Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/443

 North of the Pangani valley the Bantu race is represented chiefly by the Wanyikas (Wa-Nyika), or "People of the Plains," who form a group of about a dozen distinct tribes. They number altogether perhaps about fifty thousand, and occupy the whole region which slopes from the Mombaz coast gently upwards to a height of some 2,000 feet in the interior. The Ki-Nyiks language differs little in

its structure from the Ki-Swaheli, but, unlike it, is entirely free from Arabic elements. By far the largest Nyika tribe are the agricultural Wadigos (Wa-Digo) who inhabit the coastlands stretching south of Mombaz, and who alone number about thirty thousand souls. Another important branch of the family are the Wadurumas (Wa-Duruma), of whom some knowledge has been see through the English missionaries stationed in their neighbourhood.