244 The Buhis, or Edeeyah of Fernando Po. 



In tlie still woods of Fernando Po, they ai'e said to be able 

 to communicate with each other at the distance of two or 

 three miles. Having been a witness to some of these at- 

 tempts, we can quite credit the statement. 



Such are a few particulars of this singular people ; their 

 classification in the African family will be a matter of future 

 consideration, when a careful examination of the language and 

 comparison with others shall have afforded further data. It 

 only remains to state that, having seen something of the 

 African race on the eastern coast and Mosambique, and not 

 a little of many of the West African subdivisions, we regard 

 the Edeeyah people as at once the most rude and barbarous 

 in appearance, and the most civilised in their laws and social 

 system. When we say appearance, we do not allude to their 

 physical characters, which are superior to most if not all 

 Africans. What is meant, is the rude external adornment 

 of the untutored savage. That they are capable of reaching 

 a high state of improvement cannot be doubted, — their wise 

 and salutary laws go half way to meet the missionary or 

 philanthropist in his exertions ; and the amiable dispositions 

 and friendly feelings towards white men would, if expanded 

 by a proper system, soon attach them to their benefactors. 



We hope we may not be deemed to anticipate too much 

 when we express the belief that, from the at present little 

 known and centrally-situate island of Fernando Po, much of 

 the civilization of Western Africa will at some future day 

 proceed. 



Supplement.— Uimi the Edeeyah Vocahulart/ of Thomas R. 

 Heywood Thomson, M.D. By R. E. Latham, M.D. 



The vocabulary of Dr Thomson of the Edeeyah language 

 of Fernando Po, enables me to institute a comparison between 

 it and the languages of the Continent opposite. 



My comparison entirely verifies the statement of Dr Thom- 

 son of its being an independent language. 



With one of the dialects of the Continent, the Bimbia, 



