196 A VISIT TO THE MONBUTTU. 



the central open space of this village there are some fine 

 buildings, several of them with open sides, and serving as 

 meeting-places, others with walls made of pieces of bark, and 

 in use as private houses. Bound about the space were 

 grouped the servants' huts. The prince's zeriba, enclosed by 

 a strong fence of palisades, lay somewhat to the side, and 

 consisted of comparatively few huts, occupied by his favourite 

 wives. As in other Monbuttu villages, there were spaces set 

 apart expressly for cooking operations ; these are not found 

 among other Negro tribes. Near the principal door leading 

 from the prince's zeriba to the square there is a small secret 

 door, intended to be used, in case of need, for flight into the 

 neighbouring " gallery " wood. The Monbuttu princes are no 

 heroes ; they take to heart above all the command to " be fruit- 

 ful," &c. 



Tingazi, the present capital of the country from an adminis- 

 trative point of view, lies in the worst possible position between 

 the " gallery " woods of three streams, on ground swarming with 

 termites. The damp during my short stay was so great that the 

 wet and dry bulb thermometers at 7 A.M. usually showed only 

 a difference of 0.9° to i.8o° C, and at 2 P.M. the variation was 

 hardly 5° to 7° 0. ; this great humidity probably continues for 

 a considerable part of the year. It is easy to understand that 

 under such circumstances even my double tin-cases hardly 

 sufficed to protect my collections. 



In Tingazi the population is chiefly composed of Bambad, 

 who previously (in Schweinfurth's time) resided much farther 

 north of the Welle, but who were gradually driven more and 

 more to the south on account of the constant A-Zande migra- 

 tion towards the east, which migration continues to the present 

 day. Among the Bamba I noticed many Nyapu, another of 

 those aboriginal races which help to form the conglomerate 

 population of Monbuttu. Without extensive philological re- 

 search, it is difficult to distinguish the original inhabitants of 

 the country from the immigrants — the Monbuttu — and, on the 

 other hand, to determine the various constituents of the former 

 and the real origin of the latter. If one makes inquiry in the 

 country about the component parts of the Monbuttu people, 

 one is given a long row of names, such as Meaje, Mabisanga, 



