202 NOTES ON THE MONBUTTU. 



drainage down the sloping ground causes periodical droughts, 

 and the ground near the river is much more sandy and poorer 

 than that lying farther away. The inhabitants become more 

 sparse the farther one proceeds towards the north, so that one 

 is prepared for the broad uninhabited grass steppe of the 

 A-Zande country on the other side of the river. On the 

 I 8th of July we arrived opposite the confluence of the Dongu, 

 precisely a month from the time we first crossed it, and we 

 said good-bye to Monbuttu, sincerely hoping for a speedy 

 return. 



2. Notes on the Monbuttu. 



ORIGIN — ABORIGINES — BAMBA — MOMVIJ ' AGRICULTURISTS — POLITICAL OR- 

 GANISATION — FOOD — CANNIBALISM GENERAL — SMOKING — COLA NUTS 

 — BEER AND WINE — MATRIMONIAL— BIRTH AND BURIAL — THE FAIR 

 SEX — CLOTHING — DANCING AND MUSIC — CIRCUMCISION. 



The Monbuttu occupy an entirely unique position among our 

 Negro races in regard to bodily constitution and mental 

 characteristics. They say that their ancestors came from the 

 north-west, passed on their march a great lake or sheet of 

 water having no outlet, remained there for a time, and at last 

 reached the Kibali, on the north bank of which they took up 

 their residence for a long period. After a time, small bodies 

 went over the river, and having increased in numbers, 

 they proceeded to conquer the country, and compelled the 

 A-Zande, who were pressing in from the west, to deviate from 

 their line of advance. Friendly relations between these two 

 people seem never to have been established, the Monbuttu 

 always considering themselves superior to the A-Zande, and 

 never willingly giving them their daughters in marriage. The 

 original inhabitants of the country bordering the Kibali are 

 said to have consisted of different tribes, without any proper 

 rulers, such as the Momvii, the Abarambo, &c, who, although 

 partially assimilated, still hold an inferior social position. Even 

 at that period the Akka led the same roving, hunting life which 

 they still follow. 



