ANTHROPOLOGY. 
403 
In the country to the west and north-west of Usam- 
bara, below the mountains, are the remnants of a 
curious tribe of cattle-keepers, the Wa-mbugu, as their 
Usambara neighbours call them. They are sometimes 
known as the Ala. In appearance they are pleasing, 
with thin lips, well-shaped noses, rather narrow eyes, 
and not unlike the Masai. Their colour is a deep brown- 
black, and their hair does not apparently differ from 
the frizzly chevelure of the Bantu negro. The language 
they speak (which has recently been brought to light by 
Archdeacon Farler of Magila 4 ), is a thorough enigma. 
While possessing Bantu prefixes, and using them as 
they are used in Bantu languages, its word-roots, with 
one or two exceptions, are utterly unlike anything we 
have yet met with. The exceptions are a few terms 
taken from Masai, Ki-kamba, and Ki-sambara. 
On the coast, especially between Lamu and Pangani, 
ancient Arab settlements were planted a thousand 
years ago, and though their pristine glory has long 
since departed, some of the descendants of these early 
colonists still remain, and together with the more re¬ 
cently arrived ’Omani and Hadramauti Arabs represent 
the Semitic family in this congeries of nations. The 
intermixture of Arab and Bantu has formed the 
curious mongrel race known as the Wa-swahili, or 
“people of the coast ” (from the Arabic Sahel, coast), 
and these enterprising traders have, especially in late 
years, played a most important role, for good and for 
bad, in the opening-up of Eastern and Western Africa. 
I will now proceed to describe more in detail such 
of those tribes and races with whom I came into per¬ 
sonal contact during my expedition to Kilima-njaro. 
4 Vide Appendix to “A Pocket Vocabulary of East African 
Languages.” Ey the Rev. A. Downes Shaw. S.P.C.Iv. 
d d 2 
