74 A NATURALIST IN MID-AFRICA. 



along the sides of one of the few streams at the 

 bottom of a valley, where there are often great 

 plantations of banana, and a sufficiently strong 

 population to keep off visitors. 



The inhabitants of Karagwe and Ankole are 

 very much the same. In both cases the present 

 population is a mingling of an original Bantu 

 race with Wahuma or Wahima people coming from 

 Abyssinia. Of the two, the Wakaragwe (" Wa ' 

 means everywhere "people of") are much the 

 best, and as is also the case everywhere, it is the 

 Bantu section, usually the poorest and most hard- 

 worked labourers, who are good-natured and ready 

 to assist. 



A mere passing traveller like myself could not 

 hope to unravel the mysteries of native races. 

 There are some who obtain, by means of Suahili 

 interpreters, curious and varied information as to 

 native customs. One German scientist, in the 

 course of a journey across Karagwe and Urundi 

 which occupied less than two months, seems to 

 have detected a " nordsudlicher Wandertendenz ' 

 in one-half of the country, a " sudnordlicher 

 Wandertendenz' in the other, besides "closed 

 colonies' of Zulus and others of unknown origin, 

 and also " Watussi " and " Wassui." 



He does not mention the Wahima or Wahuma. 

 These to ray mind are the dominant race, under 

 whom live the remnants of the aboriginal (and 

 quite distinct) Bantus. These latter are crossed 



