The Galla, probably one of the most ancient of races now existing,
may be regarded as the parent of the Somali tribe, and as such first
come under consideration.
Thb Galla". .
" On taking a general survey of the racial history of Africa," says
Dr. Haddon, " it is manifest that the critical area is the North-Eastern
region which abuts on Southern Arabia," geologically but a short
time has elapsed snice Africa and Asia were joined, paleolithic
implements similar to those found in the Congo have been found in
Somaliiand, and in short, there are good grounds for the belief that
the principal races of Africa crossed from Southern Asia.
The Galla, or as they call themselves Oromo (the sons of men),
have had various origins ascribed to them, and the word " Galla " is
that used of them by the Abyssinians and Arabs. Dr. Ludwig Krapf
states that this word means "to go home," and Miss A.
Wernher has recently suggested the Galla words of farewell Agum
ngalla corroborates this statement. The Abyssinians however derive
the Galla from an Abyssinian lady of rank who was given in marriage
to a slave from Gurague to whom she bore seven sons who became
dreaded robbers and the founders of tribes inhabiting the country about
the iiiver Galla whence they took their name. Moslem tradition
has it that Galla are Meccan Arabs who settled on the East Coast of
Africa during the Wakt-el-Jahiliveh, or Time of Ignorance, and that
their name is derived from the reply of Ullabu, their Chief, to the
summons of the Phophet calling on the tribe to accept Al-Islam, the
messenger returning stated " He said ' No ' " (Gha la) — an example
of the Moslem love of philological analogy.
It is interesting, however, to note the similarity between the
Galla word for both God and Sky, Wak, and the idol Wak of the
pre-islamic pantheon at Mecca, of which the Kaaba alone survives;
and again the Galla legend of a Kitab or Holy Book, to the loss of
which they ascribe the fallen fortunes of their race. The Galla
themselves aver that in the beginning of their history they crossed a
great sea or lake, the Bed Sea. A story of kingship and a coronation
feast is told, and women, as in the early history of Arabia, have held
princely rank.
Probably those Galla whose southward route lay near the East
Coast of Africa and who are now found along the Tana Eiver and in
the neighbourhood of Witu are correctly described by Dr. Krapf as
" more primitive " than those of Abyssinia whom he met during his
activities there between 1838 and 1842, in that they are the relicts of
the early migrants and had little contact with the races of Abyssinia.
Incidentally Dr. Krapf, himself a German, described the Galla as the
'- Germans of Africa."
A theory as to the origin of the Equatorial Galla is advanced in
the unsigned article " Gallas " in the Encyclopaedia Brittanica, which
states :
" The home of the Southern Galla was possibly in a district
East of Victoria Nyanza, for the tribes near Mount Kenya are
stated to go on a periodical pilgrimage to the mountain, making
offerings as to their mother."
The chain of causation is. obscure.
Herodotus in 450 B.C. shows the horn of Africa and the countries
Southward to the Eiver Juba as inhabited by " Macrobians ";
Erastothenes in 200 B.C. denotes the area " Cinamomifera Eegio ";
and Ptolemy in 150 A.D. shows "Barbaria"; Cape Gardafui as
" Aromata Prontus "; the interior as. " Myrrhifera Eegio," the coast
hinterland as " Azania," a Latinised form of the Arabic Ajam
used in conjunction with the word bar to denote a non-Arab
country.
