322 ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XVI. 



men to wander about in tliem ; I always took care 

 not to walk back from their village to Niembouai 

 after night-fall ; for in the path itself there were 

 several traps for leopards, wild boars, and antelopes. 

 From the path, traps for monkeys could be seen 

 everywhere : and I should not at all have relished 

 having my legs caught in one of these traps. 1 

 was surprised at the kindness, almost the tender- 

 ness, shown by the Ashangos to their diminutive 

 neighbours. On one of my visits to the village I saw 

 about a dozen Niembouai women, who had come witb 

 plantains to exchange for game, which they expected 

 to be brought in by the men. As the little hunters 

 had not returned from the forest, they were disap- 

 pointed in this errand ; but seeing that the Obongo 

 women were suffering from hunger, they left nearly 

 all the plantains with them as a gift, or, perhaps, on 

 trust, for outside the hut they were cooking roots of 

 some tree, which did not seem to me very nourishing. 

 The Obongos, as I have said before, never remain 

 long in one place. They are eminently a migratory 

 people, moving from place to place whenever game 

 becomes scarce. But they do not wander very far ; 

 that is, the Obongos who live within the Ashango 

 territory do not go out of that territory — they are 

 called the Obongos of the Ashangos — those who live 

 among the Njavi are called Obongo-Njavi — and the 

 same with other tribes. Obongos are said to exist 

 very far to the east, as far, in fact, as the Ashangos 

 have any knowledge. They are similar to the gypsies 

 of Europe — distinct from the people amongst whom 

 they live, yet living for generations within the con- 



