LITERARY NOTICES. 



239 



for two years and tbree months, T pursued 

 over a, distance of more than 2,000 miles. 

 Neither camels nor asses, mules nor horses, 

 teams of oxen nor palanquin-bearers, con- 

 tributed tlieir aid. The only animal avail- 

 able, by the help of whicb Central Africa 

 could be opened to civilization, is extermi- 

 nated by fire and sword : the elephant is de- 

 stroyed mainly for the purpose of procuring 

 for civilized nations an article whei'ewith to 

 manufacture toys and ornaments, and Euro- 

 peans still persevere in setting the savages a 

 pernicious example in this respect." 



After passing through the lands of the 

 Dinka, Dyoor, Bongo, and Mittoo, and add- 

 ing much to our knowledge of these people 

 while studying the topography of the coun- 

 try and contributing important discoveries 

 concerning its river system, besides his in- 

 cessant botanical, entomological, and meteor- 

 ological observations, he came upon the ter- 

 ritory of the Niam-niam. On the 29th of 

 January, 1870, he set out with four Nubian 

 servants, and thirty Bongo bearers, under 

 the protection of Mohammed Aboo Sam- 

 mat, a magnanimous Nubian merchant, who, 

 sword in hand, had vanquished various dis- 

 tricts large enough to have formed small 

 states in Europe. Of this man the author 

 says : 



" Not only throughout the period of eight 

 months did he entertain me and my party in 

 his settlements, seconding all my wishes, but 

 when I desired to explore outlying parts, he 

 lent me the protection of his armed force. 

 Solely because I was supported by him did I 

 succeed in pushing my way to Upper Shary, 

 more than 800 miles from Khartoom, thus 

 openingfresh districts to geographical knowl- 

 edge and establishing the existence of some 

 enigmatical people. Every thing that Mo- 

 hammed did was suggested by his own free- 

 will. The purest benevolence pi'ompted him 

 ^tlie high virtue of hospitality in its noblest 

 sense." 



They were soon joined by a caravan con- 

 sisting of 500 bearers and 120 soldiers, and 

 these with women and slaves made a proces- 

 sion in single file of some 800 people. The 

 incidents of their progress are of the deep- 

 est interest, but we have no space for their 

 enumeration. From his account of the Niam- 

 niam people we quote the following : 



" The social position of the Niam-niam 

 women differs materially from what is found 

 among other heathen negroes in Africa. 



"Whenever I met any women coming along 

 a nan'ow pathway in the woods, or on the 

 steppes, I noticed that they always made a 

 wide circuit to avoid me, and returned into 

 the path farther on ; and many a time I saw 

 them waiting at a distance with averted face, 

 until I had passed by. This reserve may 

 have originated from two opposite reasons : 

 it may, on the one hand, have sprung from 

 the more servile position of the Niam-niam 

 women themselves ; or, on the other, it may 

 have been necessitated by the jealous tem- 

 perament of their husbands. It is one of 

 the fine traits of the Niam-niam men that 

 they display an afi'ection for their wives 

 which is unparalleled among natives of so 

 low a grade, and of "whom it might be ex- 

 pected that they would have been brutalized 

 by their hunting and warlike pursuits. A 

 husband will spare no sacrifice to redeem 

 an imprisoned wife, and the Nubians, being 

 acquainted with this, turn it to profitable ac- 

 count in the ivory-trade. They are quite 

 aware that whoever possesses a female host- 

 age can obtain almost any compensation from 

 a Niam-niam." 



Between the parallels of 3 and 4 north 

 latitude, and 28 and 29 east longitude 

 from Greenwich, in the very heart of Africa, 

 is a territory of some 4,000 square miles, 

 inhabited by the Monbuttoo. The country 

 of the Niam-niam constitutes its northern 

 and northwestern boundaries : 



" This land," Schweinfurth says, "greets 

 us as an Eden upon earth. Unnumbered 

 groves of plantains bedeck the gently-heav- 

 ing soil ; oil-palms, incomparable in beauty, 

 and other monarchs of the stately woods, 

 rise up and spread their glory over the 

 favored scene ; along the streams there is a 

 bright expanse of charming verdure, while 

 a grateful shadow ever overhangs the domes 

 of the idyllic huts. In the deeper valleys, 

 trees grow to such a prodigious height, and 

 exhibit such an enormous girth, that they 

 could not be surpassed by any that could be 

 found throughout the entire Nile-region of 

 the north. Beneath the imposing shelter 

 of these giants, other forms grow up, and, 

 rising one above another, stand in mingled 

 confusion." 



From his account of the Monbuttoo, of 

 of whom he speaks " as exhibiting a devel- 

 opment of indigenous culture entirely dif- 

 ferent to what can be witnessed all around," 

 we quote the following : 



" The two sexes conduct themselves 



