THE HUMAN SPECIES. 205 



the Mandingoes, once a nomad people, bear evident 

 tokens of a more northern origin, only in part effaced 

 by intermixture with true Negroes. Beyond the Menas 

 or Kroomen, on the Gambia, there are, however, im- 

 portant nations of true Negroes, such as the Basus and 

 Buyere on each side of them ; and in the interior of 

 Africa the mysterious Ba-u-ri. 



Of the African stock the most conspicuous abnormal 

 stem is the Kafir or Caffre, a race which, having a 

 Semitic innervation, has risen in stature, intelligence, 

 and beauty, above all the tribes of nearly pure Negro 

 blood. They have formed states of some extent ; they 

 build large towns; possess the art of smelting and 

 working metals; are very considerable graziers; and 

 have some agriculture. The Caffres have trained their 

 war or Bakeley oxen to be ridden in battle;* have 

 large, and, in some measure, organised armies, distin- 

 guished by decorated spears for ensigns, and shields 

 painted with different cognisances for each corps. 

 Among the men there are individuals nearly seven 

 feet in height ; and the women frequently possess con- 

 siderable beauty. Extending on the south-east coast 

 to Port Natal, they have all, it is asserted, formerly 



* No doubt, oxen were ridden in India before war horses 

 were introduced by the north-western conquerors. There 

 exist allusions to the practice ; and I have copied an Indian 

 Rajah, seated on his war ox, from a painting on ivory. Siva 

 on the bull Nundi represents the same fact ; and the African 

 Caffres having the like custom, may indicate the region 

 whence they emigrated, and the date, as anterior to the 

 arrival of domesticated horses in southern Asia. 



