Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/268

 218 WEST AFRICA. Fauna. The slight differences that exist between the Liberian and neighbouring faunas are explained by the nature of the soil and distribution of the woodlands. On the Mandingan plateau the savannahs are roamed over by multitudes of antelopes, buffaloes, and elephants, while domestic animals — horse, ox, goat, and sheep — thrive well in the settled districts. But in the moist low- lying valleys there are no flocks or herds, and imported horses rapidly yield to the climate. The large variety of the hippopotamus is rare, and still rarer the smaller species, as well as the two varieties of the crocodile. Nor are rapacious animals very numerous in the forests, where no lions or hyaenas are met, while the leopards occasionally seen prowling about the enclosures are timid creatures, of whom the natives have no dread. The most formidable beast is a buffalo, the hush-cow of the Liberians. There are also some chimpanzees, or "baboons," as they are called, which are greatly respected and never eaten, because of their resemblance to man. The woods are inhabited by several other species of monkeys, and the clearings by various kinds of antelopes, including the spinigera, smallest of the gazelle family. Insects swarm in such numbers that Liberia has been called the home of the ant, and whole quarters of Monrovia, undermined by termites, have had to be rebuilt. Inhabitants. The plateaux and uplands of the interior are occupied by the powerful Man- dingan nation, who have advanced from the east, and who here as elsewhere in West Africa exercise great influence, thanks to their superior civilisation. At the foot of the escarpments some fortified valleys in the St. Paul basin belong to the Pessi and Bussi, warlike tribes distinguished by their extremely courteous manners. Both have their distinct speech and system of tattooing, and, according to "Win- wood Reade, cannibal feasts were held as recently as ] 870. The Bussi are good husbandmen, raising large quantities of cotton for export. A more powerful and numerous people are the Golas, or Guras, who dwell chiefly along the western afiluents of the St. Paul and the neighbouring rivers. They are fierce warriors, who are said to have nearly exterminated the Deh or Devoi tribe, some of whom are still met about the plantations on the coast. On the north frontier the banks of the Marfa and Fisherman's Lake are held by the Yei, a branch of the Mandingans, numbering some fifty thousand souls. These peaceful agriculturists have mostly adopted Islam, but their harmonious speech, which has been carefully studied by Koelle and other grammarians, is gra- dually being replaced by Liberian-English. It possesses a syllabic alphabet of over two hundred characters, invented in 1834 by Doalu Bukere, a powerful member of the tribe. This writing system is even still used in correspondence and for record- ing family events, and in it the inventor wrote a history of his nation and a treatise on ethics. South of the St. Paul follow the still savage Barlins, and beyond them the