268 Di' Beke on th^ Languages of 



they subdued and drove westwards into the valleys of the 

 Blue River and its tributary streams.* Dr Latham suggests 

 the restriction of the name of Shdnkqla to the negroes of the 

 low counti'y bordering on Agaumider, to the exclusion of those 

 of the valley of the Takkazie. A recent traveller, M. Russegger, 

 informs us,t that one of the tribes of the valley of the Blue 

 River is called Shangollo, and he protests against the gene- 

 ral application of the name Shangollo or Shankala to all the 

 black people inhabiting the low lands surrounding Abessinia 

 to the west and north. Wliatever may be the derivation of 

 the word, it is certain that among the Abessinians it has be- 

 come an appellative, signifying " negro ;" and hence it is ap- 

 plied by them, though as it would seem improperly, to the 

 black people of the north of Abessinia — the " Shaukalas of 

 the Takkazie" — who do not at present appear to have any 

 aflBnity with the ti'ue Shiinkalas of the south-west. 



It has yet to be ascertained whether the tongue of these 

 true Sh^nkalas of Agaumider is cognate with the languages 

 of Class XV., witli which it is conterminous. 



XXII. The Dalla Language is that of the " Shankalas of 

 the Takkazie," above referred to. 



XXIII. The Takue [or Boje) and Bdrea. These languages are 

 stated by Dr Latham to have affinities equally with the Dalla 

 (xxil.) and with the Agau (xvill.). This might be inferred from 

 the position of the country in which they are spoken. But 

 this alleged affinity with the Agau tongue suggests the pro- 

 bability, that, when we shall have acquired a more intimate 

 knowledge of the languages and dialects of the tribes skirt- 

 ing Abessinia to the north and west, — the Shankalas of 

 Agaumider, the Dalla, and the Takue, — we shall find these 

 people to be, all of them, offsets from the aboriginal race of 

 Abessinia, the Agaus, who have retired from the high table- 

 land into the valleys of the rivers, before the advances of 

 intruders of the Ethiopic class. 



In the Amharic language, the word Bdrea means " slave ;'' 

 that is to say, a " Shankala," negro, or black slave — since, in 



* Journal of the Roijal Geographical Societi/, vol. -xiv. p. 10. 

 t Reise in Europa, Asien und Afrika, vol. ii. part 2, p. 231. 



