LIBERIA. 255 



as may prove to be suited to an African country, a coast belt inhabited 

 by negroes professing Christianity and wearing clothes of P^iiropean 

 cut, and a liinterland of Moliannnedans dressed in the picturesque and 

 wholly suitable costume worn at the present day by the Mandingos 

 and b}^ most Mohaimnedan negroes between Senegal and the "Wliite 

 Nile. 



The native races of Liberia, the languages they speak, and the 

 religions they profess may, to a certain extent, be grouped under two 

 classes — the Mandingo on the one hand and the Kru negro on the 

 other. I am aware, of course, that the Mandingo type is a very vari- 

 able one physically, according to the less or greater degree of Cau- 

 casian blood which i)ermeates its negro stock, and also that the Kru 

 man proper is confined in liis distribution to a small portion of the 

 southern coast of Liberia. But each of these types is sufficiently 

 I'epresentative to serve as a general illustration of the two classes of 

 Liberian peoples. Associated with the Mandingos, to a great extent 

 in language, in Mohannnedan religion, and in the adoption of the 

 Arab dress, are the Vni and the Gora of western Liberia, and to some 

 extent the Buzi or Kimbuza. All the remaining tribes are more or 

 less related to the Kru stock in language, ai)pearance, physique, cus- 

 toms, and the profession of a pagan and fetishistic religion, similar 

 in general features to the fetish religions of all western and west 

 central Africa, with some points of resemblance to the Bantu beliefs 

 in the southern half of Africa. The Gora language of western 

 Liberia is rather a puzzle in classification, and it nuist be admitted 

 that it only offers the slightest affinity to the Mandingo group and 

 an equally slender connection with the Kru family. In a still more 

 generalized way it may be said that there are distant resemblances 

 between the languages of the Kru and Mandingo stocks; nor can 

 these slight reseml)lances be altogether explained by the mere imposi- 

 tion of linguistic influences. The Mandingos, who are destined to 

 play a most important part in the development of Liberia and of 

 much of \Vest Africa, are nothing but a varying degree of cross 

 between the Fula race of the West African park lands and the ordi- 

 nary West African negro. This crossing and the founding of this 

 group of people — the correct pronunciation of whose name seems to 

 be Mading'a, or Mancling'a — may have been a relatively ancient one. 

 The Mandingos, in fact, are the Swahilis of West Africa and offer a 

 striking resemblance in face to the average type of Swahili porter 

 that one meets w'ith on the Zanzibar coast. They also often resemble 

 natives of Uganda, and for the same reason — that a good deal of the 

 population of LTganda is infused with a slight Hamitic element 

 derived from the Hima aristocracy. Several Mandingos whom I 

 met at Monrovia w-ere able to speak Arabic in a halting fashion. 

 The Arab words they understood best were those pronounced in the 



