338 AFRICA SPEAKS 



height they are shorter than the Bushmen of the Kala- 

 hari Desert, but in many other respects they are similar. 



There seems to be a tliread that weaves in and about 

 through Africa, over the deserts, through the veldt, 

 and into the forests, a thread of Bushman strain. At 

 least I have found the Bushman type, the Bushman 

 characteristics, in many parts of Africa through which 

 I have traveled. Can it be that these forest dwellers 

 are an offshoot of Bushman stock? They have a sim- 

 ilar facial contour, the same kind of hsir, and many 

 habits and customs in conmaon. It is possible that 

 they were members of a Bushman clan who became 

 separated from the main body of the tribes, who 

 through the influence of wars and the invasion of their 

 country by a more powerful people, were driven toward 

 the great forest of the Congo, and in its mysterious 

 recesses found safety. 



However this may be, it is a fact that they are here 

 in fair numbers, their district chief teUing me by means 

 of sticks laid on the ground that in all the forest hved 

 £ibout ten thousand of the Ifi tribesmen. They live in 

 small clans of from twenty-five to fifty souls, over which 

 a subchief rules. These subchiefs are under an over- 

 chief in the district, but whether or not they w^ere all 

 ruled by one paramount chief I was unable to find out. 



They are a happy people and continue to multiply, 

 for food is plentiful, whereas the Bushman seldom 

 laughs, seeming to know that his clansmen are doomed 

 to an early extinction, for in his country food is scarce. 

 He has been driven into a district in which neither he 

 nor anyone else could long survive. _ 



There is a legend here among the Bantu people that, 

 long before they entered the basin of the Congo, there 



