________________
178
THE ALPHABET
Vai Syllabary Until quite recently, the script of the Vai was considered to be the only modern syllabic writing used by African natives. To-day, however, at least one other indigenous syllabary, belonging to western Africa, is known (see below) 1848 1898
1848 1898
2.X
L A
gbe, gbe
5,2,
6, A
gut, gbe gbogbo
xbu fgha nghe
O
0.0.0 mobba .CZ
. 7.
ha *.2 7.2 hè OK.0 F bt, be P.M. Po be, mbe 8.8.2 9.8
figbo
mba
PP.
the, mbe mba, tabi
mbo
mbia
mbo, mba
mba
fe
pe
gbo
do
Fig. 92 1, The Vai syllabary 2, Development of Vai characters
1849
(Forbes)
1898 (Delafosse)
The Vaiare a western African tribe of a certain culture, speaking a Mandingo dialect and living on a small territory on the Atlantic Coast, from the river Sulima in Sierra Leone to the river Half-cape-Mount in Liberia
1933 (Klingenheben h
