78 



NATURE 



[May 26, 1892 



stem of the tree at that place seems to be hollow, and the bark 

 is cracked, but no hole has been bored, and no insects are 

 seen there. I have had it examined with a long ladder. The 

 bird has now disappeared. I think his nest has been in the 

 stem of an ash-tree in a field not far off. There is a hole in 

 it about the size of a tea-cup, but out of reach. I have not 

 seen his mate, or heard any answering cry. 



Albert C. Mott. 

 Detmore, near Cheltenham, May 21. 



The God of the Ethiopians. 



If we were to classify the various African tribes which speak 

 dialects of the Bantu language-branch (the Ethiopians of 

 Herodotus and Pomponius Mela, of Dos Santos and Merolla) 

 according to the names by which they designate the Deity, the 

 greater number of them would be found to fall into two great 

 groups. 



Tho<e on the eastern coast worship a god who is known under 

 some form of the word Unkulunkulu. 



ancestors of all the Eastern Bantu tribes from the River Dana 

 to the Great Fish River, whose descendants still retain the name 

 in their vocabularies, and still hold it in veneration. 



On the western coast this name seems replaced by a word 

 which may be most conveniently referred to under its most 

 common form Nzambi, 



Tribe. Name of God. 



This term means simply a very old person, and is not applied to God. 



It will be seen that the least corrupted form of the word 

 Unkulunkulu, or Ukulukulu, is found in the Zulu, Xosa, and 

 Pondo dialects of the Kaffir language. 



The word itself is formed from the Zulu or Xosa adjective 

 nkulu (root kulu) "great," "grown," hence "adult," "old." 

 Unkulunkulu therefore means primarily " the great (or old) one 

 of the great (or old) one." 



The cult paid to Unkulunkulu is a typical instance of that 

 form of monotheism which takes its origin from ancestor 

 worship. The Kaffirs call him their progenitor. Unkulunkulu 

 ukobu wetu. 



The above table appears to show that, in Molungo, Mulungulu, 

 Mlugu, or Mungu, the term thus variously modified is derived 

 directly from the full form Unkulunkulu (perhaps originally 

 Munkulunkulu), and thereafter corrupted by phonetic decay, 

 instead of being in each case derived independently, like the 

 archaic form, from the adjective signifying " great " in the 

 language to which it belongs. 



The inference, therefore, seems to be that the word Munkulun- 

 kulu was used (not necessarily in its present sense) by the common 



NO, II 78, VOL. 46] 



Kabinda tribes 

 Ka Kongo tribes ~\ 

 Angoy tribes / 

 ba Sundi 

 baTeke ... 

 ba Yansi 

 ba Buma 

 eshi Kongo 

 ba Lunda ... 

 ba Bunda ... 

 ma Ngala ... 

 baBihe 

 ba Rotse 

 ova Herero ... 



Nzambi Pongo 



Zumbi 



Ndzambi a pungo 

 Ndshambe, Nshami, &c. 

 Nzambi, Nyambi 

 Ndshambi 



Nzambi, Nzambi ampungo 

 Zambi 

 Onzambi 

 Nsambi 

 Nzambi 

 Nyampe 

 Ndyambi 



The worship of Nzambi is inextricably commingled with that 

 of fetishes and idols, and has doubtless been still further 

 corrupted by contact with the Portuguese missionaries who were 

 so active in the work of conversion in the Congo Empire in the 

 seventeenth century. But there is reason to believe that in its 



