FOOTNOTES:

[168] For the meaning of this term, see the notice of India under the head of the Iapetidæ.

[169] See p. [20].

ATLANTIDÆ.
DIVISIONS.

In respect to the general phænomena of ethnological distribution, we are now fully prepared for all that will be presented in Africa. Large areas covered by single nations, and small ones parcelled out amongst many, are what we have already seen both in Asia and America. The influences of a climate, at once tropical and continental, we shall find at their maximum; those of extended river-systems, and of mountain-ranges of the first magnitude, being less important. So also is the influence of the ocean; the insular system of Africa being the smallest in the world, and the African sea-board being the one least indented.

From the greater heat of climate, the steppes of High Asia become sandy deserts in Africa: whilst the central portion of the continent where the highest table-land is to be expected, has yet to be explored.

Still the effect of a high level above the sea as manifested (for instance) in Abyssinia, is to be taken into our consideration of the physical conditions of Africa, i.e. as a condition that, to a certain degree, in certain cases, counteracts the effects of excessive heat. On the other hand, alluvial tracts, like the valleys of the Nile and Niger are to be placed in the opposite scale, as assistant to the influences of a tropical and equatorial sun.

The region, however, of the Atlantidæ is not Africa alone; it is Africa and something else—Africa plus the African side of Asia, i.e. Syria and Arabia; and here, in attending to the African character of the latter of these two areas, we must not lose sight of their physical relations to the sterile table-land of Persia, and the true steppe-country of Turkestan and Mongolia; for such is the line of continuity, in the way of steppes or desert, from Sahara to Siberia.

Strictly adhering to the order of the supposed affinities, it would be proper to take the Atlantidæ of Asia first; in which case we should begin with the Arab and Jew, and proceed with the Ægyptian, the Berber, and Abyssinian, when the arrangement would be strictly natural.

Nevertheless, a different and more artificial arrangement will be adopted here, and the portion of the Atlantidæ, which will be dealt with first, will not be those who are most closely allied to the Mongolidæ or the Iapetidæ, but those who least resemble either; in other words, those who exhibit the Atlantidean type in its most remarkable form. Hence, it is its typical character rather than its affiliation and descent, which places the Negro division at the head of the Atlantidæ.

A.
NEGRO ATLANTIDÆ.

Physical conformation.—Skin black, unctuous, and soft. Hair woolly, lips thick, maxillary profile prognathic, frontal retiring, nasal depressed.

Distribution.—Low-lands, sea-coasts, and the delta and courses of rivers, chiefly of the rivers Senegal, Gambia, Niger, and Upper Nile. Nearly limited to the Tropic of Cancer.

Area.—Western Africa from the Senegal to the Gaboon, Sudan. The alluvial portions of the system of the Upper Nile.

Divisions.—1. Western Negroes. 2. Central Negroes. 3. Eastern Negroes.

No fact is more necessary to be remembered than the difference between the Negro and African; a fact which is well verified by reference to the map. Here the true Negro area, the area occupied by men of the black skin, thick lip, depressed nose, and woolly hair, is exceedingly small; as small in proportion to the rest of the continent as the area of the district of the stunted Hyperboreans is in Asia, or that of the Laps in Europe. Without going so far as to maintain that a dark complexion is the exception rather than the rule in Africa, it may safely be said that the hue of the Arab, the Indian, and the Australian is the prevalent colour. To realize this we may ask, what are the true Negro districts of Africa? and what those other than Negro? To the latter belong the valleys of the Senegal, the Gambia, the Niger, and the intermediate rivers of the coast, parts of Sudania, and parts about Sennaar, Kordofan, and Darfúr; to the former, the whole coast of the Mediterranean, the Desert, the whole of the Kaffre and Hottentot areas south of the line, Abyssinia, and the middle and lower Nile. This leaves but little for the typical Negroes. Such, however, as it is, it will be dealt with—taking the Senegal as a starting-point.

Again, sub-typical deviations from the true Negro type will be found within the group in question; since the Sudanian Blacks have the characters of their class in a less degree than the more extreme Negroes of the Niger and the Gambia.

Lastly; the class in question is not strictly ethnological, and that for the following reasons:—It is based upon elements other than those of affiliation and descent. Thus in respect to descent, the Negro of Sennaar has his closest relations in the way of language, manners, and blood, with the Africans of Kordofan, Abyssinia, and the parts about his own country. Not so, however, his physical conformation. These are with the Africans of Senegambia and Guinea; a fact brought about by the common conditions of heat, moisture, and a low sea-level; conditions, however, which render the group artificial and provisional rather than natural and permanent. The same would be the case if we threw all the mountaineers of Europe in one and the same class, irrespective of their real ethnological differences, simply on the ground of their all exhibiting certain common phænomena of colour, stature, and habits.

