VII 



TRAVELS IN EASTERN AFRICA 



319 



time they cultivate the soil to some degree. Both the 

 Borana and the Rrapp wear short breeches made of 

 coarse Galla cloth. 



From Kome to Borana the road is good only dur- 

 ing the rainy season ; in dry weather it is impassable 

 by reason of the lack of water en route. A journey 

 of one month from Kome would be required to reach 

 these people. We therefore have fixed their where- 

 abouts in the neighbourhood of the Juba River. 



GuASO Nyiro River, near where we found Rendile 



Neither Lieutenant von Hohnel nor I was able to 

 come to any satisfactory conclusion as to the origin 

 of the Rendile, or as to the African family to which 

 their tribe belonged. In the matter of appearance, 

 their prevailing light colour, straight hair, blue eyes, 

 and the custom of cutting out the navel led us to 

 conclude that they were closely connected with neither 

 the Somali nor the Galla. Lieutenant von Hohnel 

 had visited Harrar, and had there seen many Abyssin- 

 ians, whose appearance, he said, was very different 

 from that of the Rendile. The language of the Ren- 



