic
ban prohibits the use of genome bile duct 3.8
editing to make changes to the Ovary 11.2
Melanomas of
human genome.
the skin 16.3 Kidney and renal pelvis 11.2 Non-Hodgkin lymphoma 4.4

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma 15.4 Corpus and uterus 4.6

Preface ■ xxv
Extensive end-of-chapter
review ensures that students
see the forest for the trees.
Reviewing the Science Try Something New
recessive to the short-hair allele. Dogs with furnishings can be
either homozygous or heterozygous for the furnishings allele; dogs
THE QUESTIONS

identifies each chapter’s


without furnishings are homozygous for the no-furnishings allele.
10
The silver fox (see “The New Family Pet?” on page 127) belongs
to the same species as the red fox: Vulpes vulpes. Two silver foxes
The Basics always breed true for silver offspring. A silver fox bred to a red
fox will produce either all red offspring or, occasionally, half red
1
DNA replication results in and half silver offspring. Red foxes bred together usually produce

key science concepts,


all red offspring, but they occasionally produce silver offspring in
(a) two DNA molecules—one with two old strands, and one with
the ratio of 3 red to 1 silver. (Hint: Draw Punnett squares showing
two new strands.
these predicted results.) Which of the following statements is/are
(b) two DNA molecules, each of which has two new strands. consistent with the information provided here about inheritance of
(c) two DNA molecules, each of which has one old strand and one coat color in Vulpes vulpes? (Select all that apply.)
new strand. (a) Red foxes are all homozygous.

providing students with a


(d) none of the above (b) Silver foxes are all homozygous.

REVIEWING THE SCIENCE


(c) Red is dominant to silver.
2
The DNA of cells is damaged a. At the hair length and furnishings genes, what is the genotype
(d) Some silver foxes are homozygous and some are heterozygous.
of a long-haired dog without furnishings?
● Genes are composed of DNA, ● DNA replication occurs in (a) thousands of times per day. (e) Some red foxes are homozygous and some are heterozygous.
b. At the hair length and furnishings genes, what are all the

guide for studying.


which consists of two parallel all living organisms prior to (b) by collisions with other molecules, chemical accidents, and
possible genotypes of a short-haired dog with furnishings?
strands of repeating units mitosis. The double helix radiation. 11
In your garden you grow Big Boy (round) and Roma (oval)
c. Create a Punnett square of two dogs heterozygous for hair
called nucleotides twisted unwinds, and the two strands (c) not very often and only by radiation. tomatoes. You love the taste of Big Boys, but you think it’s easier
length and furnishings. What is the offspring phenotype ratio for
into a double helix. break apart. Each strand of to slice Roma tomatoes. You decide to cross-pollinate a Big Boy
(d) both a and b those two traits?
DNA serves as a template and a Roma to see whether you can create a new strain of “Long
● The four nucleotides of
from which a new strand is Boys.” In the first generation, all of the tomatoes are round. How
DNA contain the bases 3
copied. DNA polymerase The DNA of different species differs in the would you explain this result? What would your next cross be?
adenine (A), cytosine (C),
builds each new strand of (a) sequence of bases. Write out the cross in a Punnett square, using parental genotypes.
Leveling Up
guanine (G), and thymine
DNA using primers located What proportion of the next generation, if any, would be oval?
(T). The nucleotides exhibit (b) complementary base-pairing.
near the origins of replication. 14
Doing science Do you want to get involved in dog research?
complementary base-pairing
(c) number of nucleotide strands. 12 If you have a purebred as a pet, you can. Find out whether the
according to base-pairing ● The polymerase chain For several hundred years, goldfish have been selectively bred
rules: A can pair only with T, reaction, or PCR, is a (d) location of the sugar-phosphate portion of the DNA molecule. in China and Japan for body color and shape, tail shape, bulging Dog Genome Project at the National Institutes of Health is doing

End-of-chapter
and C can pair only with G. laboratory technique to eyes, and even fleshy head growths. research on your pet’s breed. If they are, you can send in a swab of
amplify the DNA from a small
4
Mutation your dog’s saliva and contribute to science. Visit the NIH website
● DNA is wrapped around (http://research.nhgri.nih.gov/dog_genome) for more information.
initial amount to millions of (a) can produce new alleles.
histone proteins, forming
copies. Amplified DNA can
nucleosomes. The (b) can be harmful, beneficial, or neutral. 15
then be sequenced to examine Is it science? The November 18, 2003, issue of Weekly World
nucleosome structures can (c) is a change in an organism’s DNA sequence. News printed a story about a woman who, after repeatedly watching
specific genes or mutations.
further compact the DNA by the movie Shrek while taking fertility drugs, gave birth to a baby
(d) all of the above
coiling around themselves ● DNA is subject to damage who looked like the main character, an ogre named Shrek. Like

questions follow
to form a chromatin fiber. by physical, chemical, and 5 Wild goldfish Pet-shop goldfish Black moor Shrek, the newborn had dull green skin, a large flat nose, and ears
Link each term with the correct definition.
Chromatin fibers further coil biological agents, and goldfish protruding from stems. From what you know about genetics, do you
around themselves to form errors in DNA replication are NUCLEOTIDE think it’s possible for a developing fetus to change so drastically
1. Two complementary bases joined by Imagine that you have a tank of pet-shop goldfish and have just
chromosomes. common. DNA polymerase (from a normal-looking baby to a “Shrek” baby) because its mother
hydrogen bonds. added a couple of black moor goldfish, hoping that they will breed.
“proofreads” the DNA during was obsessed with a movie? Why or why not? How would you
● The CRISPR-Cas9 editing BASE PAIR When the eggs laid by the black moor female (P generation) hatch
replication and corrects most 2. The nitrogen-containing component of explain your answer to someone who believed this news report?
system is composed of two and the young fish (F1 generation) begin to develop, you are shocked
mistakes. Repair proteins are a nucleotide; there are four variants of

