192 A VISIT TO THE MONBUTTUD.

at the foot of that high land and extends parallel to it, receiving at first hand the total rainfall from two rainy regions. If we remember, too, that the moist south and south-west winds blowing from the Congo basin precipitate all their moisture upon these mountains, that numerous large streams accumulate within a small area, and evaporation is prevented by the abundant woods, we shall cease to wonder at the immense amount of water in the country. The high undulating district around Gambari’s village is very thickly populated, yet the zeribas hardly strike the eye, because they are situated in clearings in the woods or are shut in by high reeds, through which only narrow footpaths wind.

Except the servant class, which in Monbuttu is chiefly recruited from Momyu, the inhabitants belong principally to the race of Bamba, called by the A-Zandé, A~Bangba (Schweinfurth’s Abanga), and appear to descend from the original inhabitants of the country; they have a language of their own, but have adopted the customs as well as the speech of the ruling classes, and are now just as good cannibals as the real Monbuttu. According to their own account, their nearest tribal relations are the Mundu of Makraka, who no doubt were separated from them by the immigration of the A-Zandeé and driven towards the north. Some members of the Mundu tribe who had accompanied us were received in a very friendly way by their ex-countrymen, and conversed with them in a language totally different from the Monbuttu. The Mundu of, to-day are an exceedingly industrious agricultural people, and one hears, in Makraka at least, nothing of cannibalism, although the near neighbours of the Mundu, the Babukur, who also came from the south, where they are known as Mayanga, have remained true to the horrible custom of their homes. However, since I have seen the eagerness with which the Bombe of Makraka, who belong to the Iddio division of the A-Zande, offered to clean skulls, the matter appears to me rather suspicious, and I am inclined to state that the Bamba as well as the Mundu still hold to their old customs, and continue them in private. Apart from this, the Bamba are friendly, pleasant people, clever and handy, and they possess a very good eye for neat-