Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/424

 366 WEST APRICA. this region. In vain they are threatened with hell by the Senusiya emissaries if they persist in spoiling and slaying the " faithful." To them the " peace of Islam " is as naught, for scorning work they delight only in war and pillage. '* True," they confessed to Nachtigal, " that we live in injustice and sin ; but to earn a livelihood otherwise we should have to work, which our fathers never did, and it would be a shame and a treason not to follow their example. Besides, why are the cursed pagans on the earth except to work for a nobler race ? " Yet these " pagans " are nearly all Mohammedans, at least in name, and are often even allied by marriage to the Aulad-Sliman, from whose tyranny, according to the latest reports, they will soon be released by the intervention of the Saltan of Wadai. The Kanem-bu and Kuri Peoples. The Kanem-bu, or " People of Kanem," former masters of the land, are also immigrants from the north at an unknown date, as indicated by the very word Kanem, which means "South." The various Daza tribes who occupy the northern districts have also a unanimous tradition that their original homes lay to the north. They are in fact related to the Tedas, or northern Tibbus, with whom thousands of them still dwell at the foot of the Tibesti hills. The general movement of the population has thus been southwards, and in recent times large numbers of the Kanem-bu have been compelled to migrate still farther towards Bornu, the marshy shores and even the islands of Lake Tsad, where they have sought shelter from the raids of the Aulad-Sliman marauders. The Kanem-bu are distinguished from the kindred Tibbu race by their darker complexion, larger stature, and less graceful carriage. In the remote districts their dress is limited to a skin or leather loin-cloth, and a high headdress fastened under the chin by a white bandage, which may be regarded as a survival of the litzani or veil worn by the Tibbus and Tuaregs of the desert. They have also retained the spear and other weapons of the nomads, except the shangormangor, or iron dart. They regard themselves as the elder brothers of the Kanuris of Bornu, who were originally an advanced colony of the Kanem-bu, and who during their long sojourn in a more fertile and civilised region acquired greater power and social refinement. Of all the Kanem peoples the Ngijems and Danoas alone have succeeded in preserving their independence, never having been subdued even by the Aulad- Sliman. But in order to maintain the struggle they have had to shift their quarters more than once, and in recent times they have acknowledged themselves vassals of Wadai. The Danoas are settled in the south-east part of Kanem, grouped round the central station of Nguri in the woodlands some 24 miles from the shores of Lake Tsad. Physically speaking they differ in no respect from the Kanem-bu, and like them speak an idiom closely related to the Kanuri ; but their traditions connect them with the Manga nation living on the banks of the Yeu in West Bornu. The inhabitants of the Tsad islands, although for the most part belonging to