Bloom’s taxonomy,
pieces of RNA designed to to see that they are orange. How would you explain this result in
a backup repair mechanism this component. 16
form base pairs at precise terms of the inheritance of body color in goldfish? What breeding What do you think? Many people are critical of those who
and correct any errors that DNA MOLECULE 3. A strand of nucleotides linked together breed or purchase purebred dogs, arguing that there are many
locations in a gene. This experiment could you conduct to test your hypothesis?
DNA polymerase misses. by covalent bonds between a sugar mixed-breed dogs waiting to be adopted from shelters. They also
DNA-RNA interaction
and a phosphate; two strands are point out that mixed-breed dogs are less likely than purebred dogs
guides the Cas9 proteins ● A change to the sequence of 13
linked by hydrogen bonds between In 2009, a large team of researchers including Elaine Ostrander
to the sites where they bases in an organism’s DNA is to suffer from genetic diseases. Those who prefer a particular
complementary bases. and Gordon Lark published the results of its research on coat
breed argue that there is a strong genetic influence on dog

moving from review (The


efficiently cut the DNA, called a mutation. Three types
BASE 4. A phosphate, a sugar, and a nitrogen- inheritance in dogs. The study began by focusing on dachshunds
resulting in a gene deletion of mismatch mutations can personality and behavior, and that they don’t want any surprises
containing base. and Portuguese water dogs, but then widened to more than 80
after normal repair processes alter a gene’s DNA sequence: when they add a new member to their family. What do you think?
breeds. The scientists were able to explain 95 percent of the
take place. Additional substitutions, insertions,
6
variation in dog coat types with just two alleles at each of three
genetic manipulations are and deletions. If only a single In the diagram of replication shown here, fill in the blanks with the
genes, each inherited independently of the other. These genes For more, visit digital.wwnorton.com/bionow2 for access to:
required to generate a gene base is altered, it is a point appropriate terms: (a) base pair, (b) base, (c) nucleotide, (d) template
coded for hair length (L/l), wave or curl in the coat (W/w), and

Basics), to synthesis
insertion. mutation. strand, (e) newly synthesized strand, (f) separating strands.

E D q M
the presence of “furnishings” (F/f), which are the moustache
and eyebrows often seen in wire-haired dogs (see photo). Long-
haired dogs carry two copies of the long-hair allele, which is

Pigs to the Rescue ■ 169 Dog Days of Science ■ 133

(Try Something New), 154-171_BioNow2e_Ch09_N.indd 169 10/18/17 5:06 PM


116-134_BioNow2e_Ch07.indd 133 10/18/17 3:59 PM

to critical thinking
Leveling Up
(Challenge Yourself), to
application (Leveling Up). questions, based on
2
Unlike natural selection, is not related to an (b) Small mice cannot reach the seed shelf, and large mice are
questions the authors
Try Something New

use in their classrooms,


individual’s ability to survive and may result in offspring that are easily seen by hawks circling above. Medium-sized mice
less well adapted to survive in a particular environment. therefore survive and reproduce better than both small and
(a) genetic drift 8 large mice.
Two large populations of the same species found in
(b) sexual selection neighboring locations that have very different environments are (c) Small mice can easily cross the yard to the vegetable garden,
observed to become genetically more similar over time. Which of and large mice can easily reach the seed shelf. Medium-sized
(c) directional selection
the four main evolutionary mechanisms is the most likely cause of mice have trouble with the seed shelf and are seen by hawks

prompt students to
(d) convergent evolution this trend? Justify your answer. in the yard. Small and large mice survive and reproduce much
better than medium-sized mice.
3
Which of the following statements about convergent evolution 9
The Tasmanian devil, a marsupial indigenous to the island of (d) All of these are examples of stabilizing selection.
is true? Tasmania (and formerly mainland Australia as well), experienced (e) None of these are examples of stabilizing selection.
(a) It demonstrates how similar environments can lead to different a population bottleneck in the late 1800s when farmers did their
physical structures. best to eradicate it. After it became a protected species, the

relate biology concepts


(b) It demonstrates how similar environments can lead to the same population rebounded, but it is now experiencing a health crisis
Leveling Up
REVIEWING THE SCIENCE physical structures. putting it at risk for disappearing again. Many current Tasmanian
devil populations are plagued by a type of cancer called devil facial
(c) It demonstrates that similarity of structures is due to descent
tumor disease, which occurs inside individual animals’ mouths. 12
What do you think? One way to prevent a small population
● Natural selection for inherited ● Sexual selection occurs from a common ancestor.
Afflicted Tasmanian devils can actually pass their cancer cells from of a plant or animal species from going extinct is to deliberately
traits occurs in three when a trait increases
(d) It demonstrates that similarity of structures is due to random one animal to another during mating rituals that include vicious introduce some individuals from a large population of the same
common patterns: directional, an individual’s chance of

to their own lives. The


chance. biting around the mouth. species into the smaller population. In terms of the evolutionary
stabilizing, and disruptive. mating even if it decreases
Unlike the immune systems of other species, including humans, mechanisms discussed in this chapter, what are the potential
that individual’s chance of
● In directional selection, 4
Evolution is most accurately described as a change in allele the Tasmanian devil’s immune system does not reject the passed benefi ts and drawbacks of transferring individuals from one
survival.
individuals at one phenotypic frequencies in over time. cells as foreign or nonself (as we reject a liver transplant from an population to another? Do you think biologists and concerned
extreme of a given genetic ● Gene flow is the exchange unmatched donor), but accepts them as if they were their own citizens should take such actions?
(a) an individual
trait have an advantage over of alleles between separate cells. Why would a population bottleneck result in the inability of

questions focus on one


all others in the population. populations. (b) a species one devil’s immune system to recognize another devil’s cells as 13
Write Now biology: mechanisms of evolution This assignment
(c) a population foreign?
● In stabilizing selection, ● Genetic drift is a change in explores the mechanisms of evolution through fi ve selected short
individuals with intermediate allele frequencies produced (d) a community stories from Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
phenotypes have an by random differences in 10
Global warming is causing more and more ice to melt each Answer the questions associated with each story.
advantage over all others in survival and reproduction in year at far-northern latitudes, exposing more bare ground than “Harrison Bergeron”
the population. a small population, and most
Challenge Yourself ever before. These vast areas of brown ground coloration make

of the following themes:


What message is this story trying to send? Cite examples from
dramatically occurs through polar bears (which are white) much more conspicuous to their the story and relate them to the mechanisms of evolution from
● During disruptive selection,
one of two processes: a prey. Recently, an infant polar bear was born with brown fur. this chapter.
individuals with either 5
In a population, which individuals are most likely to survive and
genetic bottleneck or the This polar bear survived to adulthood and has sired several
extreme phenotype have an reproduce? “Welcome to the Monkey House”
founder effect. offspring with brown fur. Which of the following is a plausible
advantage over those with an Is this story an example of sexual selection? Why or why not?
(a) The individuals that are the most different from the others in explanation of how the brown fur trait appeared in these polar
intermediate phenotype. ● A genetic bottleneck occurs Cite examples from the story and from this chapter to support
the population. bears?

