"
Mr. Wilson numbered the whole Benga tribe at 8,000, but Mr.
Mackey reduced the figure to half. Besides Corisco they inhabit
the two capes at the north and south of the bay. The language is
used by other tribes holding the coast northward for a hundred
miles or more, and probably by the inner people extending in a
northerly direction from Corisco Bay: the same, with certain
modifications, is also spoken at Sao Bento, Batanga, and perhaps
as far north as the Camarones River. On the other hand, the
tribes occupying the eastern margin of Corisco Bay, such as the
Mbiko, Dibwe, and Belengi, cannot understand one another, and the
tongues of the southward regions differ even more from the Benga.
Yet all evidently belong to the great South African family.
Mr. Mackey, who explored Corisco Island in 1849, assures us that
scarcely any of the older inhabitants were born there; they came
from the continent north or north-east of the bay, gradually
forcing their way down. The characteristic difference of the
Benga, the Bakele, and the Mpongwe dialects is as follows: "The
Mpongwes have a great partiality for the use of the passive
voice, and avoid the active when the passive can be used.
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