they are also accustomed to shave their heads, and to encircle
them with a cloth in the form of a turban.” *
Mr. Waddington has described the Sheygya Arabs—so he
terms the Shakieh of Ruppell. He says that Melek Chowes
—Ruppell calls him Melek Chaus—the chief of Merawe,
was “ a fat, lively, good-tempered man, and very fair for a
Sheygya, who are in general jet-black.” “ The Sheygya,”
he adds, “ as already mentioned, are black-^a clear, glossy,
jet-black, which appeared to my then unprejudiced;eyes to be
the finest colour that could be selected for a human being;.
They are distinguished in every respect from Negroes^rrby the
brightness o£ their colour; by their hair, and the regularity
of their features; by the mild and dewy lustre of their eyes ;
and by the softness of their touch, in which last respect they
yield notto Europeans.”^
Mr. Waddington repeats his observations on this race of
people* whose personal traits appeared to-him very remarkable*
As their physical characteristics were the object of his especial
attention, we must give him credit for accuracy in this
particular.
It appears on the whole, from the testimony of various unprejudiced
writers, that the race of Arabs has undergone considerable
modifications of their physical character, and that
in Africa, although in many places their countenances still retain
more or less of their primitive type, they have become a
people of greater stature, stouter form, and njore regular .features,
than the inhabitants of the peninsula. Their complexion
has also varied, and, according to Mr. Waddington and Dr.
Ruppell and M. Rozet, there are black people in Africa
among the genuine descendants of Arabians.
* Rlippell’s Reisen, p. 65.
-J- Waddington’s Journal to some parts of Ethiopia, p. 122.
CHAPTER XIII.
OP THE NATIV'h RACES ÖF^S'ÖUTHEiÉP AFRICA, ^BEYOND THE
11 TROPI$f!p
S e c t io n I .-^Introductory Remarks mp the Physical Geography
of Southern Africa.
under the vdesg^$L^^ Afncj&^I _mean^ to include
all that part of the African cpnrinent. l iè^Mthe
southward of the eqiiato^', T thatsOTae of the
racés' of people already * enumelwe|l among the inhabitants of
Northern Africa,-as the Sunoifili and^thë^ Calla, extend sguth-
Avard as, far as the^river Juba, -which:.i;0ws"intOr-,t|.e, ..Indian
Öqean. Beyond this point the eastern pnrt of the,eontinent is
inhabited by nations of different language^ and physical.
racters, and we begin to trace the' proofs of connÉIlon ralMr
with the. southern than the Northern'st|h|s. The moiath of the
river Juba, which , is .called Zebee in tfiV interior^ lies just
under the equinoctial line. On. the western coast the serjes
of Negro nations inhabiting the long maritime tract of Guinea
are lost sight of when we reach the gulf of Bénin and Biafra;
and of the adjoining country lying immediately under the
equator, we have little information.^Ne^ races of people are
found on the first points of coast that are known, after ij has
taken a direction towards the south : we t® |?apmidè'ïïcé, on
both sides of the continent, a.new investigation. .We shall
find it most convenient tb pursue, in tracing the connexion
of tribes in the southern part of the African continent, a direction
contrary to that hitherto followed, proceeding ?from the
south towards the north.
5f I. Of the extreme part of South Africa.,
South Africa .is commonly said to terminate in. a point.
Nothing can be more erroneous than this notion. We might,
as Professor Ritter has observed, with equal reason term the