540 
TIIE KILIMA-NJAEO EXPEDITION. 
languages of an archaic form, and more resembling 
the typical Bantu mother-speech than any other we 
have yet met with. The exception is a small enclosure 
of Nilotic negroes settled in the country of Kavirondo 
on the eastern shore of the lake, who have never yet 
come into contact with Europeans. We know some¬ 
thing of their language from the Swahili traders, and 
we find it to belong to the same group as the Siluk of 
the White Nile. 
Besides the races above enumerated, dwarf tribes 
are reported in the unknown country lying between 
the Victoria Nyanza and Kilima-njaro, and there are 
also curious helot tribes dwelling among the Masai as 
hunters or smiths or slaves, who speak languages of 
their own, and remain at present unclassified in their 
affinities. 
Of all the people I have mentioned in this hasty 
recapitulation, the Bantu offers the greatest hope for 
civilization. He is so industrious, so imitative, so 
inquiring, that he is instinctively attracted towards 
the white man. He is a born trader, and will travel 
miles to sell a fowl, while his appreciation of Man¬ 
chester stuffs and Birmingham beads should ensure 
him the favour of British merchants. 
The animal and vegetable products of this vast 
region are typically African. I might reiterate that 
it is a sportsman’s paradise. Such quantities of big 
game were surely never met with elsewhere. If you 
want confirmation of my statements on this point, 
read Mr. Thomson’s book, “ Masai-land.” In some 
districts you may stand on a hillock and see the plains 
at your feet covered with compact herds of antelopes, 
moving in squadrons, with straggling companies of 
giraffes, with scattered flocks of ostriches. Buffaloes 
