Chapter III: The African Negro: I. Sudanese (2)

It could not well be otherwise, seeing that the Hausas form a compact body of some five million peaceful and industrious Sudanese, living partly in numerous farmsteads amid their well-tilled cotton, indigo, pulse, and corn fields, partly in large walled cities and great trading centres such as Kano[183], Katsena, Yacoba, whose intelligent and law-abiding inhabitants are reckoned by many tens of thousands. Their melodious tongue, with a vocabulary containing perhaps 10,000 words[184], has long been the great medium of intercourse throughout Sudan from Lake Chad to and beyond the Niger, and is daily acquiring even greater preponderance amongst all the settled and trading populations of these regions.

But though showing a marked preference for peaceful pursuits, the Hausas are by no means an effeminate people. Largely enlisted in the British service, they have at all times shown fighting qualities of a high order under their English officers, and a well-earned tribute has been paid to their military prowess amongst others by Sir George Goldie and Lieut. Vandeleur[185]. With the Hausas on her side England need assuredly fear no rivals to her beneficent sway over the teeming populations of the fertile plains and plateaux of Central Sudan, which is on the whole perhaps the most favoured land in Africa north of the equator.

According to the national traditions, which go back to no very remote period[186], the seven historical Hausa States known as the "Hausa bokoy" ("the seven Hausas") take their name from the eponymous heroes _Biram_, _Daura_, _Gober_, _Kano_, _Rano_, _Katsena_ and _Zegzeg_, all said to be sprung from the Deggaras, a Berber tribe settled to the north of Munyo. From Biram, the original seat, the race and its language spread to seven other provinces--_Zanfara_, _Kebbi_, _Nupe_ (_Nyffi_), _Gwari_, _Yauri_, _Yariba_ and _Kororofa_, which in contempt are called the "Banza bokoy" ("the seven Upstarts"). All form collectively the Hausa domain in the widest sense.

Authentic history is quite recent, and even Komayo, reputed founder of Katsena, dates only from about the fourteenth century. Ibrahim Maji, who was the first Moslem ruler, is assigned to the latter part of the fifteenth century, and since then the chief events have been associated with the Fulah wars, ending in the absorption of all the Hausa States in the unstable Fulah empire of Sokoto at the beginning of the nineteenth century. With the fall of Kano and Sokoto in 1903 British supremacy was finally established throughout the Hausa States, now termed Northern Nigeria[187].

_Kanembu_; _Kanuri_[188]; _Baghirmi_, _Mosgu_. Round about the shores of Lake Chad are grouped three other historical Muhammadan nations, the Kanembu ("People of Kanem") on the north, the Kanuri of Bornu on the west, and the Baghirmi on the south side. The last named was conquered by the Sultan of Wadai in 1871, and overrun by Rabah Zobeir, half Arab, half Negro adventurer, in 1890. But in 1897 Emile Gentil[189], French commissioner for the district, placed the country under French protection, although French authority was not firmly established until the death of Rabah and the rout of his sons in 1901. At the same time Kanem was brought under French control, and shortly afterwards Bornu was divided between Great Britain, France and Germany.

In this region the ethnical relations are considerably more complex than in the Hausa States. Here Islam has had greater obstacles to contend with than on the more open western plateaux, and many of the pagan aborigines have been able to hold their ground either in the archipelagos of Lake Chad (_Yedinas, Kuri, Buduma_[190]), or in the swampy tracts and uplands of the Logon-Shari basin (_Mosgu_, _Mandara_, _Makari_, etc.).

It was also the policy of the Muhammadans, whose system is based on slavery, not to push their religious zeal too far, for, if all the natives were converted, where could they procure a constant supply of slaves, those who accept the teachings of the Prophet being _ipso facto_ entitled to their freedom? Hence the pagan districts were, and still are, regarded as convenient preserves, happy hunting-grounds to be raided from time to time, but not utterly wasted; to be visited by organised razzias just often enough to keep up the supply in the home and foreign markets. This system, controlled by the local governments themselves, has long prevailed about the borderlands between Islam and heathendom, as we know from Barth, Nachtigal, and one or two other travellers, who have had reluctantly to accompany the periodical slave-hunting expeditions from Bornu and Baghirmi to the territories of the pagan Mosgu people with their numerous branches (_Margi, Mandara, Makari, Logon, Gamergu, Keribina_) and the other aborigines (_Bede, Ngisem, So, Kerrikerri, Babir_) on the northern slopes of the Congo-Chad water-parting. As usual on such occasions, there is a great waste of life, many perishing in defence of their homes or even through sheer wantonness, besides those carried away captives. "A large number of slaves had been caught this day," writes Barth, "and in the evening a great many more were brought in; altogether they were said to have taken one thousand, and there were certainly not less than five hundred. To our utmost horror, not less than 170 full-grown men were mercilessly slaughtered in cold blood, the greater part of them being allowed to bleed to death, a leg having been severed from the body[191]." There was probably just then a glut in the market.

A curious result of these relations is that in the wooded districts some of the natives have reverted to arboreal habits, taking refuge during the raids in the branches of huge bombax-trees converted into temporary strongholds. Round the vertical stem of these forest giants is erected a breast-high look-out, while the higher horizontal branches, less exposed to the fire of the enemy, support strongly-built huts and store-houses, where the families of the fugitives take refuge with their effects, including, as Nachtigal assures us[192], their domestic animals, such as goats, dogs, and poultry. During the siege of the aerial fortress, which is often successfully defended, long light ladders of withies are let down at night, when no attack need be feared, and the supply of water and provisions is thus renewed from _caches_ or hiding-places round about. In 1872 Nachtigal accompanied a predatory excursion to the pagan districts south of Baghirmi, when an attack was made on one of these tree-fortresses. Such citadels can be stormed only at a heavy loss, and as the Gaberi (Baghirmi) warriors had no tools capable of felling the great bombax-tree, they were fain to rest satisfied with picking off a poor wretch now and then, and barbarously mutilating the bodies as they fell from the overhanging branches.

