THE MAKEAKA AND THEIR DIVISIONS. 375 



the station, a great number of fresh-water crabs (Telphusa), 

 very comical, nimble creatures, who when approached at first 

 show fight, but then run away. They are called by the Mak- 

 raka ugenne, and are eaten by them, as indeed is everything 

 that can be eaten. I also found a beautiful small snake ; I 

 had seen it before near Lado, Fatiko, Latiika, and Fauvera, 

 but have never found more than one at a time. It was the 

 Typhlops Schlegelii, formerly only found in Mozambique ; it 

 appears, however, that this graceful animal is extensively dis- 

 tributed throughout Central Africa. Several specimens of the 

 Georychus were brought to me ; they are very common in the 

 Dinka district, but the variety found here appears to be rather 

 larger and of a darker grey colour. The most common bird 

 seemed to be the Spermestes cucullahcs, which builds its nests in 

 the high straw roofs, and in this country appears to take the 

 place of the Lagonosticta. A large Hyphantornis was also 

 found ; it is certainly a new variety, but is probably related to 

 the Hyphantornis Guerini. A long stay here would probably 

 enable me to make many new discoveries. The whole of the 

 immediate neighbourhood of the station has been devastated 

 by elephants. 



In the foregoing pages I have often made use of the name 

 Makraka in order to designate the peculiar people who have 

 pushed themselves in between the northerly tribes. I must, 

 therefore, mention here that this name, which is accepted on 

 all sides, is not their original patronymic, but a nickname which 

 has been given to these cannibals by the original occupiers of 

 the country. About four generations ago, four Zande tribes, 

 the Iddio, Bongbe (Bombe), Apagumba, and Abangminda, tired 

 of the constant oppression of their own chiefs, left their homes, 

 which lay far to the west-south-west, and made their way 

 towards the north ; the rumour of their cannibal propensities, 

 which spread far and wide, rendered their advance easy. I 

 have already mentioned that on their trying to enter Fajehi in 

 the east they were driven back. They then settled in their 

 present quarters, and thence rapidly extended. The Apagumba 

 and the Abangminda, who have an idiom of their own as well 

 as the common Zande language, being numerically small tribes, 

 blended with the Bongbe and Wando's Zande. The Bongbe 



