Liberia <*- 



combinations with the indigenous tribes, they formed the Susu, 

 Kondo, Mendey Gbandi, and Vat peoples. 



The Vai must have reached the Atlantic seaboard several 

 hundred years ago, perhaps even before the arrival of the 

 Portuguese. Another branch of this same people penetrated 

 to the coast of the Sierra Leone peninsula, where they were 

 once to be found under the name of Landogho. The Susu 

 also pushed their way through the Temne and Bulom peoples 

 to the vicinity of the Atlantic seaboard at the River Pongo, 

 or Pongas. Other Mandingo tribes colonised the banks of 

 the River Gambia. Northwards, they appeared on the Upper 

 Senegal as the Serekhttle ' and Bambnra (Bammana) on the 

 Upper Niger. 



The true Mandi or Mandingo race at the present day is 

 most strongly represented along the Upper Niger, from its 

 source as far east as Sego. There is a slight but obvious 

 connection in word-roots and grammar between the Mandingo 

 group and the Kpwesi-Buzi languages of Central Liberia, and 

 a still slighter relationship with Gora and with the Kru 

 tongues ; while there are hints of an underlying relationship 

 of a most remote kind with the fundamental mother-tongues 

 of the Fula and Wolof. 



The phonology of the Mandingo languages is harmonious 

 and relatively easy for European pronunciation. It resembles 

 that of the Bantu group in its love of vowels and desire to 

 place as far as possible a vowel between each consonant, 

 excepting of course the use of semi-vowels like the nasal n, 

 /», and r. As in Bantu, no word can end with a consonant. 



' Various authorities have doubted the linguistic connectiou between the 

 Serekhule or Gajaga (called by the Moors, Asvvanek) and the Mandingos ; but 

 although their dialect is much farther from pure Mandingo than is (for example) 

 Vai, its distinct affinity is undoubted. 



1096 



