THE ABYSSINIAN AND ETHIOPIC GROUPS 369 



to throw off the heavy rain. The plan of the houses is a hollow square, containing a series of 

 court-yards for the sheep and goats. Bound each court-yard is a verandah, where the fires are 

 placed and cooking is done. There are from ten to twenty rooms in a house; each room is 

 from 10 to 15 feet long and about 7 or 8 feet broad. There are no windows, which would let in 

 the sun's glare and heat as well as the light. The number of inhabitants in these compound 

 houses is often large, amounting, according to Burton, to sometimes as many as 500. The 

 furniture is simple, consisting of wide cots and settees, rough earthenware pottery, grass bags, 

 and usually a gun. 



In culture the Yoruba are intermediate between the Coast Negroes and the more skilled 

 natives of Haussalaud. Their religion and domestic rites agree in the main with those of 

 their Tshi and Ewe allies. They have the same multiplicity of gods, and have special gods 

 for their trade castes; thus the blacksmiths and armourers are under the protection of Oguu. 

 Shango is their lightning god, and, as among the Ewe, a fire supposed to have been caused 

 by lightning must not be put out. Burton tells us that at Abeokuta a fire due to carelessness 

 was attributed to Shango; accordingly an old man in the building would have been allowed 

 to be burnt to death, had not a European, defying sacrilege, rushed to the rescue. 



c. THE ABYSSINIAN AND ETHIOPIC GROUPS. 



THE Negro tribes occur only to the south of a line from the mouth of the Senegal River in 

 lat. 16 N. on the Atlantic coast to the mouth of the Juba on the Equator in Eastern Africa. 



Photo by M< 



[London. 



DAHOMEYAN AMAZONS. 