“Doing science,” “Is it


when a drop in the size of a your thinking.
● In convergent evolution, (b) The individuals that are best adapted to the environment. (a) A polar bear realized it would be better to be brown in order to
population leads to a loss of “The Euphio Question”
distantly related organisms hide more effectively. It induced mutations to occur in its fur
genetic variation in the new, (c) The largest individuals in the group. If technology could produce such an instrument, how would it
(those without a recent pigment gene, which resulted in a change in pigment from white
rebounded population. (d) The individuals that can catch the most prey. affect the evolution of humans? What about the evolution of
common ancestor) evolve to brown fur.
similar structures in response ● The founder effect occurs other species on Earth?
(b) One or more random mutations occurred in the fur pigment
to similar environmental when a few individuals from a 6
A study of a population of the goldenrod wildflower finds that “Unready to Wear”

science?,” “Life choices,”


gene in an individual polar bear embryo, which resulted in a
challenges. large population establish a large individuals consistently survive and reproduce at a higher Relate this story to as many of the mechanisms of evolution
change in pigment from white to brown fur.
new population, leading to a rate than small or medium-sized individuals. Assuming size is an from this chapter as you can. Cite examples from the story and
● All mechanisms of evolution (c) Increased temperatures due to global warming caused targeted
loss of genetic variation in the inherited trait, the most likely evolutionary mechanism at work the chapter to support your thinking.
depend on the genetic mutations in the fur pigment gene in an individual polar bear
new, isolated population. here is “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”
variation provided by new embryo, which resulted in a change in pigment from white to
alleles created by mutation. (a) disruptive selection. Do you think these types of drugs are a good or bad thing?
brown fur.

“Looking at data,” “What


(b) directional selection. Where would you draw the line on technology’s ability to extend
(d) A female polar bear realized it would be better for her offspring life? How would drugs like these affect the natural selection and
(c) stabilizing selection. to be brown and therefore mated with a grizzly bear to achieve evolution of humans? What about the evolution of other species

THE QUESTIONS (d) natural selection, but it is not possible to tell whether it is
disruptive, directional, or stabilizing.
this result. on Earth?

11
In the garden shed belonging to one of this text’s authors,

do you think?,” and


7 stabilizing selection has occurred over the past 10 years in the
Explain how, because of sexual selection, an individual might
The Basics be very successful at surviving (natural selection), but not pass on house mouse, Mus musculus. Which of the following scenarios is an For more, visit digital.wwnorton.com/bionow2 for access to:
genes to the next generation. example of stabilizing selection?
1
The founder effect is a type of (genetic drift / gene flow) in which

E D q M
(a) Small and medium-sized mice cannot reach the seed shelf in
individuals in one small group of a large population (establish a new
the shed and therefore are at a disadvantage for finding food,
distant population / are the only survivors) and then reproduce.
so they do not survive and reproduce as well as large mice do.

“Write Now biology.”


228 ■ CHAPTER 12 Mechanisms of Evolution Battling Resistance ■ 229

210-229_BioNow2e_Ch12.indd 228 10/18/17 5:41 PM


210-229_BioNow2e_Ch12.indd 229 10/18/17 5:41 PM

xxvi ■ Preface
Powerful resources for
teaching and assessment
Laura Zapanta, University of Pittsburgh
Tiffany Randall, John Tyler Community
College
The Ultimate Guide helps instructors bring
Biology Now’s inquiry-based approach into
the classroom through a wealth of resources,
including activities useful in a variety of
classroom sizes and setups, suggested online
videos with discussion questions, clicker
questions, sample syllabi, and suggested lecture
outlines. The second-edition Ultimate Guide has
been thoroughly reviewed and updated with new
activities, Leveling Up rubrics, and descriptions
of animations with discussion questions.

The Interactive Instructor’s


Guide is a searchable database
of all the valuable teaching and
active learning resources available
in the Ultimate Guide. Instructors
can easily filter by chapter, phrase,
topic, or learning objective to
find activities with downloadable
handouts, streaming video with
discussion questions, animations
with discussion questions, lecture
PowerPoints, and more.

Preface ■ xxvii
Other presentation charts and graphs, and f lashcards for student
self-study of key terms.
tools for instructors
E
Ebook Norton ebooks give students

H InQuizitive InQuizitive is Norton’s


easy-to-use adaptive-learning and quiz-
zing tool that improves student under-
and instructors an enhanced reading
experience at a fraction of the cost of a
print textbook. Students are able to have an
standing of important learning objectives. Students active reading experience and can take notes,
receive personalized quiz questions on the topics bookmark, search, highlight, and even read
they need the most help with. When instructors offline. Instructors can even add their own notes
assign InQuizitive, students come better prepared for students to see as they read the text. Norton
to lectures and exams. The second-edition course ebooks can be viewed on—and synced among—
includes new animation questions, story-based all computers and mobile devices.
questions, and critical-thinking questions.

M
Animations Key concepts and pro-

D
Smartwork5 Smartwork5 delivers cesses are explained clearly through
engaging, interactive online home- high-quality, ADA-compliant anima-
work to students, helping instructors tions developed from the meticulously designed
and students reach their teaching and learning art in the book. These animations are avail-
goals. The second edition features: able for lecture presentation in the Interactive
• New infographic questions, which promote Instructor’s Guide, PowerPoint outlines, and
interaction with data and engagement with the coursepacks, as well as within our ebook,
biology in the real world, while making InQuizitive, and Smartwork5.
this popular visual feature of the text an
Test Bank The test bank is based on an
assignable activity. evidence-centered design that was collabora-
• New story-based questions, which help tively developed by some of the brightest minds
students to learn and understand the in educational testing. Each chapter’s test bank
science behind the stories in the text. now includes 75 or more questions structured
• New critical-thinking questions, which around the learning objectives from the text-
book and conforms to Bloom’s taxonomy. Ques-
prompt students to think critically about
tions are further classified by text section and
important concepts in biology. difficulty, and are provided in multiple-choice,
• New animation questions, which engage fill-in-the-blank, and short-answer form. New
students with the book-specific animations infographic questions in every chapter help test
covering biology concepts. student interpretation of charts and graphs.

