Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/583

 THE KASSAI BASIN. 481 running pace, all the time whirling round and round with the pivot, which is doubtless done to scare or distract the evil spirits. On arriving, panting and perspiring, at the grave, each resumes the clothes he has lent for the procession, and the body is shot into the pit, care, however, being taken to keep open the aperture made at one end of the coffin, just above the mouth. Through this opening palm- wine is supplied to the deceased, who is still regarded as sharing in the feasts of the living. A few hours' journey to the south-west of Brazzaville, in the vicinity of the rapids, the Catholic missionaries have founded the station of Linzolo, which has acquired some importance as a model farm and as a centre of acclimatisation for the plants and animals of the temperate zone. The Kassai Basin. This vast and populous region, abounding in running waters and fertile valleys, has already been shared politically between the Congo Free State and Portugal. But the land itself still remains unoccupied, and even very imperfectly surveyed, many tracts 4,000 or 5,0u0 square miles in extent not having yet been visited by any explorer. Hitherto only one European station has been founded in the Kassai territory, above the Kwango confluence, and the so-called " Portuguese," or half- caste negro traders have established themselves in very few villages for the purpose of exchanging cloth for ivory. Nearly the whole region is still divided into petty states, some completely independent, others real or nominal vassals of some more powerful ruler. A considerable part of the country is also comprised within the somewhat doubtful limits of the extensive empire of the Muato Yamvo. The eastern streams rising in the swampy divide, where the Lua-Laba and Zambese affluents also have their source, water the districts bordering on Msiri's empire and inhabited by tribes both of Rua and Lunda stock. In some villages these tribes are even intermingled, the poor Vua-Lunda, clothed only with a leathern apron or a bark loin-cloth, associating with the rich Yua-Rua, who, like those of the Lua-Laba, are also relatively more civilised. The copper- mines found in this region were being worked by these natives at the time of Cameron's journey. The hilly district between the Lu-Bilash and Lo-Mami headstreams of the Sankuru is occupied by the Ba-Songe, the Ba-Sange, and other peoples of the same stock and speech. West of the Lu-Bilash these natives are known by the name of Ba-Luba, while still farther west, on the banks of the Lu-Lua and Kassai they are called Tu-Shilange and Ba-Shilange. The Ba-Songe are one of the finest and most athletic Negro races, although their features are somewhat suggestive of the bull-dog. They are also intelligent and industrious, skilfully manipulating iron and copper, clay and wood, and producing earthenware, woven fabrics, and basket- work ornamented with considerable taste. In striking contrast to most other African peoples, the men of the Ba-Songe tribes perform all field operations, leaving? to the women the household duties and industrial arts. They are also