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III. 

 THE MONBUTTU COUNTRY. 



I. A Visit to the Monbuttu (1883). 

 (Written at Lado, November 1883.) 



THE WELLE AND THE KIBALI — A DESCRIPTION OF THE STEPPE — ANCIENT 

 CULTIVATION— WOODED " SINKS " — RESULTS OF DENUDATION — THE 

 ARCHITECTURE OF THE MONBUTTU— THE ORIGIN OF THE MUNDU — 

 FOOD — AGRICULTURE — CANNIBALISM — THE " BUSHMEN " OF THIS DIS- 

 TRICT — AKKA ARMS — THE MONBUTTU FORESTS — YANGARA's PALACE 

 — TRIBAL MIGRATIONS — THE ELEMENTS WHICH COMPOSE THE MON- 

 BUTTU PEOPLE OF TO-DAY — MONBUTTU WOMEN — ABUNDANCE OF 

 INDIARUBBER — DISTRIBUTION OF ANIMALS — IRON ORE — OUR RAPID 

 RETURN. 



At noon on the 1 6th of June 1883, after a long and tire- 

 some march through the grassy waves of the sun-scorched 

 steppe, we stood at last on the brink of the Welle, the large 

 river which rolls its waters towards the west. It is enclosed 

 in steep clayey banks and edged with lofty trees. The breadth 

 of the stream and its freedom from all reeds and from old- 

 river-channels give a youthful aspect to this " Son of the 

 Mountains." One could not help wondering whence the 

 mysterious river came and whither it went. Dr. Junker's 

 extensive and splendid exploring work has left hardly a 

 doubt as to the connexion of the Welle with the Shari, 

 and has been a great step towards the solution of the latter 

 question."* The former, however, remains undecided, the more 

 so as the A-Madi of Logo, whose mountain territory is divided 



* This doubt appears to be now removed by the discovery of the great tributary 

 of the Congo, the Mobangi, by Mr. Grenfell, and by the latest discoveries of Dr, 

 Junker. — F. R. 