Some of these aborigines disfigure their faces by the disk-like lip-ornament, which is also fashionable in Nyassaland, and even amongst the South American Botocudos. The type often differs greatly, and while some of the widespread Mosgu tribes are of a dirty black hue, with disagreeable expression, wide open nostrils, thick lips, high cheek-bones, coarse bushy hair, and disproportionate knock-kneed legs, other members of the same family astonished Barth "by the beauty and symmetry of their forms, and by the regularity of their features, which in some had nothing of what is called the Negro type. But I was still more astonished at their complexion, which was very different in different individuals, being in some of a glossy black, and in others of a light copper, or rather rhubarb colour, the intermediate shades being almost entirely wanting. I observed in one house a really beautiful female who, with her son, about eight or nine years of age, formed a most charming group, well worthy of the hand of an accomplished artist. The boy's form did not yield in any respect to the beautiful symmetry of the most celebrated Grecian statues. His hair, indeed, was very short and curled, but not woolly. He, as well as his mother and the whole family, were of a pale or yellowish-red complexion, like rhubarb[193]."

There is no suggestion of albinism, and the explanation of such strange contrasts must await further exploration in the whole of this borderland of Negroes and Bantus about the divide between the Chad and the Congo basins. The country has until lately been traversed only at rare intervals by pioneers, interested more in political than in anthropological matters.

Of the settled and more or less cultured peoples in the Chad basin, the most important are the _Kanembu_[194], who introduce a fresh element of confusion in this region, being more allied in type and speech to the Hamitic Tibus than to the Negro stock, or at least taking a transitional position between the two; the _Kanuri_, the ruling people in Bornu, of somewhat coarse Negroid appearance[195]; and the southern _Baghirmi_, also decidedly Negroid, originally supposed to have come from the Upper Shari and White Nile districts[196]. Their civilisation, such as it is, has been developed exclusively under Moslem influences, but it has never penetrated much below the surface. The people are everywhere extremely rude, and for the most part unlettered, although the meagre and not altogether trustworthy Kanem-Bornu records date from the time of Sef, reputed founder of the monarchy about 800 A.D. Duku, second in descent from Sef, is doubtfully referred to about 850 A.D. Hame, founder of a new dynasty, flourished towards the end of the eleventh century (1086-97), and Dunama, one of his successors, is said to have extended his sway over a great part of the Sahara, including the whole of Fezzan (1221-59). Under Omar (1394-98) a divorce took place between Kanem and Bornu, and henceforth the latter country has remained the chief centre of political power in the Chad basin.

A long series of civil wars was closed by Ali (1472-1504), who founded the present capital, Birni, and whose grandson, Muhammad, brought the empire of Bornu to the highest pitch of its greatness (1526-45). Under Ahmed (1793-1810) began the wars with the Fulahs, who, after bringing the empire to the verge of ruin, were at last overthrown by the aid of the Kanem people, and since 1819 Bornu has been ruled by the present Kanemiyin dynasty, which though temporarily conquered by Rabah in 1893, was restored under British administration in 1902[197].

EASTERN SUDANESE.

As some confusion prevails regarding the expression "Eastern Sudan," I may here explain that it bears a very different meaning, according as it is used in a political or an ethnical sense. Politically it is practically synonymous with Egyptian Sudan, that is the whole region from Darfur to the Red Sea which was ruled or misruled by the Khedivial Government before the revolt of the Mahdi (1883-4), and was restored to Egypt by the British occupation of Khartum in 1898. Ethnically Eastern Sudan comprises all the lands east of the Chad basin, where the Negro or Negroid populations are predominant, that is to say, Wadai, Darfur, and Kordofan in the West, the Nile Valley from the frontier of Egypt proper south to Albert Nyanza, both slopes of the Nile-Congo divide (the western tributaries of the White Nile and the Welle-Makua affluent of the Congo), lastly the Sobat Valley with some Negro enclaves east of the White Nile, and even south of the equator (Kavirondo, Semliki Valley).

Throughout this region the fusion of the aborigines with Hamites and Arabs, Tuareg, or Tibu Moslem intruders, wherever they have penetrated, has been far less complete than in Central and Western Sudan. Thus in Wadai the dominant Maba people, whence the country is often called Dar-Maba ("Mabaland"), are rather Negro than Negroid, with but a slight strain of foreign blood. In the northern districts the _Zoghawa_, _Gura'an_, _Baele_ and _Bulala_ Tibus keep quite aloof from the blacks, as do elsewhere; the _Aramkas_, as the Arabs are collectively called in Wadai. Yet the _Mahamid_ and some other Bedouin tribes have here been settled for over 500 years, and it was through their assistance that the Mabas acquired the political supremacy they have enjoyed since the seventeenth century, when they reduced or expelled the _Tynjurs_[198], the former ruling race, said to be Nubians originally from Dongola. It was Abd-el-Kerim, founder of the new Moslem Maba state, who gave the country its present name in honour of his grandfather, _Wadai_. His successor Kharub I removed the seat of government to Wara, where Vogel was murdered in 1856. Abeshr, the present capital, dates only from the year 1850. Except for Nachtigal, who crossed the frontier in 1873, nothing was known of the land or its people until the French occupation at the end of the last century (1899). Since that date it has been prominent as the scene of the attack on a French column and the death of its leader, Colonel Moll, in 1910, and the tragic murder of Lieutenant Boyd Alexander earlier in the same year[199].

_Nubas._ As in Wadai, the intruding and native populations have been either imperfectly or not at all assimilated in Darfur and Kordofan, where the Muhammadan Semites still boast of their pure Arab descent[200], and form powerful confederacies. Chief among these are the _Baggara_ (Baqqara, "cow-herds"), cattle-keepers and agriculturalists, of whom some are as dark as the blackest negroes, though many are fine-looking, with regular, well-shaped features. Their form of Arabic is notoriously corrupt. Their rivals, the _Jaalan_ (Jalin, Jahalin), are mostly riverain "Arabs," a learned tribe, containing many scribes, and their language is said to be closer to classical Arabic than the form current in Egypt. These are the principal slave-hunters of the Sudan, and the famous Zobeir belonged to their tribe. The _Yemanieh_ are largely traders, and trace their origin from South Arabia. The _Kababish_ are the wealthiest camel-owning tribe, perhaps less contaminated by negro blood than any other Arab tribe in the Sudan[201]. The _Nuba_ and the _Nubians_ have been a source of much confusion, but recent investigations in the field such as those of C. G. Seligman[202] and H. A. MacMichael[203], and the publications of the Archaeological Survey of Nubia conducted by G. A. Reisner, help to elucidate the problem. We have first of all to get rid of the "Nuba-Fulah" family, which was introduced by Fr. Mueller and accepted by some English writers, but has absolutely no existence. The two languages, although both of the agglutinative Sudanese type, are radically distinct in all their structural, lexical, and phonetic elements, and the two peoples are equally distinct. The Fulahs are of North African origin, although many have in recent times been largely assimilated to their black Sudanese subjects. The Nuba on the contrary belong originally to the Negro stock, with hair of the common negro type, and are among the darkest skinned tribes in the Sudan, their colour varying from a dark chocolate brown to the darkest shade of brown black.

