282 BIMANA. 



of granite rock by which they were surrounded, and produced a picturesque 

 and awful appearance." The inhabitants of this wild region paint and stain 

 their bodies of different colours, go almost naked, and live in common, 

 without regard to any relationship. Lakes of large extent are found in the 

 interior ; and the valleys produce figs, mangoes, and other fruits. On 

 penetrating into this region a short distance, with some people of Mandara, 

 we saw, says Major Denham, " the inhabitants run up the mountains, quite 

 naked, with ape-like agility. On another occasion, a company of savages 

 were sent from a Kerdy, or Pagan village, termed Musgow, as a peace- 

 offering, to deprecate the Sultan, who was on the eve of making a kidnap- 

 ping expedition into their country. On entering his palace, they threw 

 themselves upon the ground, pouring sand upon their heads, and uttering 

 the most piteous cries. On their heads, which were covered with long 

 woolly, or, rather, bristly hair, coming quite over their eyes, they wore a 

 cap of the skin of a Goat, or some animal like a Fox ; round their arms, 

 and in their ears, were rings of what appeared to be bone ; and around 

 their necks were from one to six strings of the teeth of the enemies 

 they had slain in battle : teeth and pieces of bone were also pendant from 

 the clotted locks of their hair ; their bodies were marked, in different 

 places, with red patches, and their teeth were stained of the same colour. 

 Their whole appearance was strikingly wild, and truly savage. Endea- 

 vours to set on foot intercourse with them were in vain : they would 

 hold no communication ; but, having obtained leave, carried off the 

 carcass of a horse to the mountains ; and the fires that blazed during the 

 night, and the savage yells, which reached the valley, proved that they 

 were celebrating their brutal feast." 



The mountain countries of Bertat and Fertit, to the west of Abyssinia, 

 are inhabited by a race of savage Negroes, divided into different tribes, 

 speaking different languages, or dialects ; and the mountain regions of Kor- 

 dofan are tenanted by similar tribes, but rather more advanced in some of 

 the ruder arts, the result of their knowledge of the use of iron, and of a 

 mode of obtaining it from the red oxide, with which the hills abound. On 

 the hills and in the valleys of the Fazoclo chain, the defiles of which are 

 traversed by the Bharel-Abiad, are the Shangalla tribes, a rude and savage 

 race, oppressed and hunted down by the Abyssinians, and exhibiting a de- 

 graded picture of the unimproved Negro. Elephants, Hippopotami, Rhino- 

 ceroses, Ostriches, Crocodiles, Locusts, Snakes, and Lizards, and various 

 roots of the earth, constitute their food. They are woolly-headed, jet black, 

 robust, with narrow foreheads, high cheek-bones, flat noses, small eyes, and 

 wide mouths. Bruce regards these tribes as the Rhizophagi, Elephantophagi, 

 Acridophagi, Struthiophagi, and Agriophagi of Ptolemy. The Dobenah, 

 according to the same traveller, are the most powerful of the Shangalla ; 

 they live near to the Tacazze, and feed upon the Elephant and the Rhino- 



