488 
THE KILIMA-NJARO EXPEDITION. 
was not originally practised by tlieir common ancestors, 
though at the same time it may have been partially in 
use. Initiatory ceremonies for youths on attaining 
manhood were certainly in vogue. Just as the life of 
the early Aryans may be conjectured from the exa¬ 
mination of word-roots common to most of the forms 
of speech which are descended from an Aryan mother- 
tongue, or in the same way by a careful study of the 
modern Bantu languages, we are able not only to 
reconstruct the primitive Bantu speech, but we can 
also glean much information as to the relative culture 
and mode of life existing in the original tribe of 
negroes from which most of the Bantu races of Africa 
are descended. 
It is just possible that some of my readers may 
wish to know the meaning and origin of this term 
“ Bantu ” which has been so frequently used in this 
book, and which is generally accepted as the designa¬ 
tion of an important family of African languages and 
a large section of the negro race. <£ Bantu ” (properly 
Ba-ntu ) means “men, people, folk.’’ It is the plural 
of Mu-ntu “ a man,” “ a human being,” and is a term 
which under different variations is present in nearly 
every one of the languages belonging to this family. 
It may become Wantu , Wandu , Watu, Vantu , o Vantu , 
Vatu , AtUj Batu, Warm, Vanu , Ann, o Manu , but it is 
always traceable back to the archaic form— Bantu. 
This with the added article in some languages becomes 
a Bantu. Such it is in Zulu, in Kaffir, and such it is 
in Ki-nyoro and Lu-ganda, on the Victoria Kile and 
the Victoria Kyanza. On account of the universality 
of this form, and of its being so characteristic of the 
structure of these languages, it was proposed by Bleek 
as a fit designation for the great South African family 
