Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/253

 in the vicinity of the equator as well as the Orômos of Abyssinia, speak languages so closely related that they can easily understand each other. The various dialects may be reduced to five, all bearing remote resemblance to the Semitic tongues, not in their vocabulary but in their phraseology, indicating a similar mental constitution. D'Abbadie has called attention to a certain coincidence between a large number of roots and grammatical features in the Basque and Galla tongues. The Gallas are said by Bleek to possess clicks like those of the Hottentots, but the statement has not been confirmed by other observers. Ignorant of writing, the Orômos have no books except the Bible, introduced by the missionaries, and which, with a few dictionaries and a grammar by Tuschek, constitute the entire Galla

literature. The Ilm-Orma country is also occupied by peoples of different stock speaking another dialect as yet not reduced to writing by the missionaries. They are evidently the remains of conquered peoples forming isolated ethnological groups amid the invading hordes of the Galla nation. In the open Orômo country still exist a few groups of Amharinians who have preserved the Abyssinian language.

The Gallas are usually of middle height, or about 5 feet 4 inches, although men are found amongst them as tall as the Scandinavians. They are broad-shouldered and slender-waisted, the young men having chests which would delight a sculptor; the legs are shapely, the feet small and always well arched. Strong, active, and