I repeat the statement, therefore, that the class of the Negro Atlantidæ is only partially an ethnological one.

The chief area of the Negro is Western Africa, and the point at which the notice of the Negro group most conveniently begins is the mouth of the Senegal, the most northern locality of the Western Negro Atlantidæ.

WESTERN NEGRO ATLANTIDÆ.

Area.—The Lower Senegal and Gambia, the coast as far as the Kong Mountains, the Lower Niger, and the coast south of that river.

Chief divisions.—1. The Woloffs. 2. The Sereres. 3. The Serawolli. 4. The Mandingo. 5. The Sapi-Felúp. 6. The Ibo-Ashantí.

Of these the most northern are—

THE WOLOFF (IOLOF, JOLOFF, OUOLOFF).

Locality.—The Lower Senegal, i.e. Cayor on its north, and the coast as far as Cape Verde on its south bank. Conterminous with the Fulahs, Sereres, Serawolli, Mandingos, Berbers, and Moors of the Western Sahara.

Religion.—Feticism.

Physical conformation.—Tall, well-made Negroes, with the nasal profile less depressed, and the lips less prominent than is the case with the more typical tribes.

THE SERERES.

Locality.—Cape Verde, conterminous with and surrounded by the Woloffs.

The Sereres are considered (and that upon fair grounds) to have been the original inhabitants of a great part of the Woloff country. Consequently, they are tribes of a receding area.

The affinities of the language are problematical; being with the Woloff and the Fulah almost equally. It has also many words common to it and—

THE SERAWOLLI (SERACOLET).

Locality.—Senegambia in the kingdoms of Galam, Kaarta, in parts of the Bambarra country, and in parts of Ludamar, north of the Senegal.

The affinities of the Serawolli language are, perhaps, most with the Sereres, and, after that, with the Mandingo.

THE MANDINGO.

Area.—North and south (south-east).—From the parts about Cape Verde to Liberia; with an extension, inland, beyond Sego and the Kong Mountains.

Conterminous with the Woloff, Fulah, Sungai, Howssa, Grebo, and Fantí areas.

Divisions.—1. Mandingo Proper. 2. Mandingos of Bambouk. 3. Bambarrans. 4. Yallonkas. 5. Susu. 6. Bullom. 7. Timmani. 8. Kossa.(?) 9. Pessa. 10. Vei. 11. Mendi. 12. Kissi. 13. Sokko. 14. Sulimana. 15. Sangara. 16. Kooranko.

Vocabularies.—For the first thirteen of the preceding divisions.

Physical conformation.—Hair, woolly; nose, depressed; lips, thick; stature, high; skin, black, with a tinge of yellow; sclerotica, tinged with yellow.

Religion.—Mahometanism and Paganism.

Alphabets.—1. The Arabic of the Mandingos Proper. 2. The Vei (syllabic).

Fig. 15.

This last deserves special notice. About the middle of January, 1849, Lieutenant Forbes, Commander of H.M.S. Bonetta, inquired of the missionaries of Sierra Leone, whether they had heard of a written language amongst the natives of those parts, since he himself possessed a book in the language of the natives near Cape Mount. The Rev. S. W. Koelle, a missionary of Sierra Leone, undertook a personal investigation of the matter. He found that it was not only composed within the memory of man, but that the composer was alive; a man of the Vei country, named Doala Bukara. Doala Bukara, although an imperfect Mahometan, had seen Arabic books, and, though no Christian, an English Bible. The fact of these being written, haunted him in a dream, wherein he was shown a series of letters adapted to his native tongue—the Vei.

Nevertheless, the real alphabet was a joint production—i.e. of Doala and others; since, in the morning, he could not remember the signs shown him by night. Therefore, he and his friends put their heads together, and coined new ones. The king of the country made its introduction a matter of state, and built a large house in Dshondu, as a day-school. But a war with the Guru people disturbed both the learners and teachers, so that the latter removed to Bandakoro, where all grown-up people, of both sexes, can now read and write.

