Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/138

 wax, caoutchouc, and many other local products instead of the present staples—ivory and human flesh. The climate is suitable to Europeans willing to lead sober and active lives. But the extensive swamps in the low-lying districts must always render it dangerous to immigrants, until health resorts, like those of India, have been established in the southern uplands.

The native populations have in many places become intermingled through the constant local wars and razzias of the slave-hunters; the old tribal limits can no longer be determined; the territories have shifted their inhabitants. During the last generation stable communities have been maintained only on the banks of the Nile between Magungo and Dufile, where the slave-dealers have scarcely succeeded in penetrating or establishing their footing for any length of time. Hence the population is still done in this district, in which we may wander for days without meeting any waste or unreclaimed lands. In this peaceful region, for generations undisturbed by foreign wars, the manners of the people have become softened, crime is almost unknown, and the traveller may move about freely unarmed. How great the contrast with those communities that have been harassed by the slave-hunter! Yet nearly all are of one origin, and had formerly the same habits, the same social and political organisation. Mostly of Negro stock, they speak languages entirely different from those current amongst the Bantu peoples of the equatorial lakes. But of these diverse tongues, two or three only have been reduced to writing by the missionaries. The Bari, Denka and Shilluk have thus been partially fixed by grammatical works and religious translations. Of all the African linguistic groups, this is on the whole the least known, although the country has been more frequented by Europeans than many other regions of the interior.

Southernmost of these Nilotic tribes are the Shuli on the east, and the kindred Lur, or Luri, on the west bank of the river, where it emerges from Lake Albert. Their joint domain comprises the left side of the lake, and an extensive tract stretching along the Nile northwards beyond the Asua affluent. The Shuli would be of pleasant outward appearance but for the habit of piercing the lower lip, and inserting a piece of crystal, a stick, or any other ornament, three or four inches long. They also extract the four upper incisors, causing their utterance to be very indistinct, and with an oxide of iron daub their bodies red in all sorts of fantastic forms. Like the Madi on their northern and the Lango on their southern frontier, the Shuli pass a great part of their lives in thus painting and decking themselves. The elaborate headdresses vary according to the taste of each individual, but on all alike the greatest care is lavished. Some are raised several stories high, and embellished with ornaments of all kinds—flocks of wool, wreaths of foliage, rings, strings of pearls—the whole forming an architectural edifice sufficiently incommodious to the bearer. The rich throw an antelope skin over their shoulders, the poor a goatskin, loading wrists, legs, and neck with iron rings. Under this weight