Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/394

 330 WEST AFEICA. every where cultivated by slave labour, and Bartb met several Fulah proprietors who possessed over a thousand slaves. On the left bank of the Benue below Adaraawa and Hamarawa, the pre- dominant element are the Akpas, Wakari, or Juku, divided into numerous tribes, each speaking a distinct dialect of the same stock language. Some have been partly civilised by their Fulah neighbours, while others in the more remote districts are reported cannibals, wearing garments of foliage, and altogether leading very primitive lives. The Mishi or Mitchi occupy, on the south bank below the Akpas, an extensive territory stretching southwards to the Old Calabar basin. Facing them on the north side are numerous peoples speaking the Doma or Arago idiom, which appears to be related to the Yoruba. The domain of the Igarras (Igallas), called also Apotos or Aputus, stretches along the left bank of the Lower Benue, and thence below the confluence to within a short distance of the Niger delta. But their territory has been encroached upon at several points by Bessas, Fulahs, or Haussawa from beyond the Benue. In the interior the Igarra speech extends probably to the neighbourhood of the Old Calabar river, and in any case this language, which has been carefully studied by the missionaries, is one of the most widely diffused in the Lower Niger regions. North and south of the confluence are some enclaves of Tgbara and Kukuruku tribes, the latter so named from their cry, resembling the crowing of a cock. The domain of the Ibo speech is still more extensive than that of the Igarra, comprising west of the Niger a vast territory in the Yoruba country, besides all the head of the delta, and in the east the Old Calabar basin as far as the unex- plored regions. Egba is divided into a great number of very distinct dialects, but the form current along the Niger has become the general standard, and has been ado^Dted by the missionaries for tbeir translations, grammars, and vocabularies. Formerly all the slaves transported from the Niger to America were indifferently called Ibo, of whatever speech or tribe they may have been. The Ibos worship Tchuku, a powerful god whom mortal eye has never seen, but whose voice may at times be heard ; but woe to whoever hears this voice, for he shall henceforth be dumb. The deity dwells at once in a cavern and in the firmament, so that one eye pierces the depths of the earth, the other the heavenly spaces. Till recently his wrath was appeased by the sacrifice of hapless maids, who were dragged over the ground till they expired, and their bodies were then thrown to the fishes and crocodiles. xAmongst the Ibos the social castes are strictly upheld, although anyone may pass upwards by right of purchase. The highest nobility comprises only a few members, whose greatness is proclaimed to the public by tinkling bells attached to their legs or borne in front of them. Others of lesser rank are announced from afar by horn-blowing ; but all may be easily recognised by their special tattoo-markings. Some have the skin of the forehead brought down like a sort of visor over the eyes. The delta region south of the dominating Ibos, is si ill occupied by scattered tribes without social or linguistic coherence, although the Izekiri (Tchekeri), or Benin language, prevails in the western districts towards the Yoruba frontier.