But rightly to understand the question we have carefully to avoid confusion between the Nubians of the Nile Valley and the Negro _Nubas_, who gave their name to the Nuba Mountains, Kordofan, where most of the aborigines (_Kargo, Kulfan, Kolaji, Tumali, Lafofa, Eliri, Talodi_) still belong to this connection[203]. Kordofan is probably itself a Nuba word meaning "Land of the Kordo" (_fan_ = Arab, _dar_, land, country). There is a certain amount of anthropological evidence to connect the Nuba with the _Fur_ and the _Kara_ of Darfur to the west[204]. But it is a different anthropological type that is represented in the three groups of _Matokki_ (_Kenus_) between the First Cataract and Wadi-el-Arab, the _Mahai_ (_Marisi_) between Korosko and Wadi-Halfa, at the Second Cataract, and the _Dongolawi_, of the province of Dongola between Wadi-Halfa and Jebel Deja near Meroe.

These three groups, all now Muhammadans, but formerly Christians, constitute collectively the so-called "Nubians" of European writers, but call themselves _Barabra_, Plural of _Berberi_, _i.e._ people of Berber, although they do not at present extend so far up the Nile as that town[205]. Possibly these are Strabo's "Noubai, who dwell on the left bank of the Nile in Libya [Africa], a great nation etc.[206]"; and are also to be identified with the _Nobatae_, who in Diocletian's time were settled, some in the Kharga oasis, others in the Nile Valley about Meroe, to guard the frontiers of the empire against the incursions of the restless Blemmues. But after some time they appear to have entered into peaceful relations with these Hamites, the present Bejas, even making common cause with them against the Romans; but the confederacy was crushed by Maximinus in 451, though perhaps not before crossings had taken place between the Nobatae and the Caucasic Bejas. Then these Bejas withdrew to their old homes, which they still occupy, between the Nile and the Red Sea above Egypt, while the Nobatae, embracing Christianity, as is said, in 545, established the powerful kingdom of Dongola which lasted over 800 years, and was finally overthrown by the Arabs in the fourteenth century, since which time the Nile Nubians have been Muhammadans.

There still remains the problem of language which, as shown by Lepsius[207], differs but slightly from that now current amongst the Kordofan Nubas. But this similarity only holds in the north, and is now shown to be due to Berberine immigration into Kordofan[208]. Recent investigations show that the Nuba and the Barabra, in spite of this linguistic similarity which has misled certain authors[209], are not to be regarded as belonging to the same race[210]. "The Nuba are a tall, stoutly built muscular people, with a dark, almost black skin. They are predominantly mesaticephalic, for although cephalic indices under 70 and over 80 both occur, nearly 60 per cent. of the individuals measured are mesaticephals, the remaining being dolichocephalic and brachycephalic in about equal proportions." The hair is invariably woolly. The Barabra, on the contrary, is of slight, or more commonly medium build, not particularly muscular and in skin colour varies from a yellowish to a chocolate brown. The hair is commonly curly or wavy and may be almost straight, while the features are not uncommonly absolutely non-Negroid. "Thus there can be no doubt that the two peoples are essentially different in physical characters and the same holds good on the cultural side" (p. 611). Barabra were identified by Lepsius with the Wawat, a people frequently mentioned in Egyptian records, and recent excavations by the members of the Archaeological Survey of Nubia show a close connection with the predynastic Egyptians, a connection supported also on physical grounds. It seems strange, therefore, to meet with repeated reference on Egyptian monuments to Negroes in Nubia when, as proved by excavations, the inhabitants were by no means Negroes or even frankly Negroid. Seligman's solution of the difficulty is as follows (p. 619). It seems that only one explanation is tenable, namely that for a period subsequent to the Middle Kingdom the country in the neighbourhood of the Second Cataract became essentially a Negro country and may have remained in this condition for some little time. Then a movement in the opposite direction set in; the Negroes, diminished by war, were in part driven back by the great conquerors of the New Empire; those that were left mixed with the Egyptian garrisons and traders and once more a hybrid race arose which, however, preserved the language of its Negro ancestors. Although Seligman regards the conclusion that this race gave rise directly to the present-day inhabitants of Nubia as "premature," and suggests further mixture with the Beja of the eastern deserts, Elliot Smith recognises the essential similarity between the homogeneous blend of Egyptian and Negro traits which characterise the Middle Nubian people (contemporary with the Middle Empire, XII-XVII dynasties), a type which "seems to have remained dominant in Nubia ever since then, for the span of almost 4000 years[211]."

Before the incursions of the Nubian-Arab traders and raiders, who began to form settlements (_zeribas_, fenced stations) in the Upper Nile regions above Khartum about the middle of the nineteenth century, most of the Nile-Congo divide (White Nile tributaries and Welle-Makua basin) belonged in the strictest sense to the Negro domain. Sudanese tribes, and even great nations reckoned by millions, had been for ages in almost undisturbed possession, not only of the main stream from the equatorial lakes to and beyond the Sobat junction, but also of the Sobat Valley itself, and of the numerous south-western head-waters of the White Nile converging about Lake No above the Sobat junction. Nearly all the Nile peoples--the _Shilluks_ and _Dinkas_ about the Sobat confluence, the _Bari_ and _Nuers_ of the Bahr-el-Jebel, the _Bongos_ (_Dors_), _Rols_, _Golos_, _Mittus_, _Madis_, _Makarakas_, _Abakas_, _Mundus_, and many others about the western affluents, as well as the _Funj_ of Senaar--had been brought under the Khedivial rule before the revolt of the Mahdi.

The same fate had already overtaken or was threatening the formerly powerful _Mombuttu_ (_Mangbattu_) and _Zandeh_[212] nations of the Welle lands, as well as the _Krej_ and others about the low watersheds of the Nile-Congo and Chad basins. Since then the Welle groups have been subjected to the jurisdiction of the Congo Free State, while the political destinies of the Nilotic tribes must henceforth be controlled by the British masters of the Nile lands from the Great Lakes to the Mediterranean.