The Vei alphabet is a syllabarium; of which the preceding was a specimen.[170]

South of the Gambia, the Mandingo area, although extended so far in the interior, does not quite reach the coast, so that the lower portions of the rivers Caçamanca, Cacheo, Nunez, &c., are occupied by tribes not as yet distinctly recognised to be Mandingo. Neither are they as yet considered as allied either to the Woloff, or to each other. Speaking languages, mutually unintelligible, they are typical Negroes of the rudest and savagest kind; all being pagans. At Sierra Leone, the Mandingo reappears on the coast, i.e. amongst the Bullom and Timmani tribes.

SAPI-FELÚPS.

Of these the most northern are—

THE FELÚP.

Locality.—The forests and low-lands at the mouth of the Caçamanca.

Language.—With miscellaneous, but without special affinities.

THE PAPEL.

Locality.—River Cacheo, south of the Felúps.

Language.—Said to be peculiar; the only vocabulary of it, however, has been lost.

THE BISSAGO ISLANDERS.

Locality.—The Bissago Isles. Probably the same stock as the Papels.

THE BALANTES.

Locality.—Isle of Bassi and the opposite coast South of the Papels.

Language.—Said to be peculiar, but not known from any vocabulary.

THE IOLAS.
THE BASARES.

Locality.—Between the Balantes and—

THE BAGNON.

Locality.—The river Cacheo.

THE NALOO.

Locality.—The Nunez.

THE SAPI.

Locality.—Sea-coast in the neighbourhood of the Nunez.

BAGOES.

Locality.—South of the Nalus, on the coast. Conterminous with the Susu Bullom, and Timani Mandingos to which they perhaps belong.

A convenient transition is now made to the area of—

THE IBO-ASHANTÍ.

Here come, first in order—

THE FANTÍ.

Area.—The Gold-Coast, and the Ashantí country. From the river Asinese, west, to the river Volta, east. Inland extension uncertain. Continuous, but not uninterrupted.

Conterminous with the Mandingo Súsús, and the Whidahs of Dahomey.

Within the Fantí area are spoken several unclassed tongues, i.e.

THE AKVAMBU(?)
THE ADAMPI(?)

and, more important than any, that of—

THE GHÁ.

Synonym.—Acra or Inkra.

Locality.—Cape Coast.

The Ghá are Negroes in appearance; speaking a language unintelligible to the Fantí populations, but with undoubted general and miscellaneous affinities. They have the appearance of being derived from some country in the interior of Africa, a fact which Mr. Hanson—himself a native preacher, who has studied the ethnology of his country with great zeal—thinks can be verified by the comparison of an Acra vocabulary with one from the parts near Timbuctú.

More important still, is the unequivocal occurrence of numerous well-marked Jewish characters in their religious and other ceremonies. A paper of Mr. Hanson's[171] on this subject, leaves no doubt of the fact. The interpretation, however, is more uncertain. The present writer believes that such phænomena, i.e. points of similarity with the Semitic nations, is the rule rather than the exception with the African tribes—Negro and non-Negro; a fact which makes the Jews, Arabs, and Syrians, African, rather than the Africans Semitic.

THE WHIDAH.

Area.—Kingdom of Dahomey. From the river Volta to the river Lagos.

Physical conformation.—Typically Negro.

Religion.—Feticism in its lowest form.

THE MAHA.

Locality.—North of Dahomey, at the foot and on the sides of the Kong Mountains.

THE BENIN TRIBES.

Locality.—The sea-coast on the Bight of Benin. Conterminous with the Whidah and Yarriba.

The peculiar distribution of the Mandingos must now be considered, along with the configuration of the Guinea coast, and, the imperfectly-known range of highlands, which, at irregular distances from the ocean, runs nearly parallel with it; this range of highlands being the assumed watersheds of the following rivers between Sierra Leone and the western frontier of the Fantí country—the rivers Jong, Gallinas, Cape Mount, St. Paul's, St. John's, Cestos, Lagos, Negros, Costa. All these are inconsiderable, indicating that the elevations in which they rise are near the coast. On the other hand, in Ashantí and Dahomey, the rivers are of considerable magnitude, and indicate that the mountain range in which they rise (the Kong mountains) is far inland.

Now the low coast is the area of the following sections of a typically Negro population.

THE GREBO.

Synonym.—Cru, or Cruman.

Locality.—The Grain Coast.

Conterminous with the Vei, and other South-Mandingo dialects, north; with the Avekvom, south.

Religion.—Paganism.

Physical conformation.—Typically Negro.

I am far from being sure that the Grebo is not a section of the Mandingo class.

