Up the Congo River . 
89 
and its neighbours Musulungus: Barbot writes 
as a Frenchman Moutsie, the Portuguese Muxi 
(Mushi). Mushi-Longo would perhaps mean 
Loango-people; but my ear could not detect any 
approach to “ Loango” in “ Musulungu.” The first 
syllable, Mu, in Fiote or Congoese, would be a 
contraction of Muntu (plural Wantu). They in¬ 
habit the islands, own a part of the north bank, and 
extend southwards to Ambriz : eastward they are 
bounded by the Fiote or Congo-speaking peoples, 
to whom their tongue is intelligible. They have 
no tattoo, but they pierce the nose septum and 
extract the two central and upper incisors ; the 
Muxi-Congoes or Lower Congoese chip or file out 
a chevron in the near sides of the same teeth— 
an ornament possibly suggested by the weight of 
the native pipe. The chipping and extracting 
seem to be very arbitrary and liable to change : 
sometimes the upper, at other times the lower 
teeth are operated upon. The fashionable muti¬ 
lation is frequently seen in Eastern Africa, and 
perhaps it is nothing but a fashion. They are 
the “ kallistoi ” and “ megistoi ” of the Congoese 
bodies, taller and darker, fiercer and braver than 
their neighbours, nor will they cease to be river 
pirates till the illicit trade dies. 
After taking leave of Sr. Silva we resumed our 
way, the thermometer (F.) showing at 1.45 p.m. 
95 0 in the air when the sun was obscured, and the 
