TBAXSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. 
117 
Hr, some mountain or mountainous country whose situation is lost, forgotten and no 
'"fm?h7name thus given by the Gallas to the country of th^ir ancestors and from 
ierarions dirccUons in wliich it is said to lie, it may he concluded that they are m 
lift ignorant of iu real position. Still, thia very name Tulu TVolal, or the un- 
may seemingly bo r<^arded as a proof that the immUtve Oallw 
wn (he inhabitants, not of the low plain couulry hordi-ring o» the Indian ocean, 
Act ihev are known tobaveheeu st-rtled lor upwards of two centuries, biU rather 
rf mme fiigh and miiHlmnout one. And this conclusion a corroUovutod hy the 
fctl, that as a people their complexion is fairer than that ctcu ot the Abessimaus, 
colour as a red race, results from their country gcucrally being of njttch greater 
dmion than that of the negroes inhabiting the vtdleysof the Nile and lU inbuia- 
Mtotards the west, or than that of the dark but not negro nomadic *«be» skirluig 
-laermia to the east. ludecd it was probably tlie gre-at lairucM of the uallas which 
ilif Jesuits to derive their name from -yoXo, milK. .\nd it is highly (WKivung o 
that the fimhor we proceed from Abe«iiiia southwards, ulou^ the c cvulcd 
^Liciucfcustcm Africa, the furer i» the complexion of the laliabitanfcs ot that pluU'au ; 
‘connneing proof that the land continues tn rl*e as it upjiroachea the etjtialor*. 
from the foregoing consideratious wc may reasonably wrive at the conclusion Uiat 
■1 m Gsliw come from ft high rnuuiitdiooufl country, situate far to the south ol Abcrania, 
K and apparently to the cast of a large river or lake (bahr). Now Dr. Krupf 
UB+ that the Galla caravuns proceeding from the eastern coast of Afncn near 
ksnbasa (Momhos) for a distance of tlrii’ty or forty days' juurney, come to a cmmtry 
•Wounded by a large river. This river, from the rcsearclips which I have inMituted 
•“ the subject, is no other than the upper course of tlio main stream of tho Nile, the 
•offoof which are iu tho ■muutitalus of the empire of Mdno-A/o^s*—the “ Moun- 
■M^ftlic Moou” of Ptolemyi. , .. , . 
Go the tahlft-land of Easirrii Africa and bordering on the country of Mfmo-IVloezi 
b tk north, dwells the nation of tho Meremong&o, whoso country, according to infor- 
ainoQ obtained by Mr. Cooley §, is about two mouths’journey inland from Monbasa, 
Wuid iho Wanylkall. The Mereniong&o arc known to the mcrchaiita on the coast 
great smiths and cutlers of Kaatern Africa, and as the priticmal consumers of 
^ ^ire, which they wear twisted tightly round llicir arms. These customs ot 
Meremongdo, coupled with tho position of iheir country, lead in the opinion 
‘hey are GaUus. for, in Southern Abossiiilu it ia the Gallas who arc noted as 
tkilful cutlers and workers in iron ; and in Shoa. the liihahitants of which 
v«cnlially of Galia extraction, the custom pvevniU of weaving a naraber 
rings, Bomeiiines covering almost the entire forearm from the wmt to tho 
”^t which rings or bracelets are not rcraovoble at plcusure, but like tbe brass 
«i the Mcremongdo, are tightly and pennanently fixed on tlie arm by a sniitli. 
30 far then as our information will allow us to offer tin opinirui, the country ot tlie 
**,i^'‘?^“»”*®>‘'ountainou8 region, situate far to the south of Abessinia, and lying 
" 'ficiuity of A large river (th® N ilc), presents strong claims to be consKlerea as 
JJHw whence the Galla tribes of Eastern Africa issued eastwards to tho shores ot 
Ionian ocean, and nonliwiirds into the countries inlciwening between them and 
^s«nw, and subsequently into Abessinia itself. NevertheiesB, in the in- 
“f our knowledge on the subject, it would be wrong to regard this as 
^”8 more than a first approxiraation. 
p informs me that the rnhabiuntsof the western coast of Africa, m about 
we acqiwlmcd with a " white” people who come from Uie opposite side of 
DaiiicU’s inqiimng wliethir Uiese white people were not Luropcans, 
4 ‘bat ibey are not so, but '• natives of the land." 
• der Deuwehen tiiorgcnliinrliBclien Goscllschaft, vol. i. p. 
■ 1 " ?!'' of the Sawahili* and otlier people of this part of Afnca raws* signifies 
*0 vJ,- ‘ M ■“ " king," the empire of 3/>mo:\Mxi is simply Uiat of (the k ng 
kk I " Mouiiiftins of the 3/ooh.” in which I’tolemy places the sources of the 
I'nVl* of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. atii. p. 74 ei seq. 
»'vm.toi, ,,, P_2J3 “ ^ 
h Dr ^kuafi (by Mr. Cooley called Maquavi) and Wakamba, arc placed 
•“Md fs ^ ‘o ‘he mih of ihe Gallos. They arc of a race distinct from the Gallas, and 
i««pt perhaps the Ukuafi) to the Sawtihilis. 