Although grouped as Negroes proper, very few of the Nilotic peoples present the almost ideal type of the blacks, such as those of Upper Guinea and the Atlantic coast of West Sudan. The complexion is in general less black, the nose less broad at the base, the lips less everted (Shilluks and one or two others excepted), the hair rather less frizzly, the dolichocephaly and prognathism less marked.

Apart from the more delicate shades of transition, due to diverse interminglings with Hamites and Semites, two distinct types may be plainly distinguished--one black, often very tall, with long thin legs, and long-headed (_Shilluks, Dinkas, Bari, Nuers, Alur_), the other reddish or ruddy brown, more thick-set, and short-headed (_Bongos_, _Golos_, _Makarakas_, with the kindred _Zandehs_ of the Welle region). No explanation has been offered of their brachycephaly, which is all the more difficult to account for, inasmuch as it is characteristic neither of the aboriginal Negro nor of the intruding Hamitic and Semitic elements. Have we here an indication of the transition suspected by many between the true long-headed Negro and the round-headed Negrillo, who is also brownish, and formerly ranged as far north as the Nile head-streams, as would appear from the early Egyptian records (Chap. IV.)? Schweinfurth found that the Bongos were "hardly removed from the lowest grade of brachycephaly[213]," and the same is largely true of the Zandehs and their Makaraka cousins, as noticed by Junker: "The skull also in many of these peoples approaches the round form, whereas the typical Negro is assumed to be long-headed[214]." But so great is the diversity of appearance throughout the whole of this region, including even "a striking Semitic type," that this observer was driven to the conclusion that "woolly hair, common to all, forms in fact the only sure characteristic of the Negro[215]."

Dinka is the name given to a congeries of independent tribes spread over a vast area, stretching from 300 miles south of Khartum to within 100 miles of Gondokoro, and reaching many miles to the west in the Bahr-el-Ghazal Province. All these tribes according to C. G. Seligman[216] call themselves _Jieng_ or _Jenge_, corrupted by the Arabs into Dinka; but no Dinka nation has arisen, for the tribes have never recognised a supreme chief, as do their neighbours, the Shilluk, nor have they even been united under a military despot, as the Zulu were united under Chaka. They differ in manners and customs and even in physique and are often at war with one another. One of the most obvious distinctions in habits is between the relatively powerful cattle-owning Dinka and the small and comparatively poor tribes who have no cattle and scarcely cultivate the ground, but live in the marshes in the neighbourhood of the Sudd, and depend largely for their sustenance on fishing and hippopotamus-hunting. Their villages, which are generally dirty and evil-smelling, are built on ground which rises but little above the reed-covered surface of the country. The Dinka community is largely autonomous under leadership of a chief or headman (_bain_) who is sometimes merely the local magician, but in one community in each tribe he is the hereditary rain-maker whose wish is law. "Cattle form the economic basis of Dinka society; ... they are the currency in which bride-price and blood-fines are paid; and the desire to acquire a neighbour's herds is the common cause of those inter-tribal raids which constitute Dinka warfare."

Some uniformity appears to prevail amongst the languages of the Nile-Welle lands, and from the rather scanty materials collected by Junker, Fr. Mueller was able to construct an "Equatorial Linguistic Family," including the Mangbattu, Zandeh, Barmbo, Madi, Bangba, Krej, Golo and others, on both sides of the water-parting. Leo Reinisch, however, was not convinced, and in a letter addressed to the author declared that "in the absence of sentences it is impossible to determine the grammatical structure of Mangbattu and the other languages. At the same time we may detect certain relations, not to the Nilotic, but the Bantu tongues. It may therefore be inferred that Mangbattu and the others have a tolerably close relationship to the Bantu, and may even be remotely akin to it, judging from their tendency to prefix formations[217]." Future research will show how far this conjecture is justified.

Although Islam has made considerable progress, throughout the greater part of the Sudanese region, though not among the Nilotic tribes, the bulk of the people are still practically pagan. Witchcraft continues to flourish amongst the equatorial peoples, and important events are almost everywhere attended by sanguinary rites. These are absent among the true Nilotics. The Dinka are totemic, with ancestor-worship. The Shilluk have a cult of divine kings.

Cannibalism however, in some of its most repulsive forms, prevails amongst the Zandehs, who barter in human fat as a universal staple of trade, and amongst the Mangbattu, who cure for future use the bodies of the slain in battle and "drive their prisoners before them, as butchers drive sheep to the shambles, and these are only reserved to fall victims on a later day to their horrible and sickly greediness[218]."

In fact here we enter the true "cannibal zone," which, as I have elsewhere shown, was in former ages diffused all over Central and South Africa, or, it would be more correct to say, over the whole continent[219], but has in recent times been mainly confined to "the region stretching west and east from the Gulf of Guinea to the western head-streams of the White Nile, and from below the equator northwards in the direction of Adamawa, Dar-Banda and Dar-Fertit. Wherever explorers have penetrated into this least-known region of the continent they have found the practice fully established, not merely as a religious rite or a privilege reserved for priests, but as a recognised social institution[220]."

Yet many of these cannibal peoples, especially the Mangbattus and Zandehs, are skilled agriculturists, and cultivate some of the useful industries, such as iron and copper smelting and casting, weaving, pottery and wood-carving, with great success. The form and ornamental designs of their utensils display real artistic taste, while the temper of their iron implements is often superior to that of the imported European hardware. Here again the observation has been made that the tribes most addicted to cannibalism also excel in mental qualities and physical energy. Nor are they strangers to the finer feelings of human nature, and above all the surrounding peoples the Zandeh anthropophagists are distinguished by their regard and devotion for their women and children.

