ABabua

A-Babua. a large Negro nation heard of both by Stanley during the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, and by Dr. Junker during his explorations of the Upper Welle Basin. Their territory lies a day's march north of the lower Aruwimi between 24° and 26° E. longitude, and is coterminous with that of the A-Barambo on the east, and the Banjias on the north, being situated mainly between the Welle and the Itimbira (Loika) rivers. They are mentioned by Stanley in connection with the Mabode, who lie still farther to the east, about the headwaters of Nepoko, a chief affluent of the Aruwimi, and who are described as having "square houses with gable roofs," with neatly-plastered walls and clay verandahs. From these and other indications the A-Babua are evidently an outlying branch of the "white" or southern Niam-Niams (A-Zandeh), the most civilised of all divisions of that wide-spread family. The form of the tribal name is clearly Niam-Niam, the initial syllable A being the plural prefix in that language, answering to the Wa-, Ba-, Va-, etc., of the Bantu tongues.