and the Mpongwe. 83 
from the mouth to “ kill wound.” It is purely 
hygienic, and not balanced by the excisio Judaica. 
Some physiologists consider the latter a neces¬ 
sary complement of the male rite; such, how¬ 
ever, is not the case. The Hebrews, who al¬ 
most everywhere retained circumcision, have, in 
Europe at least, long abandoned excision. I re¬ 
gret that the delicacy of the age does not allow me 
to be more explicit. 
The Mpongwe practise a rite so resembling in¬ 
fant baptism that the missionaries have derived it 
from a corruption of Abyssinian Christianity which, 
like the flora of the Camarones and Fernandian 
Highlands, might have travelled across the Dark 
Continent, where it has now been superseded by 
El Islam. I purpose at some period of more 
leisure to prove an ancient intercourse and rap¬ 
prochement of all the African tribes ranging be¬ 
tween the parallels of north latitude 20° and south 
latitude 30°. It will best be established, not by the 
single great family of language, but by the simi¬ 
larity of manners, customs, and belief; of arts and 
crafts ; of utensils and industry. The baptism of 
Pongo-land is as follows. When the babe is born, 
a crier, announcing the event, promises to it in the 
people’s name participation in the rights of the 
living. It is placed upon a banana leaf, for which 
reason the plantain is never used to stop the water- 
pots ; and the chief or the nearest of kin sprinkles 
