(7) Swahili, the language of Zanzibar and of the opposite coast, a form of speech now widely spread as a commercial language over Eastern and Central Africa. Swahili is a somewhat archaic Bantu dialect, indigenous probably to the East African coast south of the Ruvu (Pangani) river, which by intermixture with Arabic has become the lingua franca of eastern Africa between the White Nile and the Zambezi. It was almost certainly of mainland origin, distinct from the original local dialects of Zanzibar and Pemba, which may have belonged to group No. 6. There are colonies of Swahili-speaking people at Mombasa, Malindi, Lamu, and even as far north as the Shebeli river in Somaliland, also along the coast of German and Portuguese East Africa as far south as Angoche. In the coast-lands between the Ruvu or Pangani river on the north and the Kilwa settlements on the south, the local languages and dialects are more or less related to Swahili, though they are independent languages. Amongst these may be mentioned Bondei, Shambala (north of the Ruvu), Nguru, Zeguha, Ki-mrima and Ki-zaramo.
(8) This group might be described as Kaguru-Sagala-Kami. It is one which occupies the inland territories of German East Africa, between the Swahili coast dialects on the east and the domain of the Nyamwezi (No. 11) on the west. On the north this group is bounded by the non-Bantu languages of the Masai, Mbugu and Taturu, and on the south by the Ruaha river. This group includes Kigogo and Irangi.
(9) The dialects of the Comoro Islands, between the East African coast and Madagascar, are styled Hi-nzua or Anzuani and Shi-ngazija. They are somewhat closely related to Swahili.
(10) The archaic Makonde or Mabiha of the lower Ruvuma, and the coast between Lindi and Ibo; this might conceivably be attached to the Swahili branch.
(11) The Nyamwezi group includes all the dialects of the Nyamwezi country west of Ugogo as far north as the Victoria Nyanza (where the tongues melt into group No. 1), and bounded on the south by the Upper Ruaha river, and on the west by the eastern borderlands of Tanganyika. The Nyamwezi genus penetrates south-west to within a short distance of Lake Rukwa. A language of this group was at one time a good deal spoken in the southern part of the Belgian Congo, having been imported there by traders who made themselves chiefs.
(12) The Tanganyika languages (Ki-rega, Kabwari, Kiguha, &c). These dialects are chiefly spoken in the regions west-north-west, and perhaps north and east of Tanganyika, from the vicinity of Lake Albert Edward on the north and the Lukuga outlet of Tanganyika on the south. On the west they are bounded by the Congo Forest and the Manyema genus (No. 13). The languages on the east coast of Tanganyika (Ki-rundi, Kigeye, &c.) seem to be more nearly connected with those of group No. 1 (Uganda-Unyoro), yet perhaps they are more conveniently included here.
(13) The Manyema (Baenya) group includes most of the corrupt Bantu dialects between the western watershed of Tanganyika and the main stream of the Luapula-Congo, extending also still farther north, and comprising (seemingly) the languages of the Aruwimi basin, such as Yalulema, Soko, Lokele, Kusu, Tu-rumbu, &c. On the west the Manyema group is bounded by the languages of the Lomami valley, which belong to groups Nos. 15 and 16; on the east the Manyema genus merges into the much purer Bantu dialects of groups Nos. 1 and 12. An examination of the Lihuku-Kuamba section (No. 2) shows these tongues to be connected with the Manyema group. The Kibira dialects of the north-eastern Congo Forest (Ituri district) may perhaps be placed in this section.[[6]]
(14) The Rua-Luba-Lunda-Marungu group (in which are included Kanyoka, Lulua and Ki-tabwa) occupies a good deal of the south central basin of the Congo, between the south-west coast-line of Tanganyika on the east and the main streams of the Kasai and Kwango on the west, between the Bakuba country on the north and the Zambezi watershed on the south.
(15) The Bakuba assemblage of Central Congo dialects (Songe, Shilange, Babuma, &c.) probably includes all the Bantu languages between the Lomami river on the east and the Kwa-Kasai and Upper Kwilu on the west. Its boundary on the north is perhaps the Sankuru river.