Niam-niam

Niam-niam, an African people dwelling along the watershed that parts the feeders of the Bahr al-Ghazal from those of the Welle-Makua and other northern tributaries of the Congo. Of the negroid Nuba stock, they have round faces, broad heads, bodies long in proportion to the legs, and are inclined to corpulency. They have no cattle. Considerable manual and artistic skill is shown in the forging of iron, making of pottery and baskets, and the carving of wood. They are passionately fond of music, and play a kind of mandolin. It is to these people that the legends of 'tailed men' are referable (see Baring-Gould, Curious Myths, 1875). See also Schweinfurth, Heart of Africa (1878); and Junker, Travels in Africa, vol. ii. (1891).