CHAPTER XVII 



THE NATIVES OF EASTERN BRITISH EAST AFRICA^ 

 " Dislike me not for my complexion." — Merck, of Ven. i. 2. 



The connection between the character of a people and the 

 geographical and geological structure of the country in which 



^ Note on (he Literature. — The study of the natives of British East Africa naturally 

 began on the coast-lands. Attention was first given to the Suahili, and especially to 

 their language ; for knowledge of this we are mainly indebted to Krapf (1850 and 1882) 

 and Steere (1870); Suahili folklore has been reported by Steere (1873), W. E. Taylor 

 (1891), and indirectly by D. J. Rankine (1891) and A. C. Madan (1887). The best 

 history of the coast towns and their inhabitants is in Burton's Zanzibar (1872), from 

 whicli most later accounts have been drawn. For knowledge of the tribes near Mombasa, 

 such as the Wa-nyika, Wa-giriama, Wa-pokomo, and Galla, we are indebted to Krapf 

 (1858), Wakefield (1866), New (1873), Fischer (1878), Gedge (1892), and Taylor 

 (1891). 



Of the inland tribes the most interesting is the Masai ; the first accounts of its 

 language are those of Krapf (1854) and Erhardt (1857); Johnston (1886) has given a 

 clear account of the language and discussed its affinities. The tribe was first adequately 

 described by Fischer and Thomson ; their accounts, both published in 1885, admirably 

 supplement one another. Since then most travellers who have visited the Masai country 

 have described the tribe, but with the exception of Peters (1891) and von Hohnel (1892) 

 most of the work has been done in German East Africa : as by Johnston (1886), Meyer 

 (1888 and 1890), French Sheldon (1892), Baumann (1894), etc. The Wa-kamba have 

 been described by Krapf (1858), Hildebrandt (1878), and cursorily by later travellers 

 across their country. 



The tribes of the Nyanza basin have now a voluminous literature dealing mainly with 

 the Wa-ganda and Wanyoro : it began with Speke (1863), Baker (1866), and Stanley 

 (1878); was continued by missionaries such as Felkin, Ashe, Mackay, and Wilson; 

 and has been scientifically treated by Stuhlmann (1893) and Baumann (1894). Lugard's 

 account of the Wa-ganda (1893) must also be mentioned. 



The problems in connection with the dwarf tribes rest on the scientific descriptions of 

 Schweinfurth (1874), Hamy (1879), Flower (1888), and Stuhlmann (1893). The most 

 readable general account of these races is by Ouatrefages {Les Pygmies, 1887 : English 

 translation 1895) ; a list of the principal literature is given by Stuhlmann, and a valuable 

 summary of the whole by Schlichter (1892). 



A bibliographic index to the languages is given by Gust (1883), and an account of 

 the African races generally by Ratzel [Volkerkunde, Bd. i. , 1887). With these excep- 

 tions, the literature referred to deals only with the tribes of British East Africa ; but the 

 anthropology of that area cannot be considered without reference to the two monographs 

 of Paulitschke (1886 and 1893), and the works of Stuhlmann (1893), Baumann (1894), 

 and a series of memoirs in the volumes of the Mittheilungen von Forschungsreisenden 



