Corisco. 
259 
sorts of fowl.” In 1856 the Rev. Mr. Wilson 
reckons them at less than 2,000, and in 1862 I 
was told that there were about 1,100, of whom 
600 were Bengas. In look, dress, and ornaments 
they resemble the Mpongwe, but some of them 
have adopted the Kru stripe, holding a blue nose 
to be a sign of freedom. They consider themselves 
superior to the “ Pongos,” and they have ex¬ 
changed their former fighting reputation for that 
of peaceful traders to the mainland and to the 
rivers Muni and Mundah. They live well, eating 
flesh or fish once a day, not on Sundays only, the 
ambition of Henri Quatre: at times they trap 
fine green turtle in seines, but they do not turn 
these “ delicate monsters.” 
Mr. Wilson numbered the whole Benga tribe at 
8,000, but Mr. Mackey reduced the figure to half. 
Besides Corisco they inhabit the two capes at the 
north and south of the bay. The language is 
used by other tribes holding the coast northward 
for a hundred miles or more, and probably by 
the inner people extending in a northerly direc¬ 
tion from Corisco Bay : the same, with certain 
modifications, is also spoken at Sao Bento, 
Batanga, and perhaps as far north as the Cama- 
rones River. On the other hand, the tribes occu¬ 
pying the eastern margin of Corisco Bay, such as 
the Mbiko, Dibwe, and Belengi, cannot under¬ 
stand one another, and the tongues of the 
