Bongo Tribe. 115 It extends from the River Roah to the Pango, and embraces the middle course of nearly all the affluents of the Bahr el Gbazal.

It is 175 miles long by 50 broad. On the north, it is separated by the Jur country from the Dinka, but joins the latter along the north-east frontier.

The south-east boundary is the Mittu territory on the Roah, on the west the Golo and the Sehre countries, and on the south the ISTiam-ISriam. Between the latter and the Bongo, the small settlements of the Bellanda and Babukur are wedged. When the Khartum ers first arrived, they found the whole country divided into a number of small independent districts, each with its own chief, and not combined in a commonwealth like the Dinka.

The people were thus an easy prey to the traders, who reduced them into slaves and vassals, establishing a sort of feudal system, and forcing them to live round the zeribas. The Bongo were docile and yielding, and, being agricultural, supported these zeribas to a great degree.

The Jur, Golo, Mittu, and other smaller tribes shared the same fate as the Bongos, and in 10 years there were more than 80 zeribas between the Rohl and the River Biri. Some of the population took refuge with the Dinka and the Niam-Niam, but the greater portion were reduced to slavery.

The slavers treated the country in a pitiless and overbearing manner, destroying the population and seizing their corn and cattle. But after some years, when they had exterminated about two-thirds of the people, they discovered the value of their services for the cultivation of corn and the transport of merchandise.

In Central Africa, every nation has different names for its neighbours.

Jur and Niam-Niam are Dinka names for these two tribes j the Bongo they call Dohr. The colour of the Bongos is a red-brown. It would inhabitants, seem that the soil they inhabit has a marked bearing on the colour of the races. Here the red iron rock prevails, while, in the low-lying dark alluvial flats, Ave find the Dinka and Nuer of a deep black tint.

The Bongos have short w roolly hair, are of medium stature, and, as regards their occupation, are essentially an (386) i 2