THE AVEKVOM.

Synonym.—Quaqua.

Locality.—Ivory Coast.

Conterminous with the Grebo tribes, west, the Fantí, east, and probably, certain Mandingo tribes of the Sokko section, inland.

Dialects.—1. Frisco. 2. Bassam. 3. Asini. 4. Apollonia.[172]

Religion and appearance.—Pagan Negroes.

We now pass over the Fantí, Whidah, and Benin areas (already considered) to the typical Negroes of the Delta of the Niger.

BONNY.

Locality.—The river Bonny or New Calabar.

Language.—Unintelligible to the natives of—

OLD CALABAR.

Locality.—The Old Calabar river.

Language.—Different from—

THE IBO.

Area.—The Lower Niger, nearly as far as Funda.

Conterminous with the Whidah(?), Benin(?), Bonny, Old Calabar, Bimbia(?), Yarriba, and Tapua tribes.

ADIYAH.

Locality.—Fernando Po.

Language.—Not identical with any tongue of the Continent; though with miscellaneous affinities.

THE BIMBIA.

Locality.—The Lower Cameroons.

In the Bimbia country the low coast is at its minimum breadth, the foot of the Cameroons Mountain nearly reaching the sea.

CENTRAL NEGRO ATLANTIDÆ.

By following the course of the Niger, we are again brought in contact with the Mandingo area, i.e. with the northern portion of it. Hence, the populations which will now be noticed encompass and surround the Mandingo nations, much as the Mandingo nations encompassed and surrounded the Grebo and Avekvom tribes.

THE YARRIBA.

Locality.—The right and left(?) bank (banks) of the Niger to the back of the Ibo and Benin countries.

Area.—Borgho, Wawa, Boussa, Yaouri.

Religion.—Paganism.

Physical conformation.—Sub-typical Negroes.

Habits.—Tattooed.

THE TAPUA.

Synonym.—Nyffe.

Locality.—The country between the rivers Niger, Makumnee, and Coodoonia.

Conterminous with the Ibo (south), the Yarriba (south-west), the Fellatah country (east and north-west), the Haussa(?) country, north.

Religion.—Paganism. Nearly that of Yarriba.

Physical conformation.—Sub-typical Negroes; with better shapes and clearer skins than even the Yarribians.

HAUSSA (HOWSSA).

Area.—Irregular, being deeply indented by that of the Fellatahs.

Conterminous with the Tapua(?), Yarriba, Fellatahs, Bornúi, the Berber Tuaricks.

Philological divisions.—Haussa Proper, Guberi, Kashna, Mallowa(?), Quollaliffa(?), Kallaghi(?).

Religion.—Mohametanism and Paganism.

Physical appearance.—Sub-typical Negroes.

THE FULAHS.

Area.—In the present state of our knowledge, discontinuous. Encroaching.

Divisions.—1. Senegambian Fulahs. 2. Fellatahs.

Localities.—1. Of the Senegambian Fulahs. a. The northern bank of the Senegal, about Lake Kayor, conterminous with the Moors of the Sahara and Woloff. b. Fouta-Torra, south of the Senegal, in the same longitude, probably conterminous with the first locality; conterminous with the Woloff, Sereres, Mandingos, and Serawollis. c. Bondou, west of Fouta-Torro (with which it is probably conterminous), on the Rio Nerico. d. Foota-jallo and Tembu, on the head-waters of the Rio Grande, between the Nalus and the Susu and Solimana Mandingos. How close these come to sea is uncertain. The Susu, although said to be Fulah, are certainly Mandingo. e. Brooko and Fuladu, between the great eastern feeders of the Senegal north of Jallonka Mandingos. f. Wassela(?), south-east of Fuladu. g. Massina, on the Niger, between Jenne and Timbuktú.

2. Of the Fellatahs—Cubbi, Ader, Guber; parts of Borgu, Boussa, Kano, Zegzeg, as far as 10° north latitude, and 10° east latitude, i.e. parts, probably, occupied by encroachment on the Haussa, Yarriba, and Nufi areas.

Religion.—Mahometanism, Paganism.

Physical appearance.—Sub-typical Negroes.

The civilization of the Mahometan Fulahs is on the same level with that of the most civilized (or Proper) Mandingos.

The departure from the Negro type is, in some instances, greater than has been the case with any of the sub-typical Negroes enumerated; so much so, that the Fulahs of the Gambia have been called the red Fulahs.