In one respect all these peoples show a higher degree of intelligence even than the Arabs and Hamites. "My later experiences," writes Junker, "revealed the remarkable fact that certain negro peoples, such as the Niam-Niams, the Mangbattus and the Bantus of Uganda and Unyoro, display quite a surprising understanding of figured illustrations or pictures of plastic objects, which is not as a rule exhibited by the Arabs and Arabised Hamites of North-east Africa. Thus the Unyoro chief, Riongo, placed photographs in their proper position, and was able to identify the negro portraits as belonging to the Shuli, Lango, or other tribes, of which he had a personal knowledge. This I have called a remarkable fact, because it bespoke in the lower races a natural faculty for observation, a power to recognise what for many Arabs or Egyptians of high rank was a hopeless puzzle. An Egyptian pasha in Khartum could never make out how a human face in profile showed only one eye and one ear, and he took the portrait of a fashionable Parisian lady in extremely low dress for that of the bearded sun-burnt American naval officer who had shown him the photograph[221]." From this one is almost tempted to infer that, amongst Moslem peoples, all sense of plastic, figurative, or pictorial art has been deadened by the Koranic precept forbidding the representation of the human form in any way.

The Welle peoples show themselves true Negroes in the possession of another and more precious quality, the sense of humour, although this is probably a quality which comes late in the life of a race. Anyhow it is a distinct Negro characteristic, which Junker was able to turn to good account during the building of his famous _Lacrima_ station in Ndoruma's country. "In all this I could again notice how like children the Negroes are in many respects. Once at work they seemed animated by a sort of childlike sense of honour. They delighted in praise, though even a frown or a word of reproach could also excite their hilarity. Thus a loud burst of laughter would, for instance, follow the contrast between a piece of good and bad workmanship. Like children, they would point the finger of scorn at each other[222]."

One morning Ndoruma, hearing that they had again struck work, had the great war-drum beaten, whereupon they rushed to arms and mustered in great force from all quarters. But on finding that there was no enemy to march against, and that they had only been summoned to resume operations at the station, they enjoyed the joke hugely, and after a general explosion of laughter at the way they had been taken in, laid aside their weapons and returned cheerfully to work. Some English overseers have already discovered that this characteristic may be utilised far more effectively than the cruel kurbash. Ethnology has many such lessons to teach.

FOOTNOTES:

[129] For a tentative classification of African tribes see T. A. Joyce, Art. "Africa: Ethnology," _Ency. Brit._ 1910, p. 329.

[130] Graphically summed up in the classical description of the Negress:

"Afra genus, tota patriam testante figura,
Torta comam labroque tumens, et fusca colorem,
Pectore lata, jacens mammis, compressior alvo,
Cruribus exilis, spatiosa prodiga planta."

[131] See H. R. Hall, papers and references in _Man_, 19, 1905.

[132] T. A. Joyce, "Africa: Ethnology," _Ency. Brit._ 1910, I. 327.

[133] J. P. Johnson, _The Prehistoric Period in South Africa_, 1912.

[134] See H. H. Johnston, "A Survey of the Ethnography of Africa," _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst._ XLIII. 1913.

[135] The skeleton found by Hans Reck at Oldoway in 1914 and claimed by him to be of Pleistocene age exhibits all the typical Negro features, including the filed teeth, characteristic of East African negroes at the present day, but the geological evidence is imperfect.

[136] H. H. Johnston, _British Central Africa_, 1897, p. 393.

[137] Zandeh is the name usually given to the groups of tribes akin to Nilotics, but probably with Fulah element, which includes the _Azandeh_ or Niam Niam, _Makaraka_, _Mangbattu_ and many others. Cf. T. A. Joyce, _loc. cit._ p. 329.

[138] _British Central Africa_, p. 472. But see R. E. Dennett, _At the Back of the Black Man's Mind_, 1906, and A. G. Leonard, _The Lower Niger and its Tribes_, 1906, for African mentality.

[139] For theories of Bantu migrations see H. H. Johnston, _George Grenfell and the Congo_, 1908, and "A Survey of the Ethnography of Africa," _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Soc._ XLIII. 1913, p. 391 ff. Also F. Stuhlmann, _Handwerk und Industrie in Ostafrika_, 1910, p. 138, f. 147, with map, Pl. 1. B. For the date see p. 92.

[140] Even a tendency to polysynthesis occurs, as in Vei, and in Yoruba, where the small-pox god _Shakpanna_ is made up of the three elements _shan_ to plaster, _kpa_ to kill, and _enia_ a person = one who kills a person by plastering him (with pustules).

[141] The Nilotic languages are to a considerable extent tonic.

[142] A. B. Ellis, _The Tshi-speaking Peoples_, etc., 1887, pp. 327-8. Only one European, Herr R. Betz, long resident amongst the Dualas of the Cameruns district, has yet succeeded in mastering the drum language; he claims to understand nearly all that is drummed and is also able to drum himself. (_Athenaeum_, May 7, 1898, p. 611.)

[143] Cf. H. S. Harrison, _Handbook to the cases illustrating stages in the evolution of the Domestic Arts_. Part II. Horniman Museum and Library. Forest Hill, S.E.

[144] E. T. Hamy, "Les Races Negres," in _L'Anthropologie_, 1897, p. 257 sq.

[145] "Chaque fois que j'ai demande avec intention a un Mande, 'Es-tu Peul, Mossi, Dafina?' il me repondait invariablement, '_Je suis Mande_.' C'est pourquoi, dans le cours de ma relation, j'ai toujours designe ce peuple par le nom de _Mande_, qui est son vrai nom." (L. G. Binger, _Du Niger au Golfe de Guinee_, 1892, Vol. II. p. 373.) At p. 375 this authority gives the following subdivisions of the Mande family, named from their respective _tenne_ (idol, fetish, totem):

1. _Bamba_, the crocodile: _Bammana_, not _Bambara_, which means kafir or infidel, and is applied only to the non-Moslem Mande groups.

2. _Mali_, the hippopotamus: _Mali'nke_, including the Kagoros and the Tagwas.

3. _Sama_, the elephant: _Sama'nke_.

4. _Sa_, the snake: _Sa-mokho_.

Of each there are several sub-groups, while the surrounding peoples call them all collectively _Wakore_, _Wangara_, _Sakhersi_, and especially _Diula_. Attention to this point will save the reader much confusion in consulting Barth, Caillie, and other early books of travel.

[146] _Travels_, Vol. IV. p. 579 sqq.

[147] "La chaine des Montagnes de Kong n'a jamais existe que dans l'imagination de quelques voyageurs mal renseignes," _Du Niger au Golfe de Guinee_, 1892, I. p. 285.

[148] Bertrand-Bocande, "Sur les Floups ou Feloups," in _Bul. Soc. de Geogr_. 1849.

