In this study, the communicative interactions between African mothers and their infants at 4 to 5 months and 9 to 10 months are described. Particular attention is given to gaze, smiling, and vocalization. Results offer confirmation from another culture of the development of previously described forms of communication during the first year of life. The intense mutual regard and the interest and delight in one another characteristic of the younger group of infants substantiates the period of primary intersubjectivity as described by Trevarthen (1979). Similarly, the broadened perspective of the communication between the older infants and their mothers, encompassing topics other than themselves even in the absence of available near objects, conforms to that stage in communicative development described as secondary intersubjectivity. The mothers' behavior also corresponded to that described as typical among Western mothers. The only differences between the dyads studied and the reports in the literature were the persistence of face-to-face interaction for a longer period than is expected among Western dyads and the absence of communally ritualized infant games such as "pat-a-cake." Observations further indicated that African mothers seldom introduce toys or objects to their infants and seldom engage in object-play with their infants. (RH)