454 LETTERS TO DR. SCHWEINFURTH. 



is the need of it felt, and so the matter is left to private 

 enterprise. I would set to work at the task myself were I 

 more than a dilettante in geography. 



But do not therefore suppose that I am idle. On the con- 

 trary I have, alas ! scarcely time enough for my most pressing 

 private work, and hence it happens that my preparatory work 

 for an ethnographical map of our territory has by no means 

 come to an end at present, though I have been engaged on it 

 for a long time. I am looking forward very eagerly to a com- 

 parison of the Monbuttu vocabulary with other north-western 

 languages. The oldest people of the country, and those 

 best acquainted with their history, as far as this word is 

 appropriate here, told me that their forefathers came from the 

 north-west, and, after passing a large lake (without any outlet !), 

 reached the Kibali, which they gradually crossed to occupy 

 their present country. Without venturing on further conjec- 

 tures, I may suggest that an attempt to search out points of 

 resemblance in languages farther to the north might perhaps 

 be successful. For instance, it would be very interesting to 

 compare the proper language of Darfur. A very complete 

 vocabulary of it was compiled at the time of Purdy and Prout's 

 expeditions, as I have heard from some of the men who accom- 

 panied them, but what has become of it I cannot say. 



This is a high day for me. I have received letters from 

 Lupton Bey and Dr. Junker, the one written from Dombo on 

 June 2d, the other from "my zeriha near Zemio, seven days' 

 march south-west of (Schweinfurth's) Dem Guju." " I can 

 look back to my last journey in the west with satisfaction, and 

 the more so that I have returned in comparatively good health 

 after my many exertions. The regions I have traversed are 

 more extensive than I supposed. They are nominally under 

 Egyptian rule, and yield constant supplies of ivory. I have 

 made a circular tour of four and a half months' duration, 

 travelling from here south-westwards to the Welle in fifteen 

 days, which I reached at a point about four to five days' march 

 west of its confluence with the Bomokandi. The latter river, 

 with which you must be acquainted (it is the Nomayo), runs 

 up from the south-east, and Bakangai's and Raima's territories 

 skirt its southern banks. A-Babua dwell near, on the southern 