Their extension over Howssa, the Yarribian and the Tapua countries, has taken place within the historical period, under a leader named Danfodio.

Nevertheless, the exact original locality of the stock has yet to be determined.

CUMBRI.

Locality.—Forests, mountain fastnesses and swamps of Borgho, Bowssa, Youri, and Wawa.

Language.—Not known by a vocabulary, but said to differ from that of the neighbouring tribes, Tapua and Yarriba.

Physical conformation.—That of the Yarriba.

Religion.—Pagan.

The Cumbri appear to be in the same relation to the Yarribeans and Fellatahs that the Pulindas are to the Indo-Gangetic Indians, i.e. the representatives of a dispossessed population.

SUNGAI.

Locality.—From the parts east of Sego (Sansangding) on the Niger to the parts about Timbuctú. Probably in Timbuctú itself.

KISSÚR.

Locality.—Parts about Timbuctú. Probably Timbuctú itself.

As the Sungai vocabulary of Hodgson represents a different language from the Kissour of Caillié (both professing to represent the language of Timbuctú) I leave the investigation for future inquiry.

BORNÚ.

Locality.—Bornú, on the Lake Tshad.

Divisions.—1. Bornúi, semi-civilised and Mahometan. 2. Bedi, rude and Pagan.

Physical conformation.—More truly Negro, and less sub-typically Negro than any of the populations of the interior already enumerated.

BIDDUMA.

Locality.—Islands of Lake Tshad. Known by name only.

BEGHARMI.

Locality.—The River Shary, South of Lake Tshad.

Political relations.—Subject to Bornúi.

Language.—Known by a vocabulary, and different from both the Bornúi and the—

MANDARA(?)

Locality.—South and south-west of Begharmi.

Language.—Known by a vocabulary, and different from both the Begharmi and Bornúi.

Extract from Denham and Clapperton.—"On penetrating a short distance in this direction, with some people from Mandara, we saw the inhabitants run up the mountains quite naked, with ape-like agility. On another occasion, a company of savages were sent from a Kerdy, or Pagan village, termed Musgow, as a peace-offering, to deprecate the Sultan, who was on the eve of making a kidnapping expedition into their country. On entering his palace they threw themselves upon the ground, pouring sand upon their heads, and uttering the most piteous cries. On their heads, which were covered with long, woolly, or rather bristly hair, coming quite over their eyes, they wore a cap of the skin of a goat or some animal like a fox; round their arms and in their ears were rings of what appeared to be bone, and around the necks of each were from one to six strings of the teeth of the enemies they had slain in battle; teeth and pieces of bone were also pendent from the clotted locks of their hair; their bodies were marked in different places with red patches, and their teeth were stained of the same colour. Their whole appearance is said to have been strikingly wild and truly savage. Endeavours to set on foot intercourse with them were in vain; they would hold no communication, but having obtained leave, carried off the carcase of a horse to the mountains, where the fires that blazed during the night, and the savage yells which reached the valley, proved that they were celebrating their brutal feast."

This, short as it is, is a notice which would apply to no Negro tribe yet mentioned; indeed, there are many reasons for believing that south of the Mandaras the type changes, and that the populations represented by them are the almost unknown tribes of Central and Equatorial Africa. At any rate, the Mandaras are the most southern tribes hitherto known of the longitude of Bornú.

And now the comment upon the words typical, and sub-typical Negroes finds place. The two divisions coincide closely with the physical character of the area to which each applies; the departure from the true Negro features being greatest where the approach to a high-land or a table-land is the closest; the Bornúi being, at one and the same time, the most like the Negroes of the Coast, and the occupants of the most notable basin of Central Africa, i. e. the basin of Lake Tshad.

Due east of Lake Tshad we have, according to a variety of imperfect descriptions, a series of Negro districts; and here it must be admitted that the coincidence between the Negro conformation and the existence of fluviatile, lacustrine, or oceanic low-lands is not found to occur; the greater part of the tract being, according to all accounts, a table-land.

MOBBA.

Locality.—East of Lake Tshad.

Synonyms.—Called by the Arabs Dar-Saleh and Waday; Darfurians, Bergú.

Religion.—Chiefly Mahometanism.

Intermixture.—Arab.

FURIANS.[173]

Locality.—Dar-Fúr.

Religion.—Mahometanism.

Intermixture.—Arab.

KOLDAGI.[173]

Locality.—Kordofan.

EASTERN NEGRO ATLANTIDÆ.

