BANTU NEGROES 



577 



safe. Why, So-and-So (ineutioning a Bakonjo liead-manj i.s now able to 

 keep cows ! " 



Cattle, in fact, are gradually reappearing amongst the domestic animals of 

 the Bakonjo. Sometimes they are of the zebu (humped) breed, obtained from 

 the direction of Lake Albert or of Uganda ; here and there, however, the 

 long-horned cattle of Ankole have been obtained by commercial transactions. 

 They keep goats, sheep, and fowls, and the usual kind of pariah do<rs, 

 which they use for purposes of hunting. 



The Bakonjo, as will be related in Chapter XX., speak a most interesting 

 language, one which, together with the dialects of the western slope of 

 Mount p]lgon, may claim to be the most archaic example of Bantu speech 

 existing at the present day. It is an open question which of the two 

 tongues — Lukonjo or the Masaba speech of Elgon — comes nearest to the 

 original Bantu mother-tongue, as it existed some 2,000 or 3,000 years ago 

 in the very heart of Africa. In many respects the Bakonjo appear to 

 have been the first Bantu-speaking invaders from the north, the precursors 

 of the nearly allied Baganda and Banyoro ; or, as it is always dangerous 



321. COLLOOASIA ARUMS, THE HOOT OF WHICH liS EATEN BY NATIVES OK WEST 

 AND WEST CENTRAL AFRICA 



