BANTU NEGROES 



755 



Kinyamwezi. They offer a greater resemblance, though not a very marked 

 one, to the speech of the Kikuyu people who dwell to the east of the 

 Kift Valley. Eut the Kikuyu dialect is far less archaic. In physique the 

 Bantu Kavirondo offer considerable resemblance to the Karamojo people 

 who live far to the north of Mount Elgon. Though the Karamojo speak 

 at the present day a language which belongs to the Masai group, 

 Dr. Shrubsall considers that as far as their bodily characteristics are 

 concerned they are practically Bantu Negroes. The Kavirondo people 



403. A P.JS DE DEUX IN A KAVIROXDO DANCE 



represent the easternmost wing of the original Bantu invaders of the 

 countries between the Albert and Victoria Nyanzas and Mount Elgon. 

 It is an open question at the present time whether they preceded the 

 Nilotic Negroes (Acholi, Lango, etc.), or whether, after the coasts of the 

 Victoria Nyanza had been occupied by Bantu-speaking people, of which the 

 Kavirondo were the northern section, there followed a rush southwards of 

 the Nilotic tribes, an impetus which planted the Ja-luo to the south of 

 Kavirondo, and caused the Elgumi (who speak a language like Silk and 

 Masai) to establish themselves between the Masaba of Mount Elgon and 

 the Kavirondo of the Nzoia Valley. 



