222 Proceedings of the Iloyal Physical Society. 



regarding the early stages of the development of the Pleuro- 

 nectidss. 



II. Notice of the Cranium of a Manganya Negro, brought by Dr Kirk 

 from East Tropical Africa. By William Turner, M.B., F.R.S.E. 



The cranium of the Manganya negro, to which I am about 

 to direct the attention of the Society this evening, was given 

 to me a short time ago by Dr John Kirk, the enterprising 

 and experienced African traveller, the friend and companion 

 of Livingstone in his last expedition. To this able and 

 accomplished naturalist science is indebted for many valu- 

 able observations and discoveries of new facts illustrating 

 the natural history of East Tropical Africa. Amongst the 

 objects which he has brought to this country are several 

 crania of the Manganya tribe of negroes, a people in whose 

 country Kirk and Livingstone travelled for a considerable 

 period. When they first visited them, they found a large 

 and important tribe living on the banks of the river Shire, 

 in lat. 16° S., and long. 35° W. Dr Kirk tells me that they 

 may be taken as a good type of the natives of the North 

 Zambesi region, and of the lake Nyassa, or southern lake. 

 The Manganya, as they call themselves, or the Wanyassa, 

 as they are named by the slave-dealers of Ibo and Zanzibar, 

 must not be confounded with the Zulus of the South, or the 

 Makoa of Mozambique, but are almost identical with the 

 Maravi mentioned in Gamitto. The hair is crisp and woolly, 

 but abundant ; the colour of the skin is sepia ; the stature 

 is commonly under that of the English. 



In an interesting address delivered before the Members 

 of the British Association at the meeting in Bath in 1864, 

 Dr Livingstone described the country of the Manganya, and 

 gave many interesting facts connected with their habits. 

 They were a people who cultivated the soil, were very eager 

 traders, and were so far advanced in the useful arts, that 

 near many of the villages furnaces were erected for smelting 

 iron from the ore, and excellent hoes were made cheap. 

 The country was thriving and prosperous when Kirk and 

 Livingstone first entered it, but soon afterwards the slave- 



