322 BITI TO BUFI. 



found, that it is impossible to doubt that they spring from the 

 same root. It is, however, surprising to find the indisputable 

 relationship between the language spoken here and the Madi 

 language spoken to the south of the Bahr-el-Jebel, and it is 

 impossible to avoid coming to the conclusion that all these 

 small peoples and tribes originally dwelt far to the west, and 

 were then driven towards the east by a migration of tribes 

 from the west, to be at last driven asunder and scattered, as 

 by a wedge, to the localities in which we find them to-day. 

 That all these movements have caused changes in the language 

 is only what might have been expected. 



Although Dr. Schweinfurth accuses the Monbuttu women of 

 being rather lascivious, it nevertheless appears that their attach- 

 ment to their husbands and their sense of family ties are not 

 thereby decreased. I have mentioned that Gambari, the chief 

 of the Monbuttu district of Kubbi, had been detained in Dem 

 Suleiman, in the Bahr-el-Ghazal, on the charge of having made 

 and sold eunuchs. Now, it is perfectly true that eunuchs were 

 made and sold in Monbuttu, but it is just as certain that the 

 offenders were two Danagla — Beshir Salah and Saleh Hakim — 

 and when they were accused of it, they tried, according to 

 the usual custom here, to put the blame on " Abd " (slave) 

 Gambari. During his absence from his district, the greatest 

 disorder prevailed ; the opportunity was taken to rob and 

 plunder in all directions, and to send whole convoys of slaves 

 to the so-called mudirie, Gurguru, i.e., the old district of Rol. 

 Children were stolen from their parents, to be sold at last for a 

 bottle of brandy or a pair of old trousers. All this is best 

 proved by the number of Monbuttu (two hundred and fifty) 

 whom I have already released and sent back to their homes. 



At midday, the proper time for paying a visit, I was sur- 

 prised by the arrival of a lady. Ungauna, Gambari's chief 

 wife, had come all the way from Monbuttu, intending to go to 

 Lado, to request me to liberate her husband. She had, however, 

 heard upon the way that he was at liberty, and with me ; she 

 had therefore hurried here, through Makraka, to see him, and 

 she now came to thank me. She was of middle height, rather 

 stout, but although she was very dark, a yellow under-tone 

 shone through her skin, and, like all the Monbuttu, she had 