C
Coursepacks Norton’s free course- Art Files All art and photos from the book are
packs offer a variety of concept-based available, in presentation-ready resolution, as
opportunities for assessment and both JPEGs and PowerPoints for instructor use.
review. The Leveling Up questions from the
text are available as writing activities, accom- Lecture Slides Comprehensively revised by
panied by grading rubrics, making them easy book author Cindy Malone, complete lecture
to assign. Also included are reading quizzes PowerPoints thoroughly cover chapter concepts
that contain modified images from the text and include images and clicker questions to
and animation questions, infographic quizzes encourage student engagement.
that help students build skills in reading

xxviii ■ Preface
Acknowledgments
We could not have created this textbook without assistant editor Taylere Peterson contributed in
the enthusiasm and hard work of many people. myriad ways, large and small, and for that she
First and foremost, we’d like to thank our inde- has our thanks.
fatigable editor, Betsy Twitchell, for her keen eye We appreciate the tireless enthusiasm of
to the market, terrific visual sense, and endless marketing manager Todd Pearson and his
author-wrangling skills. Andrew Sobel has done colleagues, director of marketing Steve Dunn
far more than ought to be required of a develop- and marketing director Stacy Loyal. We thank
mental editor to ensure that our book is both accu- director of sales Michael Wright and every
rate and readable (not to mention his tireless work single one of Norton’s extraordinary salespeople
on the eye-catching infographics you’ll see in these for spreading the word about our book. Finally,
pages), and for that he has our eternal gratitude. we thank Marian Johnson, Julia Reidhead,
Thank you to our supremely focused and Roby Harrington, Drake McFeely, and everyone
talented project editor, Christine D’Antonio, for at Norton for believing in our book.
creating such a superior layout and for keeping Thank you to our accuracy reviewers Erin
our chapters moving. Thank you to our talented Baumgartner and Mark Manteuffel. We would
copy editor, Stephanie Hiebert, for being so be remiss not to thank also all of our colleagues
meticulous with our manuscript, and so pleas- in the field who gave their time and expertise
ant to work with. in reviewing, class testing, and contributing
We are grateful to photo researcher Fay to Biology Now and its many supplements and
Torresyap for her reliable and creative work, resources. Thank you all.
and to Ted Szczepanski for managing the photo
process. Production manager Ashley Horna
skillfully oversaw the translation of our raw Reviewers
material into the beautiful book you hold in your
Second Edition
hands; she, too, has our thanks. Special thanks
to book designer Hope Miller Goodell and cover Anne Artz, Preuss School, UC San Diego
designer Jennifer Heuer for creating such an Allan Ayella, McPherson College
extraordinary and truly gorgeous book. Erin Baumgartner, Western Oregon
Media editor Kate Brayton, associate editor University
Cailin Barrett-Bressack, and media assistant Joydeep Bhattacharjee, University of
Gina Forsythe worked tirelessly to create the Louisiana, Monroe
instructor and student resources accompany- Rebecca Brewer, Troy High School
ing our book. Their determination, creativity, Victoria Can, Columbia College Chicago
and positive attitude resulted in supplements Lisa Carloye, Washington State University,
of the highest quality that will truly make an Pullman
impact on student learning. Jesse Newkirk’s Michelle Cawthorn, Georgia Southern
commitment to quality as media project editor University
ensured that every element of the resource pack- Craig Clifford, Northeastern State
age meets Norton’s high standards. Likewise, University

xxix
Beth Collins, Iowa Central Community Kelly Norton Pipes, Wilkes Early College
College High School
Julie Constable, California State Gordon Plague, SUNY Potsdam
University, Fresno Benjamin Predmore, University of South
Gregory A. Dahlem, Northern Kentucky Florida
University Jodie Ramsey, Highland High School
Danielle M. DuCharme, Waubonsee Logan Randolph, Polk State College
Community College Debra A. Rinne, Seminole State College of
Robert Ewy, SUNY Potsdam Florida
Clayton Faivor, Ellsworth Community Michael L. Rutledge, Middle Tennessee
School State University
Michael Fleming, California State Celine Santiago Bass, Kaplan University
University, Stanislaus Steve Schwendemann, Iowa Central
Kathy Gallucci, Elon University Community College
Kris Gates, Pikes Peak Community College Sonja Stampfler, Kellogg Community
Heather Giebink, Pennsylvania State College
University Jennifer Sunderman Broo, Saint Ursula
Candace Glendening, University of Academy
Redlands J. D. Swanson, Salve Regina University
Sherri D. Graves, Sacramento City College Heidi Tarus, Colby Community College
Cathy Gunther, University of Missouri Larchinee Turner, Central Carolina
Meshagae Hunte-Brown, Drexel University Technical College
Douglas P. Jensen, Converse College Ron Vanderveer, Eastern Florida State
Ragupathy Kannan, University of College
Arkansas–Fort Smith Calli A. Versagli, Saint Mary’s College
Julia Khodor, Bridgewater State University Mark E. Walvoord, University of Oklahoma
Jennifer Kloock, Garces Memorial High Lisa Weasel, Portland State University
School Derek Weber, Raritan Valley Community
Karen L. Koster, University of South College
Dakota Danielle Werts, Golden Valley High School
Dana Robert Kurpius, Elgin Community Elizabeth Wright, Athenian School
College Steve Yuza, Neosho County Community
Joanne Manaster, University of Illinois College
Mark Manteuffel, St. Louis Community
College
First Edition
Jill Maroo, University of Northern Iowa
Tsitsi McPherson, SUNY Oneonta Joseph Ahlander, Northeastern State
Kiran Misra, Edinboro University of University
Pennsylvania Stephen F. Baron, Bridgewater College
Jeanelle Morgan, University of North David Bass, University of Central
Georgia Oklahoma
Lori Nicholas, New York University Erin Baumgartner, Western Oregon
Fran Norflus, Clayton State University University
Christopher J. Osovitz, University of South Cindy Bida, Henry Ford Community
Florida College
Christopher Parker, Texas Wesleyan Charlotte Borgeson, University of Nevada,
University Reno
Brian K. Paulson, California University of Bruno Borsari, Winona State University
Pennsylvania Ben Brammell, Eastern Kentucky University
Carolina Perez-Heydrich, Meredith College Christopher Butler, University of Central
Thomas J. Peri, Notre Dame Preparatory Oklahoma
School Stella Capoccia, Montana Tech