[149] A full account of this literature will be found in the Rev. C. F. Schlenker's valuable work, _A Collection of Temne Traditions, Fables and Proverbs_, London, 1861. Here is given the curious explanation of the tribal name, from _o-tem_, an old man, and _ne_, himself, because, as they say, the Temne people will exist for ever.

[150] There is also a sisterhood--the _bondo_--and the two societies work so far in harmony that any person expelled from the one is also excluded from the other.

[151] Reclus, Keane's English ed., XII. p. 203.

[152] "Da Njoe Testament, translated into the Negro-English Language by the Missionaries of the Unitas Fratrum," Brit. and For. Bible Soc., London, 1829. Here is a specimen quoted by Ellis from _The Artisan_ of Sierra Leone, Aug. 4, 1886, "Those who live in ceiled houses love to hear the pit-pat of the rain overhead; whilst those whose houses leak are the subjects of restlessness and anxiety, not to mention the chances of catching cold, _that is so frequent a source of leaky roofs_."

[153] Right Rev. E. G. Ingham (Bishop of Sierra Leone), _Sierra Leone after a Hundred Years_, London, 1894, p. 294. Cf. H. C. Lukach, _A Bibliography of Sierra Leone_, 1911, and T. J. Alldridge, _A Transformed Colony_, 1910.

[154] This increase, however, appears to be due to a steady immigration from the Southern States, but for which the Liberians proper would die out, or become absorbed in the surrounding native populations.

[155] H. H. Johnston, _Liberia_, 1906.

[156] Possibly the English word "crew," but more probably an extension of _Kraoh_, the name of a tribe near Settra-kru, to the whole group.

[157] _Sierra Leone after a Hundred Years_, p. 280.

[158] Mary H. Kingsley, _Travels in West Africa_, 1899, pp. 54-5.

[159] Since the establishment of British authority in Nigeria (1900 to 1907) much light has been thrown on ethnological problems. See among other works C. Partridge, _The Cross River Natives_, 1905; A. G. Leonard, _The Lower Niger and its Tribes_, 1906; A. J. N. Tremearne, _The Niger and the Western Sudan_, 1910, _The Tailed Head-Hunters of Nigeria_, 1912; R. E. Dennett, _Nigerian Studies_, 1910; E. D. Morel, _Nigeria, its People and its Problems_, 1911, besides the _Anthropological Reports_ of N. W. Thomas, 1910, 1913, and papers by J. Parkinson in _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst._ XXXVI. 1906, XXXVII. 1907.

[160] The services rendered to African anthropology by this distinguished officer call for the fullest recognition, all the more that somewhat free and unacknowledged use has been made of the rich materials brought together in his classical works on _The Tshi-speaking Peoples_ (1887), _The Ewe-speaking Peoples_ (1890), and _The Yoruba-speaking Peoples_ (1894).

[161] N. W. Thomas classifies Yoruba, Edo, Ibo and Efik as four main stocks in the Western Sudanic language group. "In the Edo and Ibo stocks people only a few miles apart may not be able to communicate owing to diversity of language" (p. 141). _Anthropological Report of the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria_, Part 1. 1913.

[162] _The Tshi-speaking Peoples_, p. 332 sq.

[163] _Feitico_, whence also _feiticeira_, a witch, _feiticeria_, sorcery, etc., all from _feitico_, artificial, handmade, from Lat. _facio_ and _factitius_.

[164] _Du Culte des Dieux Fetiches_, 1760. It is generally supposed that the word was invented, or at least first introduced, by De Brosses; but Ellis shows that this also is a mistake, as it had already been used by Bosman in his _Description of Guinea_, London, 1705.

[165] _The Tshi-speaking Peoples_, Ch. XII. p. 194 and _passim._ See also R. H. Nassau, _Fetichism in West Africa_, 1904.

[166] That is, from a wax mould destroyed in the casting. After the operation details were often filled in by chasing or executed in _repousse_ work.

[167] "Works of Art from Benin City," _Journ. Anthr. Inst._ February, 1898, p. 362 sq. See H. Ling Roth, _Great Benin, its Customs_, etc., 1903.

[168] A. Featherman, _Social History of Mankind_, The Nigritians, p. 281. See also Reclus, French ed., Vol. XII. p. 718: "Les cavaliers portent encore la cuirasse comme au moyen age.... Les chevaux sont recouverts de la meme maniere." In the mythical traditions of Buganda also there is reference to the fierce Wakedi warriors clad in "iron armour" (Ch. IV.). Cf. L. Frobenius, _The Voice of Africa_, II. 1913, pl. p. 608.

[169] _Du Niger au Golfe de Guinee_, 1892, I. p. 377.

[170] Early in the fourteenth century they were strong enough to carry the war into the enemy's camp and make more than one successful expedition against Timbuktu. At present the Mossi power is declining, and their territory has been parcelled out between the British and French Sudanese hinterlands.

[171] Also _Sonrhay_, _gh_ and _rh_ being interchangeable throughout North Africa; _Ghat_ and _Rhat_, _Ghadames_ and _Rhadames_, etc. In the mouth of an Arab the sound is that of the guttural [Symbol], _ghain_, which is pronounced by the Berbers and Negroes somewhat like the Northumberland _burr_, hence usually transliterated by _rh_ in non-Semitic words.

[172] It should be noticed that these terms are throughout used as strictly defined in _Eth._ Ch. I.

[173] Barth's account of Wulu (IV. p. 299), "inhabited by Tawarek slaves, who are _trilingues_, speaking Temashight as well as Songhay and Fulfulde," is at present generally applicable, _mutatis mutandis_, to most of the Songhai settlements.

[174] As so much has been made of Barth's authority in this connection, it may be well to quote his exact words: "It would seem as if they (the Sonrhay) had received, in more ancient times, several institutions from the Egyptians, with whom, I have no doubt, they maintained an intercourse by means of the energetic inhabitants of Aujila from a relatively ancient period" (IV. p. 426). Barth, therefore, does not bring the people themselves, or their language, from Egypt, but only some of their institutions, and that indirectly through the Aujila Oasis in Cyrenaica, and it may be added that this intercourse with Aujila appears to date only from about 1150 A.D. (IV. p. 585).

[175] Hacquard et Dupuis, _Manuel de la langue Songay, parlee de Tombouctou a Say, dans la boucle du Niger_, 1897, _passim._

[176] "A Survey of the Ethnography of Africa," _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Soc._ XLIII. 1913, p. 386.

