THREE CHAPTERS OF GENESIS TRANSLATED INTO THE SOOAHELEE LANGUAGE. BY THE REV. DR. KRAPF. WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BY W. W. GREENOUGH. THREE CHAPTERS OF GENESIS TRANSLATED INTO THE SOO AHELEE LANGUAGE. INTRODUCTION. THE general characteristics of the tribes inhabiting the East Coast of Africa, from 50 north, to 250 south latitude, from Mugdasho (Magadoxo, Megadocia) to Delagoa Bay, were first illustrated by Portuguese explorers, the earliest European settlers in that region. Though subsequent travellers have ascertained more precisely the geographical limits, the physical structure, and the languages of the distinct races, yet the climate of the country and the barbarous habits of the inland tribes have greatly restricted inquiry. Aside from accounts of the strip of land bordering on the sea, the information published to the world is for the most part vague and uncertain. The country and people are well worthy of observation, and full statements of their mode of life, of their religious culture, and of their physical history, together with faithful vocabularies of their dialects, are very desirable with reference to the problem of the origin and descent of the various African tribes. Among the natives of the East Coast who have been brought in contact with the whites of late years, frequent mention is made of a people called, variously, the Sooahelee, Sowauli, or Sowhylese,' who are found upon the coast and Also written Suahili, Soahili, Sowaiel, Sowhelians. islands from the river Juba to Zanzibar. By some writers they are said to extend from Mugdasho to Mombasa, and there is reason to believe that they are spread as far south as Delagoa Bay. They are subjects of the Sultan of Muscat. Of their physical appearance different accounts are given. Salt 2 describes them as of the true negro race, black, stout and ill-favored. Mr. Bird 3 states that they have jet black complexions and woolly hair, without the thick lips and protruding mouth of the negro. Captain Owen calls them 4 "a race of Mohametan Moors," differing from the Arabs and native Africans. Mr. Browne 5 gives them a still comelier appearance. He says, in complexion they closely resemble the red Indians of North America. Their features are good, though not handsome, being a medium between the Arab and the African; less regular and comely than the first, and partaking more of the characteristics of the Circassian than the last. Though these authorities differ as to color, they do not therefore discredit one another. An analogous variety of complexion appears in the natives of the West Coast of the same parallel of latitude. The color of the people of Congo is stated to be black, but differing in degree; some are of a dark brown, some of an olive, and others of a blackish red, especially the younger sort.' immense triangle of country extending from Congo on the west to the river Juba on the east, and to the Cape of Good Hope on the south, although inhabited by tribes of two great races varying in color from the light olive of the mountainous regions to the black of the equatorial plains, does not present in its darkest hues the polished-ebony blackness of the native of Guinea. An intelligent writer characterizes the color as a diluted and sallow black, not darker than brown, but without the sanguine and lively radiance of the latter color. It may be added that they differ in other physical traits from the true negro, having generally neither the flattened noses nor high cheek bones, as developed in the Jalofs and Mandingoes. 2 Salt's Travels in Abyssinia. Appendix. The 3 Prichard's Researches into the Physical History of Mankind. Vol. II. p. 299. Journal of Royal Geographical Society. Vol III. p. 209. 5 Brown's Etchings of a Whaling Cruise. p. 335. * Edinburgh Review. No. 124. Of the two great races, spoken of above, the most important, most widely extended and most intellectual, is what may be termed, for want of a better name, the Kaffir family. Sufficient proof exists of similarity of physical structure and of affinity of language to authorize the conclusion that nearly all the tribes of Africa, of which we have account, south of the equator, with the exception of the Hottentots, possess a common origin, and are to be included in the Kaffir race. It was long since observed that the language of the natives of the west coast, at 20° south latitude, was cognate to the dialects of the same parallel at the east. Captain Owen' says that the languages of Sabia and Sofala are akin to those of Delagoa Bay, which are undoubtedly Kaffir. Lichtenstein gives it as his opinion that all the native tribes south of Quiloa, (9° south latitude,) are of the Kaffir stock. It is now evident that the languages of Zanzibar and Melinda belong to the same class. We Though the words which are common to the various idioms of South Africa, as yet written, are comparatively few in number, still they may be considered sufficiently numerous to indicate the same kind of affinity as that allowed to the Indo-Germanic nations. There is not space here to give as full proof of this fact as is desirable. have annexed a table of numerals, from one to ten, taken from the languages spoken in various parts of the great terra incognita, in which sufficient similarity exists to substantiate in an important degree our assertion. One marked peculiarity may also be specified. The syllables MA, MU, N', and AN, coming before the names of tribes from Majomba to Angola, are equally prevalent on the East Coast. It may in general be observed of the Kaffir dialects, that they are sonorous in character, possessing few gutturals and nasals, generally accenting the penult, and that the vowels are simple and open. The Sooahelee has been called a lingua franca, on account of its containing more words of a foreign origin than other languages of the same family; for which reason, also, it is said to be used as the language of trade. The principal port 7 Owen's Voyage. Vol. I. p. 276.-Prichard's Researches. Vol. II. p. 295, |