Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/482



Most of the region east of the Gaboon and north of the Ogoway is now held by the Fan intruders, who have driven towards the south-west all the other indigenous and immigrant populations. When the French first settled in the Gaboon the Fans were almost unknown, although so early as 1819 Bowditch had already mentioned them under the name of Paämways, describing them as a Fulah people. Their most advanced villages were at that time still restricted to the hilly inland

plateaux north of the Ogoway affluents; now they have become the immediate neighbours of the Mpongwes of Glass and Libreville on the banks of the Komo, stretching north to the confines of the Ba-Tonga territory, while south of the Gaboon their pioneers have already reached the coast at several points. The Syake Fans occupy the zone of rapids above the Ivindo; the Osyebas have crossed the middle Ogoway, and others have even penetrated to the Rembo Obenga in the delta region. Dreaded by all their neighbours, the Fans are at present a rising power