[177] Barth, IV. pp. 593-4.

[178] The _Ischia_ of Leo Africanus, who tells us that in his time the "linguaggio detto Sungai" was current even in the provinces of Walata and Jinni (VI. ch. 2). This statement, however, like others made by Leo at second hand, must be received with caution. In these districts Songhai may have been spoken by the officials and some of the upper classes, but scarcely by the people generally, who were of Mandingan speech.

[179] Barth, IV. p. 414.

[180] _Ib._ p. 415.

[181] Carried captive into Marakesh, although later restored to his beloved Timbuktu to end his days in perpetuating the past glories of the Songhai nation; the one Negroid man of letters, whose name holds a worthy place beside those of Leo Africanus, Ibn Khaldun, El Tunsi, and other Hamitic writers.

[182] "Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit, et artes
Intulit agresti Latio." Hor. _Epist._ II. 1, 156-7.

The epithet _agrestis_ is peculiarly applicable to the rude Fulah shepherds, who were almost barbarians compared with the settled, industrious, and even cultured Hausa populations, and whose oppressive rule has at last been relaxed by the intervention of England in the Niger-Benue lands.

[183] "One of their towns, Kano, has probably the largest market-place in the world, with a daily attendance of from 25,000 to 30,000 people. This same town possesses, what in central Africa is still more surprising, some thirty or forty schools, in which the children are taught to read and write" (Rev. C. H. Robinson, _Specimens of Hausa Literature_, University Press, Cambridge, 1896, p. x).

[184] See C. H. Robinson, _Hausaland, or Fifteen Hundred Miles through the Central Soudan_, 1896; _Specimens of Hausa Literature_, 1896; _Hausa Grammar_, 1897; _Hausa Dictionary_, 1899. Authorities are undecided whether to class Hausa with the Semitic or the Hamitic family, or in an independent group by itself, and it must be admitted that some of its features are extremely puzzling. While Sudanese Negro in phonology and perhaps in most of its word roots, it is Hamitic in its grammatical features and pronouns. But the Hamitic element is thought by experts to be as much Kushite, or even Koptic, as Libyan. "On the whole, it seems probable," says H. H. Johnston, "that the Hausa speech was shaped by a double influence: from Egypt, and Hamiticized Nubia, as well as by Libyan immigrants from across the Sahara." "A Survey of the Ethnography of Africa," _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Soc._ XLIII. 1913, p. 385. Cf. also Julius Lippert, "Ueber die Stellung der Hausasprache," _Mitteilungen des Seminaers fuer Orientalische Sprachen_, 1906. It is noteworthy that Hausa is the only language in tropical Africa which has been reduced to writing by the natives themselves.

[185] _Campaigning on the Upper Nile and Niger_, by Lt Seymour Vandeleur, with an Introduction by Sir George Goldie, 1898. "In camp," writes Lt Vandeleur, "their conduct was exemplary, while pillaging and ill-treatment of the natives were unknown. As to their fighting qualities, it is enough to say that, little over 500 strong (on the Bida expedition of 1897), they withstood for two days 25,000 or 30,000 of the enemy; that, former slaves of the Fulahs, they defeated their dreaded masters," etc.

[186] The Kano Chronicle, translated by H. R. Palmer, _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst._ XXXVIII. 1908, gives a list of Hausa kings (Sarkis) from 999 A.D.

[187] For references to recent literature see note on p. 58. Also R. S. Rattray, _Hausa Folk-lore_, 1913; A. J. N. Tremearne, _Hausa Superstitions and Customs_, 1913, and _Hausa Folk-Tales_, 1914.

[188] By a popular etymology these are _Ka-Nuri_, "People of Light." But, as they are somewhat lukewarm Muhammadans, the zealous Fulahs say it should be _Ka-Nari_, "People of Fire," _i.e._ foredoomed to Gehenna!

[189] E. Gentil, _La Chute de l'Empire de Rabah_, 1902.

[190] The Buduma, who derive their legendary origin from the Fulahs whom they resemble in physique, worship the _Karraka_ tree (a kind of acacia). P. A. Talbot, "The Buduma of Lake Chad," _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst._ XLI. 1911. The anthropology of the region has lately been dealt with in _Documents Scientifiques de la Mission Tilho_ (1906-9), _Republique Francaise, Ministere des Colonies_, Vol. III. 1914; R. Gaillard and L. Poutrin, _Etude anthropologique des Populations des Regions du Tchad et du Kanem_, 1914.

[191] III. p. 194.

[192] _Sahara and Sudan_, II. p. 628.

[193] II. pp. 382-3.

[194] That is "Kanem-men," the postfix _bu_, _be_, as in _Ti-bu_, _Ful-be_, answering to the Bantu prefix _ba_, _wa_, as in _Ba-Suto_, _Wa-Swahili_, etc. Here may possibly be discovered a link between the Sudanese, Teda-Daza, and Bantu linguistic groups. The transposition of the agglutinated particles would present no difficulty; cf. Umbrian and Latin (_Eth._ p. 214). The Kanembu are described by Tilho, who explored the Chad basin, 1906-9. His reports were published in 1914. _Republique Francaise Ministere des Colonies, Documents Scientifiques de la Mission Tilho_ (1906-9), Vol. III. 1914.

[195] Barth draws a vivid picture of the contrasts, physical and mental, between the Kanuri and the Hausa peoples; "Here we took leave of Hausa with its fine and beautiful country, and its cheerful and industrious population. It is remarkable what a difference there is between the character of the ba-Haushe and the Kanuri--the former lively, spirited, and cheerful, the latter melancholic, dejected, and brutal; and the same difference is visible in their physiognomies--the former having in general very pleasant and regular features, and more graceful forms, while the Kanuri, with his broad face, his wide nostrils and his large bones, makes a far less agreeable impression, especially the women, who are very plain and certainly among the ugliest in all Negroland" (II. pp. 163-4).

[196] See Nachtigal, II. p. 690.

[197] For recent literature see Lady Lugard's _A Tropical Dependency_, 1905, and the references, note 3, p. 58.

[198] These are the same people as the _Tunjurs_ (_Tunzers_) of Darfur, regarding whose ethnical position so much doubt still prevails. Strange to say, they themselves claim to be Arabs, and the claim is allowed by their neighbours, although they are not Muhammadans. Lejean thinks they are Tibus from the north-west, while Nachtigal, who met some as far west as Kanem, concluded from their appearance and speech that they were really Arabs settled for hundreds of years in the country (_op. cit._ II. p. 256).

