mises is, that, while the Abyssinians are absolutely distinct, on the
one hand, from every Negro race, they are, on the other, equally distinct,
in type and languages, from all Asiatic races; and they must
therefore be regarded as autocthones of the country where they are
now found.
On the south and south-east of Abyssinia there exist other races
which might be enumerated; the Gallas, for example, with brown
complexion, long crisp hair, and features not unlike the Abyssinians.
Also, the Danakil, the Somauli, &c. — none of whom' are Negroes,:
their types being intermediate — long hair, skins more or less dark,
good features, &c.; all partaking far more of the Ethiopian than of
the Negro. [No Abyssinian natives having fallen under the writer’s
personal eye, he cannot pronounce upon them with the same confidence
that he speaks of Negroes; but his colleague, Mr. Gliddon,
whose twenty-odd years’ residence in Egypt, individual aptitude of
observation, and extensive Oriental knowledge, render his opinions
of some weight in these Nilotic questions, refers to the exquisite plates
of Prisse d’Avennes233 for what may be considered the most perfect
expression of this Abyssinian type. ¥ e accept M. Prisse’s life-like
sketches the more readily, inasmuch as they harmonize with the best
accounts we have read, and with our own ethnological deductions,
through analogy, of the characteristics that Abyssinians must present.—
J, C. N.]
On resuming our line of march, then, north towards Egypt, we
turn our backs upon the Soodan, “ llack countries,” ever the true
land of Negroes; and descend from the Abyssinian highlands on the
north-west and north, along the borders of Gondar and Dembea.
Here, again, we meet divers scattered tribes, with black skins and
woolly heads—varieties of the intrusive Shangalla, who now are
found not only on the west, but on the northern borders of Habesh;
while on the south-east we descry the Bobos. In Senniar we again
encounter Negro tribes — the Shilooks and the Tungi; inhabiting
the islands, of the Bahr-el-Abiad, above W&dee, Shallice. Eully described
by Seetzen, Linant, Lord Prudhoe, Russegger, and others;
they present Negro types more or less marked. This fact might seem
to contradict our statement with regard to the primitive localities of
Nigritian races. We look upon such minutise, however, as unimportant
; because, contending simply for a gradation of African races, a
few hundred miles, within the same upper Nilotic, basin, do not affect
tne main principle. Dr. Ruppell, than whom there is certainly no
better authority on this question, corroborates our assumption, by
asserting that the present stations of those Negro races are not their
ancient abodes. He assures us that —
“ The Shilukh Negroes are a numerous and widely spread people, in the country of
Bertal, bordering on Fertit, and to the southward of Kordofan, beyond the tenth degree of
latitude, whence they have dispersed themselves, towards the East and North, along the course
of the White Nile.”
Prichard furthermore admits, that “ the people of Sennàar are no
longer Negroes,” quoting M. Cailliaudto sustain himself; and adding
the latter’s description of the physical character of the races of Sennàar
in general :—
“ Les indigènes du Sennaar ont le teint d’un brun cuivré ; leurs cheveux, quoique crépus,
diffèrent de ceux des vrais Nègres : ils n’ont point, comme ceuxci, Te nez, les lèvres, et les
joues, saillantes—l’ensemble de leur physiognomie est agréable et régulier.”
iCailliaud further remarks, that —
“ Among the inhabitants of the kingdom of Sennaar, and the adjoining countries to
the south, the results of mixture of race, in the intermarriage of Soudanians, Ethiopians,
and Arabs, were frequently to be traced.”
He holds, as does also Cherubini,333 that six distinct castes are well
known in that country, the names and descriptions of which they
give.234
After a careful review of most leading authorities on the races of
Africa, we have arrived at the conclusion that, upon ascending the
table-lands of Abyssinia, at the south and west, we bid adieu to the
true Negro-land (believing that every dispassionate inquirer must come
to results identical). Which departure taken, we find, along the
descending waters of the Nile, only some few scattered Negro types,
who have wandered from their indigenous and more austral soil-,.
Dr. Prichard, we have stated, fully recognizes the gradation of African
races for which we have been contending, but he attributes it entirely
to the operation of physical causes — assigning imaginary reasons,
unsubstantiated by even the slenderest proof, and in negation of which
we hope to adduce overwhelming testimony.
Nubians. — Next in order, we must glance at the races inhabiting
Nubia and other countries between Abyssinia and Egypt, about whom
much unnecessary confusion has existed, simply because few European
travellers among them have been competent physiologists. One
people who inhabit the valley of the Nile above Egypt, and from that
country to Sennàar, give themselves the appellation of Berberri (in the
singular). By the Arabs, they are termed Nuba an'd Baràbera. The
same people in Egypt, whither they immigrate in large numbers, are
by Europeans called Berberins. These races, through similarity of
name, have been erroneously confounded with the Berbers of the
Barbary States; but they differ in language, features, and every
essential particular.234 The Nubians constitute altogether a group of
peculiar races, differing from Arabs, Negroes, or Egyptians —possessing
a physiognomy and color of their own. They speak languages