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lopment. It is a wonderful confirmation of that splendid and spiritual Pan-African archaeology which has led to this international congress in the service of scientific travel."
Gen. Smuts's Interest
Professor C. va, Riet Lowe, Director of Archaeology Survey of the Union of South Africa, Professor of Archaeology, University of the Witwatersrand and a member of the Historical Monuments Commission replied on behalf of South Africa. 
He said :
"It is my privilege on behalf of the fifteen South African delegates from the Union of South Africa. Southern Rhodesia and Bechuanaland, to thank you warmly not only for your welcome but also for having invited us to attend this important Congress. We appreciate your support and interest as we appreciate the welcome and hospitality with which we were met immediately we set foot on your soil. 
"My only regret is that circumstances prevented the Prime Minister of the Union from leading our delegation. But for the opening of Parliament in Cape Town this week and the impending visit of the Royal Family to the Union, General Smuts would personally have led the South African delegation. Only last week he asked me to tell you how much he regrets his inability to be here and to convey his personal gratitude to you and to your Government for your helpful interest and material support. He also asked me to bring his best wishes for a successful meeting and at the same time he expressed the hope that this would merely be the first congress of its kind and that the next would be held in the Union of South Africa. 
"With me he believes that Africa is destined to play a pre-eminent part in any attempt that may be made to reconstruct the history of man's humble beginning and subsequent rise to control the animal kingdom; and with me he believes that no man can fully appreciate the trend of human development and his essential wholeness unless he is aware of the course he has already run. As the greatest length of this course lies in prehistoric times the study of prehistory and the holding of such a Congress as this assume greater significance and dignity. 
92 Years' Research
"While our studies are still in their infancy, we may note with pride that Africa has never lagged in its appreciation of the issues. The inception of prehistoric exploration in South Africa has its roots in years which preceded both the scientific recognition of the work of that great Franch pioneer Boucher de Perthes of Abbeville as well as the publication of Darwin's "Origin of Species." As a result of exploration during the ninety-two years that have passed since the first stone implements were collected at depth in South Africa and the spread of interest and subsequent work in other parts of the Continent, we now have every reason to suspect that in coming to Africa we have merely returned to the home of our ancestors General Smuts himself stressed this possibility nearly twenty years ago. This gives our venues an added signifiance.
"The first important discoveries in East Africa were made in Uganda over a quarter of a century ago and while the contributions from that Territory have been considerable, Kenya has since acquired an importance that puts it in a world-front of prehistoric exploration - and East Africans may note with pride that this growth in our knowledge has been entirely due to the selfess enthusiasm of one of her own sons. Because of this addition to the stature of Kenya I wish again to assure Your Excellency that all members of the South African delegation feel it a privilege to be here and on their behalf I wish again to thank you for your welcome, your hospitality and your good wishes. 
Appropriate Venue
Professor Le Gros Clark replied on behalf of the delegates of Great Britain and the British Colonies. "We have been aware of certain important discoveries in prehistory and allied subjects which have been made in different parts of Africa - particularly during recent years, and we have been eager to see these discoveries for ourselves and to discuss them with our colleagues here," he said. "This Congress has now given us the opportunity we sought. The work of prehistorians and palaeontologists in this Continent has already illuminated certain problems of the most profound signifiance for all human thought and philosophy - problems concerning the origin of the earliest forms of human society and, indeed, the very birth of humanity itself. Since some of the most remarkable of the discoveries to which I refer have been reported by your own distinguished scientists it seems to us very appropriate that this Pan-African Congress should be held in Kenya. We have the conviction, however, that this will also serve to initiate a series of such congresses to be held in various parts of Africa in the future."
Dr. Cabu (Belgian Congo), Professor Mustafa Amer Bey (Egypt), Eng. Fernando Mouta (Angola) and Mr. Wendell Phillips (America) also responded. 
At the business session which followed the opening ceremony, Professor L'Abbe Breuil was elected President of the Congress, and Dr. Robert Broom (South Africa), vice-president.

Revision: Congrès de Nairobi 54 (#54)

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