xxx ■ Acknowledgments
Kelly Cartwright, College of Lake County Lori Nicholas, New York University
Emma Castro, Victor Valley College Louise Mary Nolan, Middlesex Community
Michelle Cawthorn, Georgia Southern College
University Fran Norflus, Clayton State University
Jeannie Chari, College of the Canyons Brian Paulson, California University of
Jianguo Chen, Claflin University Pennsylvania
Beth Collins, Iowa Central Community Carolina Perez-Heydrich, Meredith College
College Ashley Ramer, University of Akron
Angela Costanzo, Hawai‘i Pacific Nick Reeves, Mt. San Jacinto College
University Tim Revell, Mt. San Antonio College
James B. Courtright, Marquette University Eric Ribbens, Western Illinois University
Danielle DuCharme, Waubonsee Kathreen Ruckstuhl, University of Calgary
Community College Michael L. Rutledge, Middle Tennessee
Julie Ehresmann, Iowa Central State University
Community College Brian Sato, UC Irvine
Laurie L. Foster, Grand Rapids Malcolm D. Schug, University of North
Community College Carolina at Greensboro
Teresa Golden, Southeastern Oklahoma Craig M. Scott, Clarion University of
State University Pennsylvania
Sue Habeck, Tacoma Community College J. Michael Sellers, University of Southern
Janet Harouse, New York University Mississippi
Olivia Harriott, Fairfield University Marieken Shaner, University of New
Tonia Hermon, Norfolk State University Mexico
Glenda Hill, El Paso Community College David Sheldon, St. Clair County
Vicki J. Huffman, Potomac State College, Community College
West Virginia University Jack Shurley, Idaho State University
Carl Johansson, Fresno City College Daniel Sigmon, Alamance Community
Victoria Johnson, San Jose State University College
Anthony Jones, Tallahassee Community Molly E. Smith, South Georgia State
College College, Waycross
Hinrich Kaiser, Victor Valley College Lisa Spring, Central Piedmont Community
Vedham Karpakakunjaram, Montgomery College
College Steven R. Strain, Slippery Rock University
Dauna Koval, Bellevue College of Pennsylvania
Maria Kretzmann, Glendale Community Jeffrey L. Travis, SUNY Albany
College Suzanne Wakim, Butte College
MaryLynne LaMantia, Golden West Mark E. Walvoord, University of Oklahoma
College Sherman Ward, Virginia State University
Brenda Leady, University of Toledo Lisa Weasel, Portland State University
Lisa Maranto, Prince George’s Community Jennifer Wiatrowski, Pasco-Hernando
College State College
Roy B. Mason, Mt. San Jacinto College Rachel Wiechman, West Liberty University
Gabrielle L. McLemore, Morgan State Bethany Williams, California State
University University, Fullerton
Paige Mettler-Cherry, Lindenwood Satya M. Witt, University of New Mexico
University Donald A. Yee, University of Southern
Rachel Mintell, Manchester Community Mississippi
College
Kiran Misra, Edinboro University of
Pennsylvania

Acknowledgments ■ xxxi
Focus Group Christopher Collumb, College of Southern
Nevada
Participants Jennifer Cooper, University of Akron
Julie Ehresmann, Iowa Central
Michelle Cawthorn, Georgia Southern Community College
University Michael Fleming, California State
Marc Dal Ponte, Lake Land College University, Stanislaus
Kathy Gallucci, Elon University Susan Holecheck, Arizona State University
Tamar Goulet, University of Mississippi Dauna Koval, Bellevue College
Sharon Gusky, Northwestern Connecticut Kiran Misra, Edinboro University of
Community College Pennsylvania
Krista Henderson, California State Marcelo Pires, Saddleback College
University, Fullerton Michael L. Rutledge, Middle Tennessee
Tara Jo Holmberg, Northwestern State University
Connecticut Community College Jack Shurley, Idaho State University
Brenda Hunzinger, Lake Land College Uma Singh, Valencia College
Jennifer Katcher, Pima Community Paul Verrell, Washington State University
College Daniel Wetzel, Georgia Southern University
Cynthia Kay-Nishiyama, California State Rachel Wiechman, West Liberty University
University, Northridge
Kathleen Kresge, Northampton
Community College Instructor and Student
Sharon Lee-Bond, Northampton
Community College Resource Contributors
Suzanne Long, Monroe Community College Holly Ahern, SUNY Adirondack
Boriana Marintcheva, Bridgewater State Steven Christenson, Brigham Young
University University–Idaho
Roy B. Mason, Mt. San Jacinto College Beth Collins, Iowa Central Community
Gwen Miller, Collin College College
Kimo Morris, Santa Ana College Julie Ehresmann, Iowa Central
Fran Norflus, Clayton State University Community College
Tiffany Randall, John Tyler Community Jenny Gernhart, Iowa Central Community
College College
Gail Rowe, La Roche College Julie Harless, Lone Star College
J. Michael Sellers, University of Southern Janet Harouse, New York University
Mississippi Vedham Karpakakunjaram, Montgomery
Uma Singh, Valencia College College
Patti Smith, Valencia College Dauna Koval, Bellevue College
Bethany Stone, University of Missouri Brenda Leady, University of Toledo
Willetta Toole-Simms, Azusa Pacific Boriana Marintcheva, Bridgewater State
University University
Bethany Williams, California State Paige Mettler-Cherry, Lindenwood
University, Fullerton University
Lori Nicholas, New York University
Class Test Participants Christopher Osovitz, University of South
Florida
Bruno Borsari, Winona State University Tiffany Randall, John Tyler Community
Jessica Brzyski, Georgia Southern College
University Lori Rose, Sam Houston State University
Beth Collins, Iowa Central Community Suzanne Wakim, Butte College
College Bethany Williams, California State
University, Fullerton

xxxii ■ Acknowledgments
This book wouldn’t have happened without children, Ben and Lily; and their numerous pets
Anne’s husband, Will, who took care of every for the chaotic lifestyle that inspired her to step
single other thing in her life so that she could up her game. Also, Cindy thanks her friends and
write. His support, and that of her children, students who laugh at her jokes and keep her
Abi and Ben, are what keep her going every day. grounded in reality.
With great patience, Megan’s husband, Ryan, Perhaps most of all, we are indebted to the
bore many dinner conversations about bats, many scientists and individuals who shared
algae, wolves, and more, and for that he has their time and stories for these chapters. To the
her thanks. To Megan’s children: May you read men and women we interviewed for this book,
this book and share your mother’s joy about all we cannot thank you enough. Your stories will
things biology. Cindy thanks her husband, Mike; inspire the next generation of biologists.

Acknowledgments ■ xxxiii
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least


the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely
valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace
of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several
missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its
former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A
thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn
crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the
agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe
fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier
imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller,
without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under
the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who,
as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of
course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.
FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER”
(Sarcopsylla penetrans)

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley,


some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing,
but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not
only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are
nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built
against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of
which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not
long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect
to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very
particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can
attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature,
from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a
man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable
of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the
state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on
the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of
pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for
the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his
Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen
all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise
raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of
Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous
consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of
this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,
or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg
ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of
Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there
develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is
stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by
an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so
far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the
toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature
penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it
may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.
Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which
we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much
easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a
European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely
shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I
constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were
taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I
thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive
sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill
the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of
the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all
the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of
prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?
The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are
really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to
smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from
the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most
distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other
narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both
“off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we
recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were
once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the
craving for tobacco in the tropics.
Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken
seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which
have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early
afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and
making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to
an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work
progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole
body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on
my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun
is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness
and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to
establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have
ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the
circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do
so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with
my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are
abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes
later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and
lemon-juice.
Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make
them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring
heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might
mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my
great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This
is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment,
that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an
hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the
wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.
Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state
of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever
should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a
kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and
more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly
follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at
least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my
work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.
My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which
makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in
the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy
from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari;
consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant
post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began
by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had
bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when
they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered
the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to
entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was
consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a
jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding,
consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening
meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned
vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission
entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his
own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us,
seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of
food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls
when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins
left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I
am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten
years to come.
Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the
genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch:
Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9
× 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.
How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a
ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for
taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated
mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but
he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light
contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the
above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his
ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion
to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough
cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an
extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most
conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog
did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by
finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few
days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he
mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his
mutilated finger-tips.
Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all
directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old
habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal
elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had
promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only
from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.
The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off
at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is
about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the
Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area
is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface,
however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western
edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the
eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering
any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which
here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is
inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other
primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and
manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day
such a fire is a grand sight.
Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the
great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as
time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction,
sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to
let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.
Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush,
and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more
favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to
the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use
taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea
of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to
make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of
the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction
through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are
everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of
yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these
beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their
upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the
western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of
deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine
to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.
It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the
short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at
the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves
bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki
suits had not escaped scatheless.

