Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/327



The region of the great divide where the headstreams of the Ku-Bango and Zambese take their rise is no more a parting-line for its human inhabitants than it is for the animal species. On both slopes dwell tribes of the same race and of the same speech, who migrate from one side to the other according to the vicissitudes of social life common to all. At present this migratory movement is setting in the direction from north to south. The Kiokos, who on the opposite slope are invading the Lunda territory, are also encroaching southwards on the Ganguella, Lushaze, and Amboella domains, and some of them have already been met as far south as the plains of the Lower Ku-Bango. In the Kassai basin they are gradually attracted beyond their ancient frontiers, chiefly by the inducements of trade; but the motive which, on the other side, impels them towards the south, is rather

the gradual disappearance of game from the formerly well-stocked hunting-grounds.

The Upper Ku-Bango and the Ku-Ito valleys are occupied mainly by the Ganguellas, who are akin to those of the same name in Angola, and who, here as there, are divided into numerous communities, destitute of all political cohesion. A dialect of the Ganguella language is also spoken by the Lushazes of the Upper Ewa-Ndo, who are noted as skilled agriculturists and artisans, manufacturing highly prized iron implements, wicker-work objects, and woven fabrics, Far less vain of their personal appearance, and devoting less attention to elaborate head-dressing than most of their neighbours, the Lushazes still clothe themselves in wild beasts' skins and robes of macerated bast.

The Amboellas, also kinsmen ef the Ganguellas, are spread in small groups over a space of at least 300 miles from west to east, throughout the gently sloping regions watered by the Ku-Bungo, the Ku-Ito, and the Kwa-Ndo,