Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/533

 INHABITANTS OF THE CONGO. 439 regions south of that line. South of the Upper Congo headstreams the oil-palm is in the same way arrested by the waterparting towards the Zambese, and in the Congo Valley by the first slopes of the Angolan plafeaux. The general equality of the climate, which has imparted a certain uniformity to the spontaneous flora of the Congo basin, has also enabled the inhabitants everywhere to introduce nearly the same cultivated plants, such as manioc, millet, the banana, tobacco, hemp, the pineapple, and sugar-cane. The cofFee- plant, as well as the vine and orange, have been found growing wild in the central forest region on the banks of the Congo and Kassai. The local fauna scarcely differs from that of the Atlantic seaboard in the Ogoway, Gaboon, and Cameroons districts. The elephant, rare in the hunting- grounds, is still very common in the greater part of the country ; the manatee of the estuary is replaced higher up by multitudes of hippopotamuses, so numerous in some rivers as to impede the navigation. The chimpanzee inhabits the Congo forests as far north-eastwards as the limits of the oil-palm and raphia, so that he does not appear to penetrate into the Nile basin, nor southwards beyond the Lower Congo into Angola. In general the contrasts observed in the animal kingdom depend primarily on the distribution of plants. Thus the western savannahs, frequently wasted by fire, are almost uninhabited, containing neither quadrupeds, reptiles nor birds, while the eastern park- lands teem with animal life. In certain districts not yet visited by the hunter, the camping- grounds of travellers are surrounded by numerous herds of elephants, buffaloes, and antelopes. Inhabitants. The Congo basin everywhere belongs to populations of Bantu speech, except in a few enclaves occupied by conquered aborigines, and in the north-eastern regions held by the Niam-Niam, Monbuttu, and other Negro peoples that have been wrongly classed with the Nuba group. On the other hand, the domain of the Bantu languages, which reaches southwards to Cape Colony, also extends in the north and north-east into the Nile basin, where it encircles the whole of Lake Victoria Nyanza. But although the Congo populations possess linguistic unity, they differ greatly in their physical appearance and social usages. While most of the Bantus (Ba-ntu, A-ba-ntu, that is, " men "), appear to be clearly distinguished from the Negroes proper by their complexion, features, shape of the skuU and carriage, the transitions are nevertheless extremely gradual in the Congo regions, where no pure types are found. The races have been constantly modified by incessant inter- mingling, while the common Bantu speech has remained nearly unchanged. Even within the historic period, conquering peoples have swept over the land, subduing and merging with the aboriginal elements. Tribal migrations and fresh ethnical groupings have also been caused by floods, famines, slave-hunting expeditions ; and to these causes of confusion must be added the exogamous or extra-tribal marriages prevalent amongst many communities. The least mixed