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR


MAHUTA

I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO


This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe
Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original
one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is
only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from
one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just
large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a
large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing
with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into
which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The
door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat
curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs
corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust
through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular
opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second


showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the
Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of
“Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these
marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows
the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at
Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two
heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same
time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if
the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken
their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them
to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have
two badly damaged specimens, and the owners, instead of praise,
come in for a blowing-up.
The Makua huts in the environs of Newala are especially
miserable; their more than slovenly construction reminds one of the
temporary erections of the Makua at Hatia’s, though the people here
have not been concerned in a war. It must therefore be due to
congenital idleness, or else to the absence of a powerful chief. Even
the baraza at Mlipa’s, a short hour’s walk south-east of Newala,
shares in this general neglect. While public buildings in this country
are usually looked after more or less carefully, this is in evident
danger of being blown over by the first strong easterly gale. The only
attractive object in this whole district is the grave of the late chief
Mlipa. I visited it in the morning, while the sun was still trying with
partial success to break through the rolling mists, and the circular
grove of tall euphorbias, which, with a broken pot, is all that marks
the old king’s resting-place, impressed one with a touch of pathos.
Even my very materially-minded carriers seemed to feel something
of the sort, for instead of their usual ribald songs, they chanted
solemnly, as we marched on through the dense green of the Makonde
bush:—
“We shall arrive with the great master; we stand in a row and have
no fear about getting our food and our money from the Serkali (the
Government). We are not afraid; we are going along with the great
master, the lion; we are going down to the coast and back.”
With regard to the characteristic features of the various tribes here
on the western edge of the plateau, I can arrive at no other
conclusion than the one already come to in the plain, viz., that it is
impossible for anyone but a trained anthropologist to assign any
given individual at once to his proper tribe. In fact, I think that even
an anthropological specialist, after the most careful examination,
might find it a difficult task to decide. The whole congeries of peoples
collected in the region bounded on the west by the great Central
African rift, Tanganyika and Nyasa, and on the east by the Indian
Ocean, are closely related to each other—some of their languages are
only distinguished from one another as dialects of the same speech,
and no doubt all the tribes present the same shape of skull and
structure of skeleton. Thus, surely, there can be no very striking
differences in outward appearance.
Even did such exist, I should have no time
to concern myself with them, for day after day,
I have to see or hear, as the case may be—in
any case to grasp and record—an
extraordinary number of ethnographic
phenomena. I am almost disposed to think it
fortunate that some departments of inquiry, at
least, are barred by external circumstances.
Chief among these is the subject of iron-
working. We are apt to think of Africa as a
country where iron ore is everywhere, so to
speak, to be picked up by the roadside, and
where it would be quite surprising if the
inhabitants had not learnt to smelt the
material ready to their hand. In fact, the
knowledge of this art ranges all over the
continent, from the Kabyles in the north to the
Kafirs in the south. Here between the Rovuma
and the Lukuledi the conditions are not so
favourable. According to the statements of the
Makonde, neither ironstone nor any other
form of iron ore is known to them. They have
not therefore advanced to the art of smelting
the metal, but have hitherto bought all their
THE ANCESTRESS OF
THE MAKONDE
iron implements from neighbouring tribes.
Even in the plain the inhabitants are not much
better off. Only one man now living is said to
understand the art of smelting iron. This old fundi lives close to
Huwe, that isolated, steep-sided block of granite which rises out of
the green solitude between Masasi and Chingulungulu, and whose
jagged and splintered top meets the traveller’s eye everywhere. While
still at Masasi I wished to see this man at work, but was told that,
frightened by the rising, he had retired across the Rovuma, though
he would soon return. All subsequent inquiries as to whether the
fundi had come back met with the genuine African answer, “Bado”
(“Not yet”).
BRAZIER

Some consolation was afforded me by a brassfounder, whom I


came across in the bush near Akundonde’s. This man is the favourite
of women, and therefore no doubt of the gods; he welds the glittering
brass rods purchased at the coast into those massive, heavy rings
which, on the wrists and ankles of the local fair ones, continually give
me fresh food for admiration. Like every decent master-craftsman he
had all his tools with him, consisting of a pair of bellows, three
crucibles and a hammer—nothing more, apparently. He was quite
willing to show his skill, and in a twinkling had fixed his bellows on
the ground. They are simply two goat-skins, taken off whole, the four
legs being closed by knots, while the upper opening, intended to
admit the air, is kept stretched by two pieces of wood. At the lower
end of the skin a smaller opening is left into which a wooden tube is
stuck. The fundi has quickly borrowed a heap of wood-embers from
the nearest hut; he then fixes the free ends of the two tubes into an
earthen pipe, and clamps them to the ground by means of a bent
piece of wood. Now he fills one of his small clay crucibles, the dross
on which shows that they have been long in use, with the yellow
material, places it in the midst of the embers, which, at present are
only faintly glimmering, and begins his work. In quick alternation
the smith’s two hands move up and down with the open ends of the
bellows; as he raises his hand he holds the slit wide open, so as to let
the air enter the skin bag unhindered. In pressing it down he closes
the bag, and the air puffs through the bamboo tube and clay pipe into
the fire, which quickly burns up. The smith, however, does not keep
on with this work, but beckons to another man, who relieves him at
the bellows, while he takes some more tools out of a large skin pouch
carried on his back. I look on in wonder as, with a smooth round
stick about the thickness of a finger, he bores a few vertical holes into
the clean sand of the soil. This should not be difficult, yet the man
seems to be taking great pains over it. Then he fastens down to the
ground, with a couple of wooden clamps, a neat little trough made by
splitting a joint of bamboo in half, so that the ends are closed by the
two knots. At last the yellow metal has attained the right consistency,
and the fundi lifts the crucible from the fire by means of two sticks
split at the end to serve as tongs. A short swift turn to the left—a
tilting of the crucible—and the molten brass, hissing and giving forth
clouds of smoke, flows first into the bamboo mould and then into the
holes in the ground.
The technique of this backwoods craftsman may not be very far
advanced, but it cannot be denied that he knows how to obtain an
adequate result by the simplest means. The ladies of highest rank in
this country—that is to say, those who can afford it, wear two kinds
of these massive brass rings, one cylindrical, the other semicircular
in section. The latter are cast in the most ingenious way in the
bamboo mould, the former in the circular hole in the sand. It is quite
a simple matter for the fundi to fit these bars to the limbs of his fair
customers; with a few light strokes of his hammer he bends the
pliable brass round arm or ankle without further inconvenience to
the wearer.
SHAPING THE POT

