Life at Ba,nza Nokki . 
23 1 
spade with a witness, and feminine relatives are 
ever the subject of abuse; a practice which, begin¬ 
ning in Europe with the Slav race, extends more 
or less throughout the Old World. I specify the 
Old World, because the so-called “Indians” of 
North and South America apparently ignore the 
habit except where they have learned it from 
Southern Europe. Finally, cursing takes the place 
of swearing, the latter being confined, I believe, to 
the Scandinavians, the Teutons, and their allied 
races. 
Nothing can be more unpleasant than the Portu¬ 
guese spoken by the Congoman. He transposes the 
letters lacking the proper sounds in his own tongue; 
for instance, “ sinholo ” (sinyolo) is “ senhor ; ” 
“munyele” or “ minyele” is “ mulher ; ” “O luo” 
stands in lieu of “ O rio,” (the river) ; “ rua” of “ lua” 
(luna), and so forth. For to-morrow you must use 
“ cedo ” as “ manhaa ” would not be understood, 
and the prolixity of the native language is trans¬ 
ferred to the foreign idiom. For instance, if you 
ask, “ What do you call this thing ? ” the para¬ 
phrase to be intelligible would be, “ The white man 
calls this thing so-and-so ; what does the Fiote 
call this thing ? ” sixteen words for six. I have 
elsewhere remarked how Englishmen make them¬ 
selves unintelligible by transferring to Hindostani 
and other Asiatic tongues the conciseness of their 
own idiom, in which as much is understood as is 
