Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 1.djvu/294

 280 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. sinian origin, and the Abyssinians themselves look upon them as descendants of the ancient Aksumites. They are generally of a dark complexion, and individuals are often found amongst them nearly as black as the Nigritians of western Africa. Well-proportioned, tall, strong, and broad-shouldered, the Eunama are one of the healthiest and most vigorous peoples of the continent. Sickly persons are un- known, and the disgraceful diseases so common amongst the Abyssinian highlanders and the Arab lowlanders have not yet contaminated their race. Like the Nuers and Denkas of the Upper Nile, they often rest standing on one foot. They rarely suffer from the fevers so dangerous to strangers, and many of them attain an advanced age. However, they have a certain tendency to stoutness, and in this respect present a singular contrast to their neighbours, the Barea, and especially to the Arabs. The Kunama attribute their good health to the scars with which they cover the face and body — and which they look upon as signs of beauty — as well as a sacred writing proclaiming their origin. The Barea are not of such light complexion as the Kunama, and are usually weaker and less shapely ; many blind persons are found in their tribes, especially in the vicinity of the marshy shallows of the river Barka. Whilst nearly all the Kunama have a family likeness, the Barea present a great diversity of types, and, excepting the women, have rarely regular features. The languages of the two peoples are also different, although both may be classed provisionally in the " Hamitic " group, while in some respects they appear to be allied with the Nuba idiom. It will be possible to fix their position definitely when all the dialects of North-East Africa have been as carefully studied as the Bazena of the Kunama, and the Nerebena of the Barea, have been by Munzinger, Edlund, Halevy, and Reinisch. The speech of the Kunama is unaccentuated, and without harsh consonants ; uniform and soft, it corresponds perfectly with the peaceful character of the nation. Very few of the Kunama speak any language than their own, whilst nearly all the Barea under- stand the Tigre of their Abyssinian neighbours. There is a rich treasure in the popular songs and melodies of the Kunama, which have not yet been collected by European explorers. The Kunama and Barea are pre-eminently agriculturists, all cultivating the land without distinction of sex, position, or fortune. During the rainy season the plough never rests, and, unlike their neighbours, they have no idle days consecrated to religious feasts. All the domestic animals are used for work ; the camels, asses, and homed cattle are harnessed to the plough, and if these cannot be had, the men or women take their place. Everyone has his farm, and plots of land are set apart even for the slaves, who are allowed sufficient time for its cultivation. The public domain, at the disposition of all, is of sufficient size to enable the labourer to select another piece of land, and thus, replace the field exhausted by a long term of culti- vation ; but the rotation of these allotments is usually made in a regular order around the scattered huts in which the families reside. Wherever the hills have a decided slope, they are cultivated in terraces sustained by stone walls. The Bazen are never daunted by any kind of work. Peaceful labourers engaged exclusively in tilling the land, neither the Bazen nor the Barea are grouped in villages, as they