SMOOTHING WITH MAIZE-COB

CUTTING THE EDGE


FINISHING THE BOTTOM

LAST SMOOTHING BEFORE


BURNING

FIRING THE BRUSH-PILE


LIGHTING THE FARTHER SIDE OF
THE PILE

TURNING THE RED-HOT VESSEL

NYASA WOMAN MAKING POTS AT MASASI


Pottery is an art which must always and everywhere excite the
interest of the student, just because it is so intimately connected with
the development of human culture, and because its relics are one of
the principal factors in the reconstruction of our own condition in
prehistoric times. I shall always remember with pleasure the two or
three afternoons at Masasi when Salim Matola’s mother, a slightly-
built, graceful, pleasant-looking woman, explained to me with
touching patience, by means of concrete illustrations, the ceramic art
of her people. The only implements for this primitive process were a
lump of clay in her left hand, and in the right a calabash containing
the following valuables: the fragment of a maize-cob stripped of all
its grains, a smooth, oval pebble, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, a
few chips of gourd-shell, a bamboo splinter about the length of one’s
hand, a small shell, and a bunch of some herb resembling spinach.
Nothing more. The woman scraped with the
shell a round, shallow hole in the soft, fine
sand of the soil, and, when an active young
girl had filled the calabash with water for her,
she began to knead the clay. As if by magic it
gradually assumed the shape of a rough but
already well-shaped vessel, which only wanted
a little touching up with the instruments
before mentioned. I looked out with the
MAKUA WOMAN closest attention for any indication of the use
MAKING A POT. of the potter’s wheel, in however rudimentary
SHOWS THE a form, but no—hapana (there is none). The
BEGINNINGS OF THE embryo pot stood firmly in its little
POTTER’S WHEEL
depression, and the woman walked round it in
a stooping posture, whether she was removing
small stones or similar foreign bodies with the maize-cob, smoothing
the inner or outer surface with the splinter of bamboo, or later, after
letting it dry for a day, pricking in the ornamentation with a pointed
bit of gourd-shell, or working out the bottom, or cutting the edge
with a sharp bamboo knife, or giving the last touches to the finished
vessel. This occupation of the women is infinitely toilsome, but it is
without doubt an accurate reproduction of the process in use among
our ancestors of the Neolithic and Bronze ages.
There is no doubt that the invention of pottery, an item in human
progress whose importance cannot be over-estimated, is due to
women. Rough, coarse and unfeeling, the men of the horde range
over the countryside. When the united cunning of the hunters has
succeeded in killing the game; not one of them thinks of carrying
home the spoil. A bright fire, kindled by a vigorous wielding of the
drill, is crackling beside them; the animal has been cleaned and cut
up secundum artem, and, after a slight singeing, will soon disappear
under their sharp teeth; no one all this time giving a single thought
to wife or child.
To what shifts, on the other hand, the primitive wife, and still more
the primitive mother, was put! Not even prehistoric stomachs could
endure an unvarying diet of raw food. Something or other suggested
the beneficial effect of hot water on the majority of approved but
indigestible dishes. Perhaps a neighbour had tried holding the hard
roots or tubers over the fire in a calabash filled with water—or maybe
an ostrich-egg-shell, or a hastily improvised vessel of bark. They
became much softer and more palatable than they had previously
been; but, unfortunately, the vessel could not stand the fire and got
charred on the outside. That can be remedied, thought our
ancestress, and plastered a layer of wet clay round a similar vessel.
This is an improvement; the cooking utensil remains uninjured, but
the heat of the fire has shrunk it, so that it is loose in its shell. The
next step is to detach it, so, with a firm grip and a jerk, shell and
kernel are separated, and pottery is invented. Perhaps, however, the
discovery which led to an intelligent use of the burnt-clay shell, was
made in a slightly different way. Ostrich-eggs and calabashes are not
to be found in every part of the world, but everywhere mankind has
arrived at the art of making baskets out of pliant materials, such as
bark, bast, strips of palm-leaf, supple twigs, etc. Our inventor has no
water-tight vessel provided by nature. “Never mind, let us line the
basket with clay.” This answers the purpose, but alas! the basket gets
burnt over the blazing fire, the woman watches the process of
cooking with increasing uneasiness, fearing a leak, but no leak
appears. The food, done to a turn, is eaten with peculiar relish; and
the cooking-vessel is examined, half in curiosity, half in satisfaction
at the result. The plastic clay is now hard as stone, and at the same
time looks exceedingly well, for the neat plaiting of the burnt basket
is traced all over it in a pretty pattern. Thus, simultaneously with
pottery, its ornamentation was invented.
Primitive woman has another claim to respect. It was the man,
roving abroad, who invented the art of producing fire at will, but the
woman, unable to imitate him in this, has been a Vestal from the
earliest times. Nothing gives so much trouble as the keeping alight of
the smouldering brand, and, above all, when all the men are absent
from the camp. Heavy rain-clouds gather, already the first large
drops are falling, the first gusts of the storm rage over the plain. The
little flame, a greater anxiety to the woman than her own children,
flickers unsteadily in the blast. What is to be done? A sudden thought
occurs to her, and in an instant she has constructed a primitive hut
out of strips of bark, to protect the flame against rain and wind.
This, or something very like it, was the way in which the principle
of the house was discovered; and even the most hardened misogynist
cannot fairly refuse a woman the credit of it. The protection of the
hearth-fire from the weather is the germ from which the human
dwelling was evolved. Men had little, if any share, in this forward
step, and that only at a late stage. Even at the present day, the
plastering of the housewall with clay and the manufacture of pottery
are exclusively the women’s business. These are two very significant
survivals. Our European kitchen-garden, too, is originally a woman’s
invention, and the hoe, the primitive instrument of agriculture, is,
characteristically enough, still used in this department. But the
noblest achievement which we owe to the other sex is unquestionably
the art of cookery. Roasting alone—the oldest process—is one for
which men took the hint (a very obvious one) from nature. It must
have been suggested by the scorched carcase of some animal
overtaken by the destructive forest-fires. But boiling—the process of
improving organic substances by the help of water heated to boiling-
point—is a much later discovery. It is so recent that it has not even
yet penetrated to all parts of the world. The Polynesians understand
how to steam food, that is, to cook it, neatly wrapped in leaves, in a
hole in the earth between hot stones, the air being excluded, and
(sometimes) a few drops of water sprinkled on the stones; but they
do not understand boiling.
To come back from this digression, we find that the slender Nyasa
woman has, after once more carefully examining the finished pot,
put it aside in the shade to dry. On the following day she sends me
word by her son, Salim Matola, who is always on hand, that she is
going to do the burning, and, on coming out of my house, I find her
already hard at work. She has spread on the ground a layer of very
dry sticks, about as thick as one’s thumb, has laid the pot (now of a
yellowish-grey colour) on them, and is piling brushwood round it.
My faithful Pesa mbili, the mnyampara, who has been standing by,
most obligingly, with a lighted stick, now hands it to her. Both of
them, blowing steadily, light the pile on the lee side, and, when the
flame begins to catch, on the weather side also. Soon the whole is in a
blaze, but the dry fuel is quickly consumed and the fire dies down, so
that we see the red-hot vessel rising from the ashes. The woman
turns it continually with a long stick, sometimes one way and
sometimes another, so that it may be evenly heated all over. In
twenty minutes she rolls it out of the ash-heap, takes up the bundle
of spinach, which has been lying for two days in a jar of water, and
sprinkles the red-hot clay with it. The places where the drops fall are
marked by black spots on the uniform reddish-brown surface. With a
sigh of relief, and with visible satisfaction, the woman rises to an
erect position; she is standing just in a line between me and the fire,
from which a cloud of smoke is just rising: I press the ball of my
camera, the shutter clicks—the apotheosis is achieved! Like a
priestess, representative of her inventive sex, the graceful woman
stands: at her feet the hearth-fire she has given us beside her the
invention she has devised for us, in the background the home she has
built for us.
At Newala, also, I have had the manufacture of pottery carried on
in my presence. Technically the process is better than that already
described, for here we find the beginnings of the potter’s wheel,
which does not seem to exist in the plains; at least I have seen
nothing of the sort. The artist, a frightfully stupid Makua woman, did
not make a depression in the ground to receive the pot she was about
to shape, but used instead a large potsherd. Otherwise, she went to
work in much the same way as Salim’s mother, except that she saved
herself the trouble of walking round and round her work by squatting
at her ease and letting the pot and potsherd rotate round her; this is
surely the first step towards a machine. But it does not follow that
the pot was improved by the process. It is true that it was beautifully
rounded and presented a very creditable appearance when finished,
but the numerous large and small vessels which I have seen, and, in
part, collected, in the “less advanced” districts, are no less so. We
moderns imagine that instruments of precision are necessary to
produce excellent results. Go to the prehistoric collections of our
museums and look at the pots, urns and bowls of our ancestors in the
dim ages of the past, and you will at once perceive your error.
MAKING LONGITUDINAL CUT IN
BARK

