and the Mpongwe . 107 
children; yet it entitles them to the gratitude 
of travellers. 
The language of the Mpongwe has been fairly 
studied. T. Edward Bowdich (“ Mission from Cape 
Coast Castle to Ashantee,” London, Murray, 1819) 
when leaving the West Coast for England, touched 
at the Gaboon in a trading vessel, and visited 
Naango (King George’s Town), on Abaaga Creek, 
which he places fifty miles up stream. He first 
gave (Appendix VI.) a list of the Mpongwe 
numerals. In 1847 the “ Missionaries of the 
A. B. C. F. M.” Gaboon Mission, Western Africa, 
printed a “ Grammar of the Mpongwe Language, 
with Vocabularies” (New York, Snowden and Pratt, 
Vesey Street), perhaps a little prematurely ; it is 
the first of the four dialects on this part of the 
coast reduced to system by the American Mis¬ 
sionaries, especially by the Rev. Mr. Leighton 
Wilson, the others being Bakele, Benga, and Fa^. 
In 1856, the same gentleman, who had taken the 
chief part in the first publication, madeanableabstract 
and a comparison with the Grebo and Mandenga 
tongues (“ Western Africa,” part iv. chap. iv.). M. 
du Chaillu further abridged this abridgement in his 
Appendix without owning his authority, and in 
changing the examples he did all possible damage. 
In the Transactions of the Ethnological Society of 
London (part ii. vol. i. new series), he also gave 
an abstract, in which he repeats himself. A “ voca- 
