482
 

TRAVELS IN AFRICA.     Chap. XXXV.
 

Waday, as far north as el Haiidh and Baghena, on

the border of the western desert.

  Another important point of which I here became

aware was, that the Batta language, which, among

the numerous  languages of  A'damawa, or  rather

Fiimbina, is  the most  extensively spoken,  has two

very  different dialects; for, being anxious  to  finish

my small vocabulary of this language, which  I had

commenced in Kukawa  with  the assistance of Mo-

hammedu, I soon  found that the dialect spoken here

differed considerably from that  of which I had pre¬

viously written specimens.  The Batta language,  as

I have stated above, is intimately  related to the

Marghi and ZAni  idiom, and bears several points  of

resemblance to the Miisgu language, which is itself

related to the various dialects of Kotoko.  All these

languages  have some general points of affinity  to

the South African languages.

  At present, however,  the indigenous  population is

almost totally extinct in this district, which is exclu¬

sively inhabited by  the conquerors, who have here

found an  abode remarkably suited to their mode  of

living.   The whole  place has not less  than  6000

inhabitants.

  Frida-    ^e s*ar*ec^  early in order to reach the

  June 20th. capital, if possible, before noon, and passed

through several hamlets, all belonging to the extensive

village or  district of Ribago,  and interrupted here

and there  by  projecting masses of  schistose  rock,

while the  concavity between  this rising ground and