Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/293

 THE TAKRURI— TII£ KUNAMA AND BAREA. S29 The Takruri. To the north and north-west of the Gin jar, the zone of the spurs which separftte the Abyssinian plateaux from the Nubian steppes is occupied by other immigrants, collectively known as Tukruri, or Takarir, originally come from Dar- For, Wadai, and the countries of Western Africa. Mostly pilgrims retunied from Mecca, they have preferred to stop and settle do^-n in a country where they found lands to cultivate and a relative independence, rather than return to their own territory, where they were certain to meet with oppression. Perfectly accli- matised to these lowlands, where most of the Abyssinians and European travellers succumb, they now occupy all Gulabat and many of the valleys of the Kwarra, in Abyssinia. Having become free, they have, at the same time, acquired great prosperity as farmers and merchants; but they have not always peacefully enjoyed their conquests, and civil war often broke out between the Takrur of Wadai, those of Dar-For, and the descendants of the immigrants long settled in the country. A large number of Jiberti Mussulmans, expelled from Ab^'ssinia because they have refused to abjure their faith, have recently increased the population of the Takarir communities and of the Dabaina Arabs. The KiXAMA and Barea. The Kunama, Bazen, or Baza, who people the valleys of the March and Takkazeh and the intermediary plateaux at the mouth of the Abyssinian kwallas to the number of some one hundred and fifty thousand, are " Shangallas," who have successfully kept aloof from intermingling with the Arabs. They do not as yet speak the language of the northern invaders, and, except in the vicinity of the borderlands, have not adopted the Mohammedan religion ; but if they have suc- ceeded in maintaining their national independence, it is only due to their continual and pitiless wars. An implacable struggle exists between them and the nomads of the north, and the frontier populations are always on the alert to avoid surprise, and the massacre which would inevitably follow. The Kunama have also to defend themselves on the south from the attacks of the Abyssinian highlanders. Like their neighbours, the Barea, ten times less numerous, who live to the north-west in the rocky region of the water-parting between the Mareb and the Barka, they are continually in danger of being crushed by the enemies who harass them on both sides. In one direction the Arabs assail them from the lowlands, on the other the Abyssinians swoop down from their plateaux, whence Munzinger compares them to the com, ground between two millstones. Nevertheless, these populations so threatened are amongst the most interesting by their customs, the most sympathetic by their qualities, and the most worthy of imitation ; peace exists between their different communities, and labour is respected by them. Although resembling each other in their political and social institutions, the Kunama and the Barea are different in origin and physical type. The Kunama, established in the country since time immemorial, claim to be immigrants of Abys-