DRAWING THE BARK OFF THE LOG

REMOVING THE OUTER BARK


BEATING THE BARK

WORKING THE BARK-CLOTH AFTER BEATING, TO MAKE IT


SOFT

MANUFACTURE OF BARK-CLOTH AT NEWALA


To-day, nearly the whole population of German East Africa is
clothed in imported calico. This was not always the case; even now in
some parts of the north dressed skins are still the prevailing wear,
and in the north-western districts—east and north of Lake
Tanganyika—lies a zone where bark-cloth has not yet been
superseded. Probably not many generations have passed since such
bark fabrics and kilts of skins were the only clothing even in the
south. Even to-day, large quantities of this bright-red or drab
material are still to be found; but if we wish to see it, we must look in
the granaries and on the drying stages inside the native huts, where
it serves less ambitious uses as wrappings for those seeds and fruits
which require to be packed with special care. The salt produced at
Masasi, too, is packed for transport to a distance in large sheets of
bark-cloth. Wherever I found it in any degree possible, I studied the
process of making this cloth. The native requisitioned for the
purpose arrived, carrying a log between two and three yards long and
as thick as his thigh, and nothing else except a curiously-shaped
mallet and the usual long, sharp and pointed knife which all men and
boys wear in a belt at their backs without a sheath—horribile dictu!
[51]
Silently he squats down before me, and with two rapid cuts has
drawn a couple of circles round the log some two yards apart, and
slits the bark lengthwise between them with the point of his knife.
With evident care, he then scrapes off the outer rind all round the
log, so that in a quarter of an hour the inner red layer of the bark
shows up brightly-coloured between the two untouched ends. With
some trouble and much caution, he now loosens the bark at one end,
and opens the cylinder. He then stands up, takes hold of the free
edge with both hands, and turning it inside out, slowly but steadily
pulls it off in one piece. Now comes the troublesome work of
scraping all superfluous particles of outer bark from the outside of
the long, narrow piece of material, while the inner side is carefully
scrutinised for defective spots. At last it is ready for beating. Having
signalled to a friend, who immediately places a bowl of water beside
him, the artificer damps his sheet of bark all over, seizes his mallet,
lays one end of the stuff on the smoothest spot of the log, and
hammers away slowly but continuously. “Very simple!” I think to
myself. “Why, I could do that, too!”—but I am forced to change my
opinions a little later on; for the beating is quite an art, if the fabric is
not to be beaten to pieces. To prevent the breaking of the fibres, the
stuff is several times folded across, so as to interpose several
thicknesses between the mallet and the block. At last the required
state is reached, and the fundi seizes the sheet, still folded, by both
ends, and wrings it out, or calls an assistant to take one end while he
holds the other. The cloth produced in this way is not nearly so fine
and uniform in texture as the famous Uganda bark-cloth, but it is
quite soft, and, above all, cheap.
Now, too, I examine the mallet. My craftsman has been using the
simpler but better form of this implement, a conical block of some
hard wood, its base—the striking surface—being scored across and
across with more or less deeply-cut grooves, and the handle stuck
into a hole in the middle. The other and earlier form of mallet is
shaped in the same way, but the head is fastened by an ingenious
network of bark strips into the split bamboo serving as a handle. The
observation so often made, that ancient customs persist longest in
connection with religious ceremonies and in the life of children, here
finds confirmation. As we shall soon see, bark-cloth is still worn
during the unyago,[52] having been prepared with special solemn
ceremonies; and many a mother, if she has no other garment handy,
will still put her little one into a kilt of bark-cloth, which, after all,
looks better, besides being more in keeping with its African
surroundings, than the ridiculous bit of print from Ulaya.
MAKUA WOMEN

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