Both Abyssinia And The Galla Being Renowned
For A Fine Breed Of Mules, Affords Good Circumstantial Evidence That The
Akkara Tribe Of The Chol Are True Gallas, And That The Latookas May Be
Derived From A Similar Origin By Settlements After Conquest.
The great chief of the Latookas, "Moy," assured me that his people could
not withstand the cavalry of the Akkara, although they were superior to
all other tribes on foot.
I have heard the traders of Khartoum pretend that they can distinguish
the tribes of the White Nile by their individual type. I must confess my
inability on this point. In vain I have attempted to trace an actual
difference. To me the only distinguishing mark between the tribes
bordering the White River is a peculiarity in either dressing the hair,
or in ornament. The difference of general appearance caused by a variety
of hairdressing is most perplexing, and is apt to mislead a traveller
who is only a superficial observer; but from the commencement of the
negro tribes in N. lat. 12 degrees to Ellyria in lat. 4 degrees 30
minutes I have found no specific difference in the people. The actual
change takes place suddenly on arrival in Latooka, and this is accounted
for by an admixture with the Gallas.
The Latookas are a fine, frank, and warlike race. Far from being the
morose set of savages that I had hitherto seen, they were excessively
merry, and always ready for either a laugh or a fight. The town of
Tarrangolle contained about three thousand houses, and was not only
surrounded by iron-wood palisades, but every house was individually
fortified by a little stockaded courtyard. The cattle were kept in large
kraals in various parts of the town, and were most carefully attended
to, fires being lit every night to protect them from flies; and high
platforms, in three tiers, were erected in many places, upon which
sentinels watched both day and night to give the alarm in case of
danger. The cattle are the wealth of the country, and so rich are the
Latookas in oxen, that ten or twelve thousand head are housed in every
large town; thus the natives are ever on the watch, fearing the attacks
of the adjacent tribes.
The houses of the Latookas are generally bell-shaped, while others are
precisely like huge candle-extinguishers, about twenty-five feet high.
The roofs are neatly thatched, at an angle of about 75 degrees, resting
upon a circular wall about four feet high; thus the roof forms a cap
descending to within two feet and a half of the ground. The doorway is
only two feet and two inches high, thus an entrance must be effected
upon all-fours. The interior is remarkably clean, but dark, as the
architects have no idea of windows. It is a curious fact that the
circular form of but is the only style of architecture adopted among all
the tribes of Central Africa, and also among the Arabs of Upper Egypt;
and that, although these differ more or less in the form of the roof, no
tribe has ever yet sufficiently advanced to construct a window. The town
of Tarrangolle is arranged with several entrances, in the shape of low
archways through the palisades; these are closed at night by large
branches of the hooked thorn of the kittur bush (a species of mimosa).
The main street is broad, but all others are studiously arranged to
admit of only one cow, in single file, between high stockades; thus, in
the event of an attack, these narrow passages could be easily defended,
and it would be impossible to drive off their vast herds of cattle
unless by the main street. The large cattle kraals are accordingly
arranged in various quarters in connexion with the great road, and the
entrance of each kraal is a small archway in the strong iron-wood fence
sufficiently wide to admit one ox at a time.
Suspended from the arch is a bell, formed of the shell of the Dolape
palm-nut, against which every animal must strike either its horns or
back, on entrance.
Every tinkle of the bell announces the passage of an ox into the kraal,
and they are thus counted every evening when brought home from pasture.
I had noticed, during the march from Latome, that the vicinity of every
town was announced by heaps of human remains. Bones and skulls formed a
Golgotha within a quarter of a mile of every village. Some of these were
in earthenware pots, generally broken; others lay strewn here and there;
while a heap in the centre showed that some form had originally been
observed in their disposition. This was explained by an extraordinary
custom most rigidly observed by the Latookas. Should a man be killed in
battle the body is allowed to remain where it fell, and is devoured by
the vultures and hyenas; but should he die a natural death, he or she is
buried in a shallow grave within a few feet of his own door, in the
little courtyard that surrounds each dwelling. Funeral dances are then
kept up in memory of the dead for several weeks; at the expiration of
which time, the body being sufficiently decomposed, is exhumed. The
bones are cleaned, and are deposited in an earthenware jar, and carried
to a spot near the town which is regarded as the cemetery. I observed
that they were not particular in regarding the spot as sacred, as signs
of nuisances were present even upon the bones, that in civilized
countries would have been regarded as an insult.
There is little difficulty in describing the toilette of the native -
that of the men being simplified by the sole covering of the head, the
body being entirely nude. It is curious to observe among these wild
savages the consummate vanity displayed in their head-dresses. Every
tribe has a distinct and unchanging fashion for dressing the hair; and
so elaborate is the coiffure that hair-dressing is reduced to a science.
European ladies would be startled at the fact, that to perfect the
coiffure of a man requires a period of from eight to ten years!
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