Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/286

 222 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. speaks of as " the most dreaded of all animals," or it may be that insect which the ancients declared could put the lion to flight. East of the Blue Nile, in the Kuba country, another species of fly, smaller than the doboan, is fatal only to the ass, horse, dog, and camel. But the cause of the mortality of these animals may pos- sibly be due, not so much to the sting of one single insect, as to the thousands of wounds inflicted daily by the swarms of gadflies which absolutely worry the animals to death. The live stock can be protected only by keeping them in the stables during the day, and letting them out at night, or else by burning pungent herj)s. However, there are spots where these pests cannot enter, consequently the agricul- tural populations have there collected into compact groups, such as the Abu- Ramleh uplands south-east of Roseres, which is a region of this description. Inhabitants. — The Shaxgallas and Legas. The contrast between the Abyssinian mountains and the hilly plains sloping towards the Nile consists not only in the relief, climate and agricultural produce, but also in the populations. The tribes, dialects, manners, and religions, all differ, and are bounded by an irregular zone, which encircles the side of the moimtains. In many places, these regions are separated by tracts either deserted, or else peopled by savage tribes, always on the watch for prey. All these communities are known by the collective name of Shangallas, which, however, is of no definite ethnological value, as all the non-Arab or non- Abyssinian blacks are indifferently called Shan- gallas by the people of the plateaux. The Upper Jabus Yalley and the mountains commanded by the double peak of Tulu-Wallel (10,666 feet), whose southern face overlooks the Sobat basin, are peopled by the Legas, the most westerly of all the Galla peoples, unless the Latukas and AVa-Humas may also be considered as belonging to the same race, from which they are now separated by so many different nations. The type of the Legas is very pure and quite distinct from that of the Negroes, although they are surrounded by the latter on the south, west, and north. Their complexion is very light, even more 80 than that of Europeans bronzed by the tropical sun. Tall and usually thin, they have the " arms and legs of Yankees," a long and thin neck, narrow hollow-cheeked face, but with strong features and expressive eyes, a small head, and a high, narrow, and conic forehead. The women are in proportion much shorter than the men, and also present a much greater contrast than is usually remarked between the sexes, being as plump as the latter are thin and scraggy, whilst their hands and feet are extremely small. The royal family, and those of the Lega chiefs, are of far less pure extraction than the bulk of the nation. They have received a strain of Negro blood ; but although the complexion is darker, the features are usually finer, and the body more fleshy. These mulattos are also of a livelier disposition, and have not the melancholy appearance of the other Legas, who are usually seen leaning on their lances with the head resting pensively on the right shoulder ; from this circumstance Schuver compared them to cranes. The Legas are one of the most numerous nations of the plateaux, comprising at least a hundred thousand