37 2 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



The assumed Arabian origin of the Danakil is true only of some of the chiefs, who have 

 been connected with Arabia, and were at one time subject to the Sheikh of Mecca. But 

 these facts lend no support to the mistaken view that the Danakil and kindred- Gallas are of 

 Arab (Semitic) descent. All are of Hamitic stock and speech. 



THE SOMALI. 



The peninsula to the east of the Galla country is inhabited by the Somali, who occupy 

 the whole of the "Eastern Horn of Africa," the great projection south of the Gulf of Aden 

 and range southwards as far as the Tana River. The Somali are allied to the Gallas, and are 

 clearly a Hamitic race; but to a limited extent the description of the Somali as a half-caste 

 race of Gallas and South Arabians is correct, although the Hamitic is unquestionably the 

 larger constituent element. 



For an African race the Somali are decidedly handsome. The head is long and the 

 forehead lofty and noble; the eyes are large and expressive; the jaws, though prominent, are 

 not heavy; the lips, though thick, are thinner than among Negroes. The cheek-bones are high, 

 and the nose straight, with a well-developed bridge, and the nostrils are small. The men are 



tall and extremely slim, the limbs 

 being especially thin and bony. The 

 women are broader, shorter, and more 

 muscular, and they do most of the 

 manual work of the tribe. The colour 

 of the skin is very dark, and is some- 

 times coal black. The hair is long, 

 hard, and wiry, and grows in stiff 

 ringlets, which are dressed with butter 

 made from camel's milk, and often 

 trained into an enormous wig, ex- 

 tended out on each side of the head. 

 The first travellers who came in 

 contact with the Somali gave them 

 a very bad character, owing to their 

 supposed treachery, fickleness, and 

 cruelty. This reputation has been 

 supported by the following oft-quoted 

 passage from Burton, whose experi- 

 ences of the Somali were unfortu- 

 nate: "They have all the levity and 

 instability of the Negro character; 

 light-minded as the Abyssiniaus 

 described by Gobat as constant in 

 nothing but inconstancy soft, merry, 

 and affectionate souls, they pass with- 

 out any apparent transition into a 

 state of fury, when they are capable 

 of terrible atrocities. At Aden they 

 appear happier than in their native 

 country. There I have often seen a 

 man clapping his hands and dancing, 

 childlike, alone to relieve the exuber- 



By permission oft/ie Pftffluor <tf Anthropology, Natural UMory Museum, Paris. ance f his Spirits! Have they be- 



A YORUBA WOMAN. come, as the Mongols and other 



