III.] THE AFRICAN NEGRO: I. SUDANESE. 77 



Dinkas, J5ari, Nuers, Mittus), the other reddish or ruddy brown, 

 more thick-set, and short-headed (Bongos, Golos, Makarakas, with 

 the kindred Zandehs of the Welle region). The complexion of 

 the latter, as has been suggested by Schweinfurth 1 , may possibly, 

 though not probably, be due to the properties of the red, ferru- 

 ginous soil prevalent in their districts. But no explanation has 

 been offered of their brachycephaly, which is all the more difficult 

 to account for, inasmuch as it is characteristic neither of the abori- 

 ginal Negro nor of the intruding Hamitic and Semitic elements. 

 Have we here an indication of the transition suspected by many 

 between the true long-headed Negro and the round-headed Negrito, 

 who is also brownish, and formerly ranged as far north as the Nile 

 head-streams, as would appear from the early Egyptian records 

 (Chap, iv.)? Schweinfurth found that the Bongos were " hardly re- 

 moved from the lowest grade of brachycephaly 2 ,'' and the same is 

 largely true of the Zandehs and their Makaraka cousins, as noticed 

 by Junker : u The skull also in many of these peoples approaches 

 the round form,, whereas the typical Negro is assumed to be long- 

 headed 3 ." But so great is the diversity of appearance throughout 

 the whole of this region, including even "a striking Semitic type," 

 that this observer was driven to the conclusion that " woolly hair, 

 common to all, forms in fact the only sure characteristic of the 

 Negro 4 ." 



More uniformity appears to prevail amongst the languages 

 of the Nile- Welle lands, and from the rather 

 scanty materials collected by Junker, Dr Fr. Mtiller Groups" 

 was able to construct an " Equatorial Linguistic 

 Family," including the Mangbattu, Zandeh, Barmbp, Madi, 

 Bangba, Krej, Golo and others, on both sides of the water-parting. 

 Prof. Leo Reinisch, however, was not convinced, and in a letter 

 addressed to the author declared that " in the absence of sen- 

 tences it is impossible to determine the grammatical structure of 

 Mangbattu and the other languages. At the same time we may 

 detect certain relations, not to the Nilotic, but the Bantu tongues. 



1 Heart of Africa, passim. ' 2 Op. cit. I. p. 263. 



3 Travels in Africa, Keane's English ed., Vol. ill. p. 247. 



4 Ibid. p. 246. 



