THIS BIBLIOGRAPHY OF

THE LANGUAGES OF THE CONGO FREE STATE

IS DEDICATED

TO THE MEMORY OF

WALTER H. STAPLETON

MISSIONARY AND LINGUISTIC STUDENT

AND

TO THE LIVING MEMBERS OF

THAT BAND OF DEVOTED MEN AND WOMEN

TO WHOM AS

CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT MISSIONARIES

MOST OF THE WORK UPON CONGO LANGUAGES

IS DUE.

INTRODUCTION

When the author commenced his collection of texts in Congo languages and of books and articles dealing with the tongues of the Congo Free State, he had no idea of the amount of such material. Few of the works listed in this bibliography have been actually recorded. The only significant list heretofore printed is the section "Linguistique," in Wauters' general Bibliography of the Congo. That list is the foundation upon which the present catalogue has been built. The only other sources from which any serious amount of material has been secured are the various bibliographic lists of the British Museum and the catalogues of the British and Foreign Bible Society and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. All these together have perhaps yielded less than one-half the titles here presented. The others have been secured by diligent search through sales catalogues and references contained in special publications, and by conversation and correspondence with missionaries. Although the harvest is unexpectedly large and actually of respectable amount, it is no doubt still far from complete. It is recognized to be inadequate in three directions; in these it is likely to be considerably extended by later workers.

a) While diligent efforts have been made, both in Belgium and in the Congo Free State, to secure complete information regarding the publications of the Catholic missions, the result is disappointing. A considerable number of these works are listed, but probably one-third the total number are lacking. A single example will illustrate our difficulties. At Ki-Santu there is an active mission press but neither letters to the mission nor hours of search in Brussels have enabled us to secure copies of its publications or information regarding them.

b) Some of the most interesting items in the list are books printed in Lisbon. The work of the earlier missionaries is perhaps fairly represented. So, too, there is a moderate harvest of nineteenth-century writings. But there must be a considerable number of seventeenthand eighteenth-century works in Portuguese, that are not here mentioned.

c) A notably interesting group of books probably exists which are not at all represented here. There are many manuscripts in the Swahili

language, written in Arabic character. These are of local production; the work of Africans for Africans. Some of these manuscripts have been reproduced and printed in Germany. It is quite possible, even probable, that some such texts, Swahili in Arabic character, have been printed in Zanzibar or elsewhere within the Swahili area. When at Stanley Falls, the author tried to learn of such books. He was assured that the Koran at least exists printed in Swahili in Arabic character, but was unable to confirm the statement.

Robert Needham Cust, in his Modern Languages of Africa, accepts a division of African languages into six groups. Three of these groups are represented within the limits of the Congo Free State-the Negro, the Bantu, and the Pygmy groups. Practically all the titles in our list represent the Bantu languages. Only a few articles deal with the Negro and Pygmy languages of this area.

Our intention has been to confine this study to the geographical limits of the Congo Free State. A few articles dealing with African languages in general are included because the points therein discussed are applicable and interesting to the student of any Bantu tongue. Extra-limital Bantu works are for the most part excluded, but a few which treat of the whole family and one or two specific discussions are introduced, because they have been especially used by writers upon Congo languages and have had definite influence upon their studies. We have included Mbundu, although the language is largely extralimital to our field. This is because much early writing relative to the languages of this region does not clearly distinguish Mbundu and Kongo and because Mr. Bentley, in taking the language of San Salvador as the type of the Kongo proper has already entered the area of Angola. It has seemed well then to include all available references to Mbundu. The Swahili language is spoken over a large part of the Congo Free State as a trade language and many Swahili texts, for use in the neighborhood of Stanley Falls, have been prepared within the State by both Catholic and Protestant missionaries. We have therefore included in our list Swahili texts wherever published, even if intended specifically for use at Mombasa, Zanzibar, etc.

We make no judgment of values. Some of the books and articles herein listed may be worthless. Unfortunately there has been no agreement between writers upon the use of a scientific alphabet for writing native words. There have been bitter controversies and differences of opinion. Men who have studied the same language for years are often in disaccord upon important points. No one questions

Krapf's competence in Swahili and yet Steere bitterly criticized his work. New missionaries rarely find the translations and grammars of their predecessors good enough to use and proceed at once to prepare new works. A missionary to whom a title was submitted for translation replied, "I could make a guess as to its meaning, but should prefer not to do so as I might be mistaken." Yet he worked in the same field and used the same language as the missionary whose work was submitted. For practical ends of instruction such a condition is serious. To some degree these disagreements and discords are due to local dialectic differences in the language. To a greater degree, no doubt, they are due to lack of scholarship in the workers. However, to the bibliographer every title is important; to the linguistic student even a bad piece of work may be of use.

It was intended to present brief biographical notices of the authors quoted. To do so would unduly delay publication. Portraits of a considerable number of authors are introduced. The basis of selection has been arbitrary-that the person should be responsible for three or more items in the list. It is fully recognized that a person, who prepares a single piece of work, may be a better student and a riper scholar than another who writes ten. On the whole, however, repeated performance indicates a depth and persistence of interest which warrants and demands recognition. While we are able to present a considerable series of these portraits we regret the absence of such as de Clercq, Büttner, Seidel, and some others. It is with particular satisfaction that we are able to use a recent portrait of the veteran worker, Robert Needham Cust, author of The Modern Languages of Africa, as a frontispiece.

It will be easily appreciated that contributions are appearing with such rapidity in this field that no list, can be actually up to date. The presses at Matadi, Bolobo, and Bongandanga are constantly at work. Since the bulk of this list was ready a new press, that of the Foreign Christian Missionary Society, has been established at Bolengi. The British and Foreign Bible Society, the Bible Translation Society, and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge are constantly sending new translations to the press. We make no claim for completeness in our list of mission publications later than the year 1906.

Among the languages here represented, three have been most diligently studied-Kongo and Mbundu, Bangi, and Swahili. The earliest to occupy attention was Kongo and Mbundu. Probably Pacciono's Gentio de Angola, 1624, is the first book in any Bantu lan