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Moving, according to Johnston, first eastward 

 to avoid the Congo forests which barred a south- 

 erly advance from their original home, the Bantus 

 settled for a time in the region of the great lakes, 

 whence they spread south-west and south-east, 

 first conquering and then intermingling with the 

 aboriginal dwarf people of Africa. 



The period when the invasion reached Angola 

 is uncertain. It has been placed as late as from 

 the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries. Though 

 legends among the Angolan natives describe the 

 great invasions of remote times as coming from 

 the north and east, there had been so many minor 

 and later translatory movements of tribes that 

 the history of the Bantu occupation of the country 

 is confused and obscure. 



The natives of that part of Angola which I 

 traversed spoke the Umbundu language, and could 

 be grouped by link of speech, manners, and customs 

 into a central group of tribes. Along the coast 

 from north to south are the Mussulu, Quissama, 

 Sumbe, and Selle ; more inland, the Dombc, 

 Libolle, Amboim, and Ba Nano ; while warlike 

 tribes like the Jingas, Bangalas, Bondos, Songhos, 

 and Luimbes live along the Coango and Coanza 

 Rivers, and others, such as the Bailundos, Bihes, 

 Galangoes, and Quillenges, inhabit the central 

 highlands and their eastern and southern slopes. 



To the north of this group and in the Congo 

 Province are the Congo or Ba Fiot people, speaking 

 the Kishi Congo language, and allied by speech 

 and customs to tribes beyond the river in the 

 Belgian Congo. They comprise the Mussorongo 



