276 FKOM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



seldom himself moving far from home, the native loves to 

 watch the life that passes on the road, and the traveller 



A SHUA MARKET IN BORNTJ 



(even the one who has not gone farther than the next country), 

 who can bring him news and tell him of things that his own 

 eyes have never seen, is a great man in his estimation and 

 worthy to be entertained. 



The characteristics of the Shiia people forcibly suggest 

 their originating from Abyssinia ; the similarity of the 

 name Shua with that of an Abyssinian people, called 

 Shoa, bears this out. Their type and habits also, and. 

 their inborn love of horses — for horse-breeding is the 



