A p p e n d i x I I.
A V O C A B U L A R Y O F S IM P L E W O RD S IN SO M E
E A S T A F R IC A N L A N G U A G E S
I t may be thought presumptuous in me, who can make no
claim to be a philological scholar, to add to my story the
following brief vocabulary o f some o f the principal native
languages I met with. I t may be that I have made mistakes.
T h e difficulty o f picking up a language about which you know
nothing needs no explanation from m e ; and it is, o f course,
quite possible to make oneself understood by the natives without
having any real grasp o f the idiom and structure of their
language. I am also o f course aware that there are very many
white men far better acquainted with each o f the tongues o f
which I here append specimens than I can claim to be.
Nevertheless, though it is perhaps dangerous to venture on
these vocabularies, I do it because it is also possible that they
may be o f some small use to somebody. Our knowledge o f
these languages is after all not so long established or complete
but that any contribution may happen to be useful in some
particulars, even though it provoke a smile from the expert in
others. A t any rate, now that the countries whence I gleaned
the words that follow are very much more traversed, whether
for business or pleasure, by white men than they were even
three years ago, it is possible that they may be o f use in the
same way as the travellers’ phrase books, which are issued to
supply the rudiments o f conversation in other parts o f the
world. I t is also possible, I promise myself, that the kinships
and differences revealed by this list o f words between the
dialects o f various tribes may be o f some slight interest to the
amateur o f language, who does not feel equal to attacking
systematically the philology o f Eastern Africa.