File:Mpongwe House, Near Libreville.jpg

English: Identifier: africaitsinhabit02recl

Title: Africa and its inhabitants Year: 1899 (1890s) Authors: Reclus, Elisée, 1830-1905 Keane, A. H. (Augustus Henry), 1833-1912 Subjects: Ethnology Publisher: London : J.S. Virtue Contributing Library: University of California Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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Text Appearing Before Image: t of the Ba-Kale, a powerful nationwho have not yet reached the coast, occupying the inland forest between theMuni and Sette Kama rivers. The Ba-Kale, whose chief tribes lie south of theOgoway, are said to number about one hundred thousand, but are rapidly diminish-ing, whole clans having disappeared within a generation imder the pressure ofthe inland peoples advancing seawards. Since the appearance of the whites inthe Ogoway basin, the social usages of the Ba-Kale have been considerablymodified. Formerly warriors and hunters, they are now mostly traders, packmen,and brokers, monopolising the transit traffic about the lower course of the river;their Di-Kele language, mixed with Mpongwe elements, has become the chiefmedium of intercourse among the riverain populations as far as the first cataracts.They have ceased to work iron and copper, and now obtain by barter all theEuropean arms and utensils that they require. The Ba-Ngwes, who dwell some 60 miles east of the cataracts between the

Text Appearing After Image: M o INHABITANTS OF THE GABOON. 896 upper and lower course of the Ogoway, appear to be the only people above theBa-Kalo territory who arc allied to them iu speech. All the rest, except theFans, speak dialects akin to those of the Mpongwc and Benga ethnical groups.The Ivili of the Lower Ogoway, kinsmen of the Ba-Vili of the Upper Nguniobasin, are a mild, industrious people, who came originally from the south, andare now increasing rapidly at the expense of their neighbours. They appear tobe distinct from the I\Ipongwe8, whose language, however, they have adopted, as Fig. 190.—iNnABrrAMTs of tub Gauoon and Oooway Basins.Scale 1:7,500,000.

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