[199] A. H. Keane, "Wadai," _Travel and Exploration_, July, 1910; and H. H. Johnston, on Lieut. Boyd Alexander, _Geog. Journ._ same date.

[200] H. A. MacMichael has investigated the value of these racial claims in the case of the Kababish and indicates the probable admixture of Negro, Mediterranean, Hamite and other strains in the Sudanese Arabs. He says, "Among the more settled tribes any important sheikh or faki can produce a table of his ancestors (_i.e._ a _nisba_) in support of his asseverations.... I asked a village sheikh if he could show me his pedigree, as I did not know from which of the exalted sources his particular tribe claimed descent. He replied that he did not know yet, but that his village had subscribed 60 piastres the month before to hire a faki to compose a _nisba_ for them, and that he would show me the result when it was finished." "The Kababish: Some Remarks on the Ethnology of a Sudan Arab Tribe," _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst._ XL. 1910, p. 216.

[201] See the Kababish types, Pl. XXXVII in C. G. Seligman's "Some Aspects of the Hamitic Problem in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan," _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst._ XLIII. 1913, but cf. also p. 626 and n. 2.

[202] "The Physical Characters of the Nuba of Kordofan," _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst._ XL. 1910, "Some Aspects of the Hamitic Problem," etc., _tom. cit._ XLIII. 1913.

[203] See H. A. MacMichael, _The Tribes of Northern and Central Kordofan_, 1912.

[204] Cf. A. W. Tucker and C. S. Myers, "A Contribution to the Anthropology of the Sudan," _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst._ XL. 1910, p. 149.

[205] This term, however, has by some authorities been identified with the _Barabara_, one of the 113 tribes recorded in the inscription on a gateway of Thutmes, by whom they were reduced about 1700 B.C. In a later inscription of Rameses II at Karnak (1400 B.C.) occurs the form _Beraberata_, name of a southern people conquered by him. Hence Brugsch (_Reisebericht aus AEgypten_, pp. 127 and 155) is inclined to regard the modern _Barabra_ as a true ethnical name confused in classical times with the Greek and Roman _Barbarus_, but revived in its proper sense since the Moslem conquest. See also the editorial note on the term _Berber_, in the new English ed. of Leo Africanus, Vol. 1. p. 199.

[206] [Greek:'Ex aristeron de ruseos tou Neilou Noubai katoikousin en te Libue, mega ethnos], etc. (Book XVII. p. 1117, Oxford ed. 1807). Sayce, therefore, is quite wrong in stating that Strabo knew only of "Ethiopians," and not Nubians, "as dwelling northward along the banks of the Nile as far as Elephantine" (_Academy_, April 14, 1894).

[207] _Nubische Grammatik_, 1881, _passim._

[208] B. Z. Seligman, "Note on the Languages of the Nubas of S. Kordofan," _Zeitschr. f. Kol.-spr._ I. 1910-11; C. G. Seligman, "Some Aspects of the Hamitic Problem," etc., _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst._ XLIII. 1913, p. 621 ff.

[209] See A. H. Keane, _Man, Past and Present_, 1900, p. 74.

[210] C. G. Seligman, "The Physical Characters of the Nuba of Kordofan," _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst._ XL. 1910, p. 512, and "Some Aspects of the Hamitic Problem," etc., _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst._ XLIII. 1913, _passim_.

[211] _Archaeological Survey of India_, Bull. III. p. 25.

[212] See note 1, p. 44.

[213] _Op. cit._ I. p. 263.

[214] _Travels in Africa_, Keane's English ed., Vol. III. p. 247.

[215] _Ibid._ p. 246.

[216] C. G. Seligman, Art. "Dinka," _Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics._ See also the same author's "Cult of Nyakangano the Divine Kings of the Shilluk," _Fourth Report Wellcome Research Lab. Khartoum_, Vol. B, 1911, p. 216; S. L. Cummins, _Journ. Anthr. Inst._ XXXIV. 1904, and H. O'Sullivan, "Dinka Laws and Customs," _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst._ XL. 1910. Measurements of Dinka, Shilluk etc. are given by A. W. Tucker and C. S. Myers, "A Contribution to the Anthropology of the Sudan," _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst._ XL. 1910. G. A. S. Northcote, "The Nilotic Kavirondo," _Journ. Roy. Anthr. Inst._ XXXVI. 1907, describes an allied people, the _Jaluo_.

[217] _Travels in Africa_, Keane's Eng. ed., III. p. 279. Thus the Bantu _Ba_, _Wa_, _Ama_, etc., correspond to the _A_ of the Welle lands, as in _A-Zandeh_, _A-Barmbo_, _A-Madi_, _A-Bangba_, _i.e._ Zandeh people, Barmbo people, etc. Cf. also Kanem_bu_, Ti_bu_, Ful_be_, etc., where the personal particle (_bu, be_) is postfixed. It would almost seem as if we had here a transition between the northern Sudanese and the southern Bantu groups in the very region where such transitions might be looked for.

[218] Schweinfurth, _op. cit._ II. p. 93.

[219] G. Elliot Smith denies that cannibalism occurred in Ancient Egypt, _The Ancient Egyptians_, 1911, p. 48.

[220] _Africa_, 1895, Vol. II. p. 58. In a carefully prepared monograph on "Endocannibalismus," Vienna, 1896, Dr Rudolf S. Steinmetz brings together a great body of evidence tending to show "dass eine hohe Wahrscheinlichkeit dafuer spricht den Endocannibalismus (indigenous anthropophagy) als staendige Sitte der Urmenschen, sowie der niedrigen Wilden anzunehmen" (pp. 59, 60). It is surprising to learn from the ill-starred Bottego-Grixoni expedition of 1892-3 that anthropophagy is still rife even in Gallaland, and amongst the white ("floridi") Cormoso Gallas. Like the Fans, these prefer the meat "high," and it would appear that all the dead are eaten. Hence in their country Bottego found no graves, and one of his native guides explained that "questa gente seppellisce i suoi cari nel ventre, invece che nella terra," _i.e._ these people bury their dear ones in their stomach instead of in the ground. Vittorio Bottego, _Viaggi di Scoperta_, etc. Rome, 1895.

[221] I. p. 245.

[222] II. p. 140.