ABSTRACT
Regarding the establishment of the geographical limits of this study, there have been various difficulties to be surmounted. I came to the conclusion that the so-called Swahili of the Congo, that, is all speakers of the Kingwana dialect, should not be dealt with here, chiefly on geographical grounds. For the same reason the several communities of Islamized and often detribalized Swahili-speaking Bantu of the commercial centres of the interior such as Dodoma or Tabora have been omitted. I regret more having had to exclude the inhabitants of the Comoro archipelago, but I did so chiefly for reasons of expediency. I think that there will be no objection, as the affinities of these people are largely with the inhabitants of Madagascar, though their language is a Swahili dialect.
