or It is probable that the total population of the various Mandingo tribes considerably exceeds this estimate, which is arrived at by putting together the computations of each separate branch as given to me by its representatives at Monrovia. The proper pronunciation of the well-known tribal name Mandingo appears to be 'Manding'a," Mading'a." They are a race that will play a very notable part in the development of West Africa. The whole of this tribe, which populates the hinterland of Liberia, parts of Sierra Leone, and the southern part of the French "Sudan," must number one or two millions. Their language is harmonious in sound and simple and logical in construction, therefore easily acquired. They are Mohammedans to a very great extent, only a few branches in the Liberian hinterland remaining pagan. In consequence they dress picturesquely and suitably, like the majority of Mohammedanized Africans in the Niger Basin and the northern Sudan, with wide breeches, voluminous tobes, and fezes, or round skullcaps. They are a fine-looking race as regards physical development, and their physiognomy reveals the secret of their power, namely, the slight infusion of Caucasian blood. They are, in fact, the result of an early intermingling of the Berber from the Sahara Desert with the negroes of the Niger Basin. They are a very industrious people, with a remarkable feeling for art, which is at present confined to elaborate leatherwork and the shaping of picturesque garments. The principal divisions of the Mandingo race in the hinterland of Liberia-proceeding from west to east-are the following: Boporo, Kwang'a, Mwela, and Dukwira. Their towns are nearly always surrounded by clay walls, the architecture of which, judging from such photographs as I have seen, is strongly reminiscent of the towns of Nigeria. This is the race named on most maps in the incorrect orthography 'Pessy." It knows itself as Gbele, but for some reason is called by most of the surrounding tribes Kpwesi, which, on various grounds, is the most convenient name. A portion of the Kpwesi race is known as the Gbwalin, a name that appears incorrectly on our maps as "Barline." Behind the Basa and Gibi peoples one comes again to the great Kpwesi tribe. 4 The Kru tribes may be divided up under the following designations, but all the people included under these names do not extend farther into the interior than about 60 miles from the coast : Sino people Sikong (beyond the Sino) 75,000 100,000 Kru people proper (including all isolated colonies of Krumen elsewhere in 140,000 Grebo people.. 60,000 The Putu people seem to include the following subdivisions or separate tribes: Tatue, Nyapo, Pete, Tuo, and Gireo. The Americo-Liberians of course are Christians, Delonging entirely to various sections of the Protestant churches-Anglican, Methodist Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, etc. There is one establishment at Monrovia of the White Fathers, a Roman Catholic mission, mainly French and Dutch in the nationality of its missionaries. So far the fathers have made no converts, but the mission has only just been established. There is a good deal of activity amongst the various missionary societies dependent on the Protestant churches represented in Liberia, and this is largely financed from the United States of America. The work is carried on almost invariably by missionaries having some proportion, large or small, of African blood in their veins. A good deal of their work is educational, and has certainly brought solid advantages to the coast negroes of Liberia. Outside the negroes of American origin there are not many converts to Christianity. Such as there are come from the Kru peoples and the Grebo principality. Perhaps of all the native races the Grebo is the most Christianized and civilized. The Vai, some of the Gora, and nearly all the Mandingo peoples are Mohammedan-not fanatically, but very genuinely as regards adherence to Mohammedan precepts. The spread of Mohammedanism in the western and northern districts of Liberia has been of immense benefit to the country, diminishing the traffic in alcohol and checking drunkenness, which elsewhere in Liberia is so common among the negroes-a drunkenness induced just as often by the native forms of alcohol (palm wine, etc.) as by the consumption of European spirits. At the present time the ports of entry into the Liberian Republic at which foreigners may settle and trade are the following (running from west to east): Roberts Port, Monrovia, Marshall, Grand Basa, Grand Ses (Cess), Greenville, Nana Kru, Cape Palmas, and Kavalli. Foreigners also are allowed to trade within a zone of 3 miles along all the inland frontiers of Liberia. It is, I believe, the intention of the Liberian executive to add to these recognized ports of entry places in the interior and on the coast as soon as communication has been opened up and the Liberian Government is in a position to maintain law and order at these places. GEOGRAPHICAL RESULTS OF THE TIBET MISSION." By SIR FRANK YOUNGHUSBAND, K. C. I. E. Though I shall tell to-night of a journey to the "Forbidden City," there is, I fear, little, strictly speaking, new that I shall have to say. My companions and myself were, indeed, the first Europeans to enter Lassa for many years. Still, we can not claim credit for having been the first of all, and all I can do is to corroborate and emphasize the work of former travelers, and especially of those hardy Indian explorers A-K, Sarat Chandra Das, and others, who had made such careful surveys and interesting notes that some at least of our obstacles were removed. Such corroboration is, however, very necessary, for an impression had of recent years grown up in Europe that Tibet was a wretched, poor, inhospitable country; and this is not what those few travelers, European and Indian, who had been to Lhasa before had described, nor is it actually the case. The northern part of Tibet, which is all that recent European travelers have seen, is indeed barren, uncultivated, and worthless, and this forms quite two-thirds of the whole. But Tibet is a large country-as large as the provinces of Bombay, Madras, and the Punjab put together, and there is a third part still remaining which is remarkably well cultivated, which is dotted over with thriving villages and the well-built and comfortable residences of the Tibet gentry. Taking it as a whole, then, and excluding the worthless desert portion, Tibet is probably fully as rich as Kashmir or Nepal. The valleys in which Lassa, Gyantse, and Shigatse are situated, and the valley of the Brahmaputra, are neither barren plateaus nor yet narrow V-shaped gorges. They are flat valleys from 4 or 5 to as much as 10 miles broad, covered with good soil, well irrigated, and richly cultivated. This is the most important geographical fact which, though mentioned casually by former travelers, we are able to reestablish and confirm. And with this fact clearly impressed upon your minds, let me now ask you to follow in the footsteps of the Tibet mission in its journey a Read at the Royal Geographical Society, February 13, 1905. Reprinted, by permission from The Geographical Journal, London. Vol. XXV, No. 5. May, 1905. SM 190521 265 |