336 NA TIVES OF EASTERN BRITISH EAST AFRICA part hi 



from the north. Unlike the Soudanese group, the Bantu is charac- 

 terised by the intimate relations of all its languages, while the physical 

 features of the people are diverse. The Bantu group is therefore based 

 on linguistic, and not on physical grounds ; whereas the Soudanese 

 group is physically simple and philologically complex. The Bantu is 

 the most important race group in British East Africa, including such 

 tribes as the Wa-kamba, Wa-taita, VVa-nyika, Wa-pokomo, and Suahili. 

 To it also belong the Kaffirs of the Cape, the Zulu, Matabili, Mashona, 

 and various tribes around Nyasa, and most of the natives of the Congo 

 basin. 



The two remaining groups are purely artificial. They contain races 

 which are mongrel between either the Soudanese or Bantu, and various 

 non- Negro elements. The first group, or the Negroid, results from 

 intermixtures of Negro and Hamitic races. Its most important repre- 

 sentatives are combinations of Hamites and Soudanese, such as the 

 Nuba of the Nile Valley, and the Fulah of the western and the Haussa 

 of the central Soudan. Corresponding mongrels of Hamites and 

 Bantu are common in British East Africa, and include the Waganda 

 and Masai. 



The Suahili of the eastern coast ought perhaps also to be included 

 among the Negroids ; altogether the foreign element is Semitic instead 

 of Hamitic. But as the amount of Semitic blood in the tribe is small, 

 it is most convenient to leave it with the Bantu. 



The fourth or Negrilloid group includes the tribes which are inter- 

 mixtures of Negro and Negrillo. They are far less important than the 

 Negroid, owing to the comparative rarity of the Negrillo element in the 

 continent. The Hottentots of the Cape are the best known repre- 

 sentatives, but the Wambuba and some other less known tribes, and 

 some of the " Wanderobbo," have a similar origin. 



{a) The Bantu of British East Africa 

 I. The Suahili 



The Bantu people constitute the basis of the population of British 

 East Africa, and, with the exception of a sprinkling of Negrillo or 

 dwarf races, were probably at no very distant period the only inhabitants 

 of that region. The number of tribes in the country is still considerable, 

 though their power has been broken and their range reduced by the 

 invasion of the Negroid Masai, and of the Hamitic Galla and Somali. 



The first of the Bantu people with whom the traveller comes in 

 contact are the Suahili, a hybrid race, resulting from the intermixture 

 of Arab colonists with the Bantu natives of the eastern coast of Africa. 

 For centuries, probably for tens of centuries, a steady stream of 

 immigration has flowed from Arabia to East Africa. The Arabs 

 intermarried with most of the tribes on the coast, and with many of 

 the people from the interior who were carried there as slaves. The 



