lus proper (in Natal and Zululand), the Swazis, the
Matabili, farther to the north, and the Angoni, in Nyassaland, beyond
the Zambesi River; the Amatonga group, between Zululand and Delagoa Bay;
the Bechuana group, including the Bamangwato, the Basuto and the
Barolongs, as well as the Barotse, far off on the middle course of the
Zambesi; the Makalaka or Maholi, and cognate tribes, inhabiting
Mashonaland and Manicaland. The linguistic and ethnical affinities of
these groups and tribes are still very imperfectly known, but their
speech and their habits are sufficiently similar to enable us to refer
them to one type, just as we do the Finnic or the Slavonic peoples in
Europe. And they are even more markedly unlike the Hottentots or the
Bushmen than the Slavs are to the Finns, or both of these to those
interesting aborigines of northern Europe, the Lapps.

The Bantu or Kafirs--I use the term as synonymous--who dwell south of
the Zambesi are usually strong and well-made men, not below the average
height of a European. In colour they vary a good deal; some are as black
as the Gulf of Guinea negro, some rather brown than black. All have the
thick lips, the woolly hair, and the scanty beard of the negro, and
nearly all the broad, low nose; yet in some the nose is fairly high,
and the cast of features suggests an admixture of Semitic blood--an
admixture which could be easily explained by the presence, from a pretty
remote time, of Arab settlers, as well as traders, along the coast of
the Indian Ocean. As the Bantu vary in aspect, so do they also in
intelligence. No tribe is in this respect conspicuously superior to any
other, though the Zulus show more courage in fight than most of the
others, the Fingos more aptitude for trade, the Basutos more disposition
to steady industry. But, while the general level of intellect is below
that of the Red Indians or the Maoris or the Hawaiians (if rather above
that of the Guinea negroes), individuals are now and then found of
considerable talents and great force of character. Three such men as the
Zulu Tshka, the Basuto Moshesh, and the Bechuana Khama, not to speak of
those who, like the eloquent missionary Tiyo Soga, have received a
regular European education, are sufficient to show the capacity of the
race for occasionally reaching a standard which white men must respect.
And in one regard the Bantu race shows a kind of strength which the Red
Indians and Polynesians lack. They are a very pr