XII.] THE CAUCASIC PEOPLES. 487 



these genealogical tables are far from complete, for they exclude 

 most of the southern sections, notably the Rahanvvin who have a 

 very wide range on both sides of the Jub. 



In the statements made by the natives about true Somals 

 and "pagans," race and religion are confused, and the distinction 

 between Asha and Hawiya is merely one between Moslem and 

 infidel. The latter are probably of much purer stock than the 

 former, whose very genealogies testify to interminglings of the 

 Moslem Arab intruders with the heathen aborigines. 



Despite their dark colour Prof. C. Keller 1 has no difficulty in 

 regarding the Somali as members of the " Caucasic Race." The 

 Semitic type crops out decidedly in several groups, and they are 

 generally speaking of fine physique, well grown, with proud bearing 

 and often with classic profile, though the type is very variable 

 owing to Arab and Negro grafts on the Hamitic stock. The 

 hair is never woolly, but, like that of the Bejas, ringletty and 

 less thick than the Abyssinian and Galla, sometimes even quite 

 straight. The forehead is finely rounded and prominent, eye 

 moderately large and rather deep-set, nose straight, but also 

 snub and aquiline, mouth regular, lips not too thick, head 

 sub-dolicho. 



Great attention has been paid to all these Eastern Hamitic 

 peoples by Ph. Paulitschke", who regards the Gallas as both intel- 

 lectually and morally superior to the Somals and Afars, the chief 

 reason being that the baneful influences exercised by the Arabs 

 and Abyssinians affect to a far greater extent the two latter than 

 the former group. He credits these primitive peoples originally 

 (" urspriinglich ") with a monotheistic belief, or rather with "a 

 monotheism disturbed by diverse superstitions." But this view, 

 which rests on the assumption that the aborigines in question 

 distinguish between a Supreme God and a large number of spirits 

 under him, is unsupported by any solid proof. The characteristic 

 feature in their religion is the predominance of animistic over 

 natural mythological concepts. A great part is played by bodiless 

 genii; even their animal and tree worship has its roots in animism, 



1 " Reisestudien in den Somalilandern," Globus, LXX., p. 33 sq. 



2 Ethnographic Nord-Ost-Afrikas: Die geistige Kultur der Danakil, Galla 

 u. Somdl. Berlin, 1896, 2 vols. 



