BANTU NEGEOES 



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Kinyamwezi. They offer a greater resemblaiiee, though not a very marked 

 one, to the speech of the Kikuyu peopU- who dwell to the east of the 

 Kift Valley. Eut the Kikuyu dialect is far less arcliaic. In pl^vsinue the 

 Bantu Kavirondo offer considerable resendjlance to the Karamojo people 

 who luv far to the north of :\[ount Elg(jn. Though the Karamojo speak 

 at tlic present day a language whicli belongs to the .Masai group. 

 Dr. Shrubsall considers that as far as their bodily characteristics are 

 concerned they are i)ractically Bantu Negroes. Tlie Kavirondo people 



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403. A P. IS Di: nr-C-v !\ .V KAviK<;iNno hanci 



represent the easternmost wing of the original I'antu invaders of the 

 countries between the AUiert and A'ictoria >«'yanzas and ^I<junt Elgon. 

 It is an open question at the present time whether they preceded the 

 Nilotic Xegroes (Acholi. I^ango, etc.). or whether, alter the coasts of the 

 Victoria Nyanza had Ijeen occupied liy Bantu-speaking peo[)le, of winch tlie 

 Kavirondo were the northern section, there followed a rush southwards of 

 tlii^ Nilotic tribes, an impetus which })lanted the Ja-luo to the south of 

 Kavirondo. and caused the Elgumi (who sjieak a language like Sfik and 

 ^Masaij to establish thenrsolves between the ^Masaba of Blount Elgon and 

 the Ka\irondo of the Nzoia ^'allev. 



