Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/254

 slim, they resemble the Abyssinians, and more especially the Agau, to whom they are probably related; but they are usually of a more attractive and open cast of countenance. The Gallas are extremely dolichocephalous, forehead high and rounded, the nose flat, the lips full but rarely pouting, the beard thin and the hair wavy and growing in separate tufts. The finest men are said to be found amongst the Limmus and Gudrus on the banks of the Abaï, who, according to some authors, may be taken as types of the race. Like the bulk of the natives of the Upper

Nile, the "Sons of Men" are very skilful in dressing their hair in the shape of a crescent, a halo, or in long tresses; but the right to these decorations is limited in many tribes to those who have killed a man, under penalty of having it shaved off every three months. The skin varies greatly in shade; whilst that of the men is of a deep or reddish brown, that of the women is usually very light. The.latter are all considered, even by white people, to be very handsome in their youth. According to Beke, the complexion of the Gallas along the Abaï or Blue Nile Valley is not darker than that of the Andalusian peasantry. It was due to their relatively fair