202 NOTES ON THE MONBUTTU.

drainage down the sloping ground causes periodical droughts, and the ground near the river is much more sandy and poorer than that lying farther away. The inhabitants become more sparse the farther one proceeds towards the north, so that one is prepared for the broad uninhabited grass steppe of the A-Zande country on the other side of the river. On the 18th of July we arrived opposite the confluence of the Dongu, precisely a month from the time we first crossed it, and we said good-bye to Monbuttu, sincerely hoping for a speedy return.

2. Notes ON THE MONBUTTU.

ORIGIN—ABORIGINES—BAMBA—MOMVU 'AGRICULTURISTS—POLITICAL OR-GANISATION—FOOD—CANNIBALISM GENERAL—SMOKING—COLA NUTS —BEER AND WINE—MATRIMONIAL—BIRTH AND BURIAL—THE FAIR SEX—CLOTHING—DANCING AND MUSIC—CIRCUMCISION.

THE Monbuttu occupy an entirely unique position among our Negro races in regard to bodily constitution and mental characteristics. They say that their ancestors came from the north-west, passed on their march a great lake or sheet of water having no outlet, remained there for a time, and at last reached the Kibali, on the north bank of which they took up their residence for a long period. After a time, small bodies went over the river, and having increased in numbers, they proceeded to conquer the country, and compelled the A-Zande, who were pressing in from the west, to deviate from their line of advance. Friendly relations between these two people seem never to have been established, the Monbuttu always considering themselves superior to the A-Zande, and never willingly giving them their daughters in marriage. The original inhabitants of the country bordering the Kibali are said to have consisted of different tribes, without any proper rulers, such as the Momvu, the Abarambo, &c., who, although partially assimilated, still hold an inferior social position. Hven at that period the Akka led the same roving, hunting life which they still follow.