ble,
however, that pressure from civilization in the Nile valley and rising
culture around Lake Chad was at this time reenforced by expansion of the
Yoruba-Benin culture on the west coast. Perhaps, too, developing culture
around the Great Lakes in the east beckoned or the riotous fertility of
the Congo valleys became known. At any rate the movement commenced, now by
slow stages, now in wild forays. There may have been a preliminary
movement from east to west to the Gulf of Guinea. The main movement,
however, was eastward, skirting the Congo forests and passing down by the
Victoria Nyanza and Lake Tanganyika. Here two paths beckoned: the lakes
and the sea to the east, the Congo to the west. A great stream of men
swept toward the ocean and, dividing, turned northward and fought its way
down the Nile valley and into the Abyssinian highlands; another branch
turned south and approached the Zambesi, where we shall meet it again.

Another horde of invaders turned westward and entered the valley of the
Congo in three columns. The northern column moved along the Lualaba and
Congo rivers to the Cameroons; the second column became the industrial and
state-building Luba and Lunda peoples in the southern Congo valley and
Angola; while the third column moved into Damaraland and mingled with
Bushman and Hottentot.

In the Congo valley the invaders settled in village and plain, absorbed
such indigenous inhabitants as they found or drove them deeper into the
forest, and immediately began to develop industry and political
organization. They became skilled agriculturists, raising in some
localities a profusion of cereals, fruit, and vegetables such as manioc,
maize, yams, sweet potatoes, ground nuts, sorghum, gourds, beans, peas,
bananas, and plantains. Everywhere they showed skill in mining and the
welding of iron, copper, and other metals. They made weapons, wire and
ingots, cloth, and pottery, and a widespread system of trade arose. Some
tribes extracted rubber from the talamba root; others had remarkable
breeds of fowl and cattle, and still others divided their people by crafts
into farmers, smiths, boat builders, warriors, cabinet makers, armorers,
and speakers. Women here and there took part in public assemblies and were
rulers in some cases. Large towns were built, some of which required hours
to traverse from end to end.

Many tribes developed intelligence of a high order. Wissmann called the Ba
Luba "a nation of thinkers." Bate