THE DENKA. 105 



enclosures. The Niambara hunt this huge pachyderm in a totally different 

 manner from the other tribes. A man concealed amongst the foliage of a tree 

 waits till the beaters have driven the animal under the branch where he is 

 stationed, lance in hand ; then the iron head, from 26 to 30 inches long, plunges to 

 the shoulders into the elephant's back, generally producing a mortal wound. 

 Besides being skilful himters, the Niambara also carefully cultivate their orchards 

 and fields, have beehives round their huts, and as smiths rival the Bari of Belenian. 

 One of the chief villages bears the name of the tribe. It is situated 2,000 feet 

 above the sea, in a valley surroimded by high hills, joining by a lateral branch the 

 mountain range which skirts the Nile from Mugi to Dufile. The pjTamid-shaped 

 Ku-Gu peaks rise above the grassy plains of the Niambara, and mineral springs, 

 used alike by natives and the Arab dealers, burst forth in many parts of the 

 country. 



The Dexka. 



Of all the peoples living on the banks of the Bahr-el-Jebel, the Denka or 

 Dinka, also called Jeng and Jangheh, occupy the most extensive domain. Their 

 territory may be estimated at about 40,000 square miles, and their tribes or 

 separate clans are counted by the dozen. The best known are, naturally, those 

 which come in contact with the traders, such as the Tuich, the Bor, the Kij or 

 Kitch, and Eliab on the Nile, and the Waj, Rek, and Afoj to the west, on the 

 Bahr-el-Ghazal tributaries. Other Denka communities are also settled on the 

 right bank of the Bahr-el-Abiad, below the Sobat confluence. But although 

 occupying the route necessarily followed by all travellers ascending the Upper 

 Nile or penetrating to the Congo basin, the Denka have in no way altered their 

 mode of life under the influence of foreign civilisation. They have remained free 

 on their plains or marshes, buying next to nothing from the Arab merchants, the 

 milk of their herds, the fruits of their orchards, and the seeds and vegetables of 

 their fields sufficing for all their wants. On the right bank of the Nile, in the 

 coimtry of the tribe of the same name, stands Bor, a fort built by the Egyptian 

 Government to overawe the Denka. Like the Bari, the Denka have also been 

 visited by Italian and Austrian Catholic missionaries, who had settled themselves 

 at Panom or Fautentum, below Bor in the Kij country, on the left bank of the 

 Nile ; but they were forced to quit this establishment of the Holy Cross (Santa 

 Croce, Heiligen Kreutz), on account of the epidemics that ravaged the mission. 

 Nor did their proselytising labours produce any results beyond the collection of 

 vocabularies and translations that they brought back from the Denka country. 



The Mohammedan missionaries have also had little success amongst the Nilotic 

 peoples, who have remained nature-worshippers, like most of the other Central 

 African peoples. 



Like the Bari, who speak an allied language, the Denka are ashamed to wear 

 clothes, the women alone attaching hides to their girdle. They do not however 

 despise ornaments, wearing iron rings on the arms, ankles, and ears, placing 

 ostrich feathers on the crown of the head, tattooing the face to distinguish 



