Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/487

 described by Marche, and the Ba-ongos seen by Falkenstein in the Loango district. According to Du Chaillu, the A-Bongos are of a yellowish complexion, with low retreating brow, prominent cheek-bones, timid glance, hair disposed in little frizzly tufts, relatively short legs, and very short stature. Of six women measured by him, the tallest was 5 feet, the shortest 4 feet 4 inches, and one adult man only 4 feet 6 inches; but the O-Koas seen by Marche on the Upper Ogoway averaged about 4 inches taller. They are divided into small tribal or family groups, dwelling in the recesses of the forests, remote from all beaten tracts, in low leafy huts, scarcely to be distinguished from the surrounding vegetation. Their A-Shango neighbours treat them with great kindness, almost with tenderness,

hunt the python with assegais and eagerly devour its flesh. But although keeping mostly aloof from the surrounding peoples, the A-Bongos are gradually adopting their usages.

The mixed populations dwelling near the coast, south of the Nyanga river, and collectively known as Ba-Lumbos or Ba-Vilis, consist largely of runaway slaves from the Gaboon and Congo factories, who have taken refuge on this inhospitable seaboard, where they are sheltered from attack by the surf-beaten shore and surrounding swamps and forests. By alliances with the aborigines they have formed fresh ethnical groups, which, however, differ little in their customs from the neighbouring Ba-Yahas in the interior. Like them they suspend