12 (No. 96 GEOGRAPHY : EAST AFRICA

The languages spoken by the Hamitic-Negroid tribes, (Masai, Nandi,&c . ) , are of exceptional interest to the student of African languages owing to their peculiarities of structure . The negroes of the Protec torate all speak regular Bantu tongues .

( 6) POPULATION

Distribution

The population of the different provinces of the Pró tectorate was estimated as follows in the years 1915-16 :

Province ." Europeans. Asiatics. Vatives. Total.

366 2,875 361

7,677 5,679

266

Seyidie .. Ukamba

Kenya Masai Reserve Naivasha Nyanza .. Tanaland

Jubaland

195,000 * 372,948 867,152 36,000 156,734 1,116,655* 40,000 17,000*

203,043 381,502 867,779 36,000 158,773 1,119,138* 40,718* 17,406 *

1,541 431 19 39

498 2,052 699 367

Totals 5,632 17,238 2,801,489* . 2,824,359*

* Approximate.

The greater part of the population of the Protec torate is concentrated in four thickly peopled districts. These are ( 1 ) the Kavirondo district to the east of Victoria Nyanza ; (2 ) the Kikuyu and Kenya districts;

(3 ) the Machakos and Kitui districts of Ukamba ; (4) the southern part of the coast region.

The thinness of the population elsewhere is due in the northern districts to the aridity of the country. In the central highlands it is, however, mainly due to

1 It must be noted , however, that the above estimate of the native population of Jubaland apparently refers only to the settled population

and excludes the nomadic tribes,and the Statesman's Yearbook for 1918, containing the officially revised figures , givesthe total population of the Protectorate as 4,038,000.