Niam Niam

Niam-Niam (properly A-Zandeh), a large and, till lately, a very powerful Negro nation, south-east Sudan, on the northern affluents of the Welle and generally about the Nile-Congo and Congo-Chad water-partings. The term Niam-Niam applied to them by the Dinkas means "Great Eaters," and is so intimately associated with the idea of anthropophagy that it has been extended to many other peoples of Central Africa who have no connection with the A-Zandeh beyond their common cannibalism. Despite this universal practice, they are a remarkably intelligent people, who had developed an orderly system of government and established a hereditary monarchy with numerous vassal states in the Welle region probably 200 years ago; but during the latter half of the present century the Zandeh empire crumbled to pieces partly through dynastic wars, partly through intrigues and open attacks of the Arab slave-hunters. Since the Mahdist revolt several princes of the royal bouse have set up separate petty states, which have accepted the protectorate of the Congo Free State. Their domain comprises altogether about 50,000 square miles with a collective population of over 2,000,000. The type - round head, broad features, oblique eyes set far apart, dark reddish complexion, long ringletty hair - is so marked that a Niam-Niam can be instantly distinguished from any other native of Africa. The men occupy themselves chiefly with hunting and fighting, while the women till the fields and do most of the hard work. Theii weapons are the spear, shield, and cutlass, and much skill and taste are displayed in the production of iron and woo 1 utensils, baskets, earthenware, drums, pipes, and the like. (Miani, Schweinfurth, Junker.)