328 NATIVES OF EASTERN BRITISH EAST AFRICA part ii 



tion about this tribe, obtained by Paulitschke ^ from the Somah, placed 

 It in tho valley of the Sobat, a tributary of the Nile. Its position was, 

 therefore, removed 400 miles to the north-west, and outside British 

 East Africa. 



Another statement that suggests the occurrence of dwarfs in this 

 country is that, according to Tutschek, some of the slaves of the 

 Galla on the eastern coast, the Wasania and Watwa, have " clicks " in 

 their language. These clicks are very characteristic of the Bushmen 

 and dwarf languages, and if the statement be true, then these two 

 tribes must be Negrillo. It rests, however, solely on some remarks by 

 Tutschek,^ and is improbable. Fischer gave a short vocabulary of the 

 language of the Wasania,^ which shows that they now speak a dialect 

 of Galla ; but the tribe is certainly not related to the Galla, and 

 is either Bantu or Negrillo. Herr Wiirtz, one of the missionaries at 

 Ngao, had seen some Wasania, but had not heard them use any clicks; 

 indeed, he told me that Wasania is only the Ki-pokomo name for 

 the Waboni. This, however, is doubtful, for Fischer gives lists of 

 words from two languages which he assigns to the Wasania and the 

 Waboni, and they differ widely from each other. Gedge ^ has described 

 the habits of the Waboni from information collected by the members 

 of the Tana Expedition, and these resemble those of the Doko. 

 Nevertheless it is still impossible to say whether the Watwa, Wasania, 

 and Waboni are one tribe or more, and whether they are Negrillo or 

 Bantu. 



There was, therefore, no reliable evidence of the occurrence of 

 pygmies in British East Africa, and in my hasty march I did not 

 expect to see any. 



On reaching the summit of the last pass over the chain of Subugu, 

 to the south-east of Baringo, we saw in the distance the smoke of great 

 prairie fires, which my men said were lighted by the Wanderobbo. I 

 had tried to get information about these people in Mombasa, but could 

 learn nothing satisfactory about them. Bird Thompson told me they 

 were a tribe of " bastard Masai," but could not say which other race 

 shared with the Masai the parentage of these people. The Rev. 

 W.'E. Taylor, the keenest ethnographer on the coast, told me that 

 they were a Bantu race who now spoke Masai. Paulitschke,^ on 

 the other hand, says that they are a race with the physique of the 

 Hamite, but speaking a true negro language. Mr. Taylor's view seemed 

 such a natural one that I did not trouble much about the people, 

 especially as my men said that the Wanderobbo are a wild race, who 



^ Phil. Paulitschke, Ethnographie Nord-ost Afrikas (1893), pp. 34-35. 



^ C. Tutschek, A Grammar of the Galla Language (1845), p. 6 ; but his statements 

 do not bear out the claim rested upon them by later authors. 



•* Zeit.fi/rEthnol. Bd. x. (1878), pp. 141-144. 



•* E. Gedge, "A Recent Exploration up the River Tana," Proc. Hoy. Geog. Soc. new 

 sen vol. xiv. (1892), p. 518. 



5 Of. cit. p. 33. 



