. Tramps round the Mountains of the Moon and through the back gate of the Congo State . in return, and thengood man, and then bad man, but as theoriginal word for man failed to appear in thephrases and one could never ascertain, when he wentrattling off in reply, where the translation ended andwhere the comment on it all began, I had to give upthe attempt. Theirs is believed to be a Nilotic language,absolutely different to our Bantu dialect with itsprefixes and suffixes, and will need a good deal oftackling where there seems no medium handy to helpin the transition. These Balega may be said to
. Tramps round the Mountains of the Moon and through the back gate of the Congo State . in return, and thengood man, and then bad man, but as theoriginal word for man failed to appear in thephrases and one could never ascertain, when he wentrattling off in reply, where the translation ended andwhere the comment on it all began, I had to give upthe attempt. Theirs is believed to be a Nilotic language,absolutely different to our Bantu dialect with itsprefixes and suffixes, and will need a good deal oftackling where there seems no medium handy to helpin the transition. These Balega may be said to have three industries,at which they are on the whole very assiduous; thefirst is food-raising ; the second blacksmithing, andlastly cattle lifting and its accompanying devices. Blacksmithing is needed to provide for the peacefulfood-raising, and their smiths always have their handsfull with orders for hoes ; it is equally needed for thespears and arrow-barbs for their more mischievousoccupations, which are, however, chiefly confined tothe much more numerous branch of the tribe over. Balega Wristlet and Knife. •The wristlet for tapping to imitate bow twang,used by women to terrorise their husbands. The knife 4 160 WESTWARD TO THE EDGE the border, where they are less under control.^ Inaddition to these industries might also be mentionedtheir ingenuity in grass and reed plaiting for themanufacture of shields and food-baskets. After they had been dancing for some while, Pauloproposed a sham fight, and off they darted in twobands. The one party endeavoured to advance to-wards us and the other kept them at bay. In theabsence of arrows, which they were not using, one realised how great an advantage numbers must give,and yet how much would turn on individual man singled out an opponent opposite him andendeavoured to get in at him whilst giving a sympatheticinterest to the man within reach on each side of him ;and so the two long lines skirmished backwards and for-wards,
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