THE FOREST DWELLING TRIBES. 165 



effected, unless a few small trading posts upon the 

 coasts deserve the name. The rest is the abode of 

 wandering tribes of savages of the lowest type, but at the 

 same time probably the most ancient of any now ex- 

 isting races of the human family. So little was known 

 of this region that it was only the expeditions led by 

 Mr. Stanley which have lately announced to the world 

 that the vast forests of the Upper Congo existed at 

 all; and what their area may be is still unknown. 



If we take the case of the equatorial regions in 

 South America, substantially the same description holds 

 good with regard to them. A few travellers have 

 here and there penetrated the wilderness by the aid 

 of the numerous great rivers that there find their way 

 through the forest to the sea but only to tell us that 

 by far the greater part of it is a great forest country 

 with occasional open and elevated plains, mostly 

 inhabited by races of hopeless savages, less ancient, 

 perhaps, than their African brothers, but still very old. 

 A few scattered bands of white settlers have, however, 

 located themselves upon the banks of the principal 

 rivers, and there, by the aid of negro slaves, contrive 

 to maintain a precarious existence, principally by trading 

 in the raw products of the forest and that is all. 



Proceeding then towards the far east, we find in 

 the Malay Archipelago, and other portions of territory 

 included within the equatorial zone in that region, the 

 same story practically repeated forests, nothing but 

 forests, almost everywhere, inhabited by copper-coloured 

 races of whom comparatively little is known. These 

 great islands are, it is true, marked upon the map as 

 "British," "Dutch," or "German," etc., but their rule, 

 except at a few points, is merely nominal, only a com- 



