DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0216
200
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
APPENDIX
The Watta: a Low Caste of Hunters
It appears worth while to add here a note on the Watta of whom I have already spoken
(song 15, notes). As it is known, we find in Abyssinia and in the adjacent districts of East
Africa certain classes of the population engaged in particular trades or occupations which
are considered ignoble by the rest of the natives. Their social status differs in the various
districts; sometimes they form low castes, sometimes a kind of trades union with limited
political power. Among these lower strata of the population, the caste of hunters is one of
the most important. In Abyssinia, hunting is an occupation noble or ignoble in respect
to the animal sought. Groups which live by hunting wild beasts considered ignoble, form,
according to the universal law of East Africa, a low caste. The Galla call these hunters
Watta.
It must be noted that Watta are not found in every district of Abyssinia, — a strong
argument against the hypothesis that these hunters have been a primary low caste of the
Semito-Hamitic peoples ever since their origin in Asia. On the contrary, the Watta have
a special geographical distribution in three groups. The southern group is formed by the
hunters living in villages along the banks of the Dawa, north of its confluence with the
Awata, on the banks of the Ganal Doria,1 and the banks of the Galana Sagan, east of its
confluence with the Galana Dulei.2 About this group we have only the two accounts of
Captain Bottego and his companions, and of Captain Colli de Felliggano.3 These Watta
are autonomous and have villages and territories distinct from those of the adjacent peoples.
Around them the country is inhabited by Borana Galla, but the group living on the banks
of the Galana Sagan is limited northwards by the land, until recently unknown, between
the Uba Sidama and the negro tribe of Konso.
The central group is formed by the families scattered through the districts of the Macfia
Galla and Kaffa. These Watta are not independent and live in subjection to the Galla and
Sidama. The size of these Watta groups differs, being large in Guma, smaller in Limmu
and (jffnma Abba Gifar, larger in Gihra, and largest in Kaffa. Watta families, according
to d’Abbadie,4 live west of Kaffa in the land of the Suro, a negro group mixed with Hamitic
elements. This statement of d’Abbadie’s, reported also by Conti-Rossini,5 is indirectly
confirmed by the discovery of Watta in the country of the Gimirra, north of the Surd.
Montandon 6 first noticed them in his travels. These are the most western branches; the
most eastern branches are the Watta whom Krapf7 met at Watta Dalocca, a village in the
1 Vittoris Bottego, Il Giuba esplorato, Roma, 1895, p. 328, 336.
2 Vannutelli e Citerni, L’Omo, op. cit., p. 344, and the general map.
3 G. Colli di Felliggano, ‘ Nei paesi Galla,’ (Boll. Soc. Geog. Ital., Roma, 1905, vol. 42, p. 111).
4 d’Abbadie, Geographic d’Ethiopie, op. cit., p. 199.
6 Conti-Rossini, ‘ I mekan o Suro,’ (Rend. d. R. Accad. d. Lincei, Roma, 1914, vol. 22, pt. 7-8, p. 411).
6 George Montandon, ‘ Au pays Ghimirra,’ (Bull. Soc. Neutcateloise de G6og., Neuchatel, 1912, vol. 22, p. 65).
7 Krapf, Travels, researches, etc., op. eit.
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
APPENDIX
The Watta: a Low Caste of Hunters
It appears worth while to add here a note on the Watta of whom I have already spoken
(song 15, notes). As it is known, we find in Abyssinia and in the adjacent districts of East
Africa certain classes of the population engaged in particular trades or occupations which
are considered ignoble by the rest of the natives. Their social status differs in the various
districts; sometimes they form low castes, sometimes a kind of trades union with limited
political power. Among these lower strata of the population, the caste of hunters is one of
the most important. In Abyssinia, hunting is an occupation noble or ignoble in respect
to the animal sought. Groups which live by hunting wild beasts considered ignoble, form,
according to the universal law of East Africa, a low caste. The Galla call these hunters
Watta.
It must be noted that Watta are not found in every district of Abyssinia, — a strong
argument against the hypothesis that these hunters have been a primary low caste of the
Semito-Hamitic peoples ever since their origin in Asia. On the contrary, the Watta have
a special geographical distribution in three groups. The southern group is formed by the
hunters living in villages along the banks of the Dawa, north of its confluence with the
Awata, on the banks of the Ganal Doria,1 and the banks of the Galana Sagan, east of its
confluence with the Galana Dulei.2 About this group we have only the two accounts of
Captain Bottego and his companions, and of Captain Colli de Felliggano.3 These Watta
are autonomous and have villages and territories distinct from those of the adjacent peoples.
Around them the country is inhabited by Borana Galla, but the group living on the banks
of the Galana Sagan is limited northwards by the land, until recently unknown, between
the Uba Sidama and the negro tribe of Konso.
The central group is formed by the families scattered through the districts of the Macfia
Galla and Kaffa. These Watta are not independent and live in subjection to the Galla and
Sidama. The size of these Watta groups differs, being large in Guma, smaller in Limmu
and (jffnma Abba Gifar, larger in Gihra, and largest in Kaffa. Watta families, according
to d’Abbadie,4 live west of Kaffa in the land of the Suro, a negro group mixed with Hamitic
elements. This statement of d’Abbadie’s, reported also by Conti-Rossini,5 is indirectly
confirmed by the discovery of Watta in the country of the Gimirra, north of the Surd.
Montandon 6 first noticed them in his travels. These are the most western branches; the
most eastern branches are the Watta whom Krapf7 met at Watta Dalocca, a village in the
1 Vittoris Bottego, Il Giuba esplorato, Roma, 1895, p. 328, 336.
2 Vannutelli e Citerni, L’Omo, op. cit., p. 344, and the general map.
3 G. Colli di Felliggano, ‘ Nei paesi Galla,’ (Boll. Soc. Geog. Ital., Roma, 1905, vol. 42, p. 111).
4 d’Abbadie, Geographic d’Ethiopie, op. cit., p. 199.
6 Conti-Rossini, ‘ I mekan o Suro,’ (Rend. d. R. Accad. d. Lincei, Roma, 1914, vol. 22, pt. 7-8, p. 411).
6 George Montandon, ‘ Au pays Ghimirra,’ (Bull. Soc. Neutcateloise de G6og., Neuchatel, 1912, vol. 22, p. 65).
7 Krapf, Travels, researches, etc., op. eit.