South and east of the country of the Koldagi we come to the Negroes of the White Nile (Bahr el Abiad); where the fluviatile character of the soil and the physical appearance of the occupants coincide.

THE SHILLUK.[173]
THE DENKA.[173]
THE TUMALI.[173]
THE SHABÚN.[173]

Locality.—South, or south-west, of the Koldagi.

THE FERTIT.[173]

Locality.—South of the Shabún.

All these agree in being Pagan Negroes, south and south-west of Obeyd, the capital of Kordofan.

They also agree in being slave countries, the markets they supply being those of Ægypt.

Lastly, their languages have undoubted affinities with those of the Nubian class, a fact which verifies the statement at the beginning of the present section, viz. that the group of African Negroes was artificial rather than natural, since tested by physical form, the Denkas, &c., fall in the same class with the Ibos, &c., whereas their real affiliation is with the Nubians.

Through the researches of Dr. L. Tutshek, one of these languages is known grammatically, i. e. the Tumali; and it may be as well to remark that it has (amongst others) as a Semitic character, the method of expressing grammatical relations by means of internal change rather than by the addition of prefixes, postfixes, or inter-fixes, and also that such changes (as in the Semitic tongues) fall upon the vowel rather than the consonantal elements of the word.

More undoubted Negroes of the Nile are—

THE QÁMAMYL.

Locality.—Fazoglo, or Fazoel, south of Sennaar.

Language.—Peculiar, but with miscellaneous affinities.

THE DALLAS.

Locality.—The Tacazze; called by Salt, the Shangalla (Shankali) of the Tacazze.

Language.—Peculiar, but with miscellaneous affinities.

THE DOBA.

I presume that these are the Dar-Mitchegan Shangallas of Salt, and the Agaumider Shankalas of Beka. If so, they are occupants of the interior of Abyssinia, and conterminous with the Agows of that country; their language being peculiar, but with miscellaneous affinities.

And now follow two sections which I place amongst the Negroes provisionally; the first because its characteristics, although pretty well known, are aberrant; the second, because our information concerning them is preeminently imperfect.

They are separated from one another by a large area, one being north-west, the other south-east of Darfúr and Kordofan, and have little in common except the uncertainty of their position.

THE TIBBOO(?).

Area.—The Eastern Sahara; bounded by the Tuaricks, Ægypt, Kanem (of which the ethnology is uncertain), Mobba, and the Furian and Nubian tribes.

Divisions.—1. Rechádeh, or Tibboos of the rocks, to the southward and south-east of Fezzan. The towns of Abo and Tibesty belong to them.

2. The Febabos, situated about ten days' journey towards the south, south-west of Augelah.

3. The tribe of Borgou, placed further southward, nearly on the parallel of the southern part of Fezzan.

4. The tribe of Arno.

5. The tribe of Bilma, which is the greatest tribe of the Tibboo nation, and occupies the country between Fezzan and Bomon.

6. Nomadic Tibboos, on the borders of the empire of Bornú.

Physical appearance.—Lips, thick; hair, curly rather than woolly; complexion, varied, from jet-black to a copper colour; nose, in some tribes, flat, in others aquiline; frame, slender.

Language.—With no special, but with numerous miscellaneous affinities. Improperly considered to be Berber.—From Prichard, vol. ii.

THE GONGAS(?).

Present locality.—The valleys of the Rivers Abai and Godjeb.

Original locality.—Enarea, and a large tract south of Abyssinia.

Area.—Discontinuous; the division being effected by the invasion of Galla tribes.

Dialects.—1. Kaffa. 2. Woratta. 3. Wolaitso, 4. Yangaro.

Vocabularies.—Those of Dr. Beke, published in the Transactions of the Philological Society.

The Gonga tribes are in the same relation to the Abyssinians as the Mandara to the Bornúi, i. e. the occupants of the most southern part of the geographical area known; the parts immediately beyond either being terræ incognitæ.

If, however, the current notions respecting the geographical structure of Central Africa be correct, and if the views here exhibited respecting the coincidence between the Negro type in the way of physical conformation and the geographical conditions of a fluviatile low-land be well-founded, the tribes of the interior should depart materially from the tribes already described; a probability which has been indicated in the notices of the Mandara and Mobba Africans.

Nay more, inasmuch as the stock next in order of notice is a stock with a preeminently encroaching frontier, it is probable that the true affiliations of the southern Abyssinians may be lost through the encroachments of the Gallas and Kaffres, and the consequent extinction of the tribes representing them.