DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0223
THE FOLK-LITERATURE OF THE GALLA
207
tinguish the hunter who has killed the hippopotamus, in case the animal after being
wounded is carried away by the current. Each Way to family has its own peculiar mark.
The utilization of the products of the hunting is everywhere the same. With the skin
of the hippopotamus, the Wdtta make switches, the famous kurbag, and less frequently
shields; the teeth are sold as ivory; the fat is used by the Watta to anoint themselves
(this, according to Cecchi and Heuglin, causes an offensive stench of the body); the tail
is cut off and hung from the ceiling of the hut as a triumphal spoil; the meat, according
to all sources, is eaten by the hunters, thus proving that the poison used to kill the hippo-
potamus is not harmful to men. Heuglin also says that they dry the meat to preserve it.
In addition to the hippopotamus, the Wdtta of the central group at least, also hunt mon-
keys, aquatic birds, and crocodiles.
As to occupations other than hunting, those of the central group, according to P. Leon
des Avancher, Massaja, and Cecchi, are the executors of the death sentences decreed by
the kings of Galla and Kaffa countries. This is confirmed also by the Galla-Italian diction-
ary compiled by Viterbo.1 This dictionary translates and Watto, “executioner.”
P. Leon adds that they also cut wood for their patrons, and Cecchi says that they tan
skins. This is perhaps a mistake because of the frequent confusion of the two low castes,
the Watta and the tanners. But still it is probable that the Wdtta, although chiefly hunters,
also engage in other occupations esteemed ignoble. Cecchi states the Watta make their
own knives. Those of the northern group are also fishers and boatmen. They construct
a kind of raft (called in Amharic tankua), putting together canes of the papyrus (cy perus
papyrus), and laying them in piles. The rafts are pushed by one oar only, with which they
row alternately to the right and to the left. Moreover, all these hunters of the northern
and central group are considered by the Amara, the Galla, and the Sidama to be sorcerers,
and rich in magical powers. Their malediction is much feared. This helps to lighten for them
the yoke of the high castes.
As the low castes of Somaliland are called by the insulting nickname bahth ‘uno, i.e.
“ dead-eating ” (those who eat impure meat), so the most usual reason of contempt for
the hunters of Abyssinia is their eating flesh of unclean animals, e.g. the hippopotamus,
monkeys, aquatic birds (the Galla call the water-hen hindaqd Say tana, “ the fowl of
Satan ”), hares, and wild boars. Naturally the popular imagination has exaggeratedly im-
puted to the contemned Way to all other kinds of impure foods; even crocodiles,2 elephants
(according to P. Leon), and serpents.3
We may distinguish two legal codes of the Wdtta (Wdytb, etc.); one governing their
relations among themselves, the other governing their relations to the higher castes. We
know almost nothing about the law of the Wdtta. Massaja tells us that in the central group
marriage between brother and sister is not forbidden by these hunters forced into endogamy
1 Vocabolario della lingua Oromonica, (Cecchi, op. cit., vol. 3, p. 263).
2 Bruce, op. cit., p. 455. 3 Cf. Guidi, Vocabolario amarico-italiano, Wdyto.
207
tinguish the hunter who has killed the hippopotamus, in case the animal after being
wounded is carried away by the current. Each Way to family has its own peculiar mark.
The utilization of the products of the hunting is everywhere the same. With the skin
of the hippopotamus, the Wdtta make switches, the famous kurbag, and less frequently
shields; the teeth are sold as ivory; the fat is used by the Watta to anoint themselves
(this, according to Cecchi and Heuglin, causes an offensive stench of the body); the tail
is cut off and hung from the ceiling of the hut as a triumphal spoil; the meat, according
to all sources, is eaten by the hunters, thus proving that the poison used to kill the hippo-
potamus is not harmful to men. Heuglin also says that they dry the meat to preserve it.
In addition to the hippopotamus, the Wdtta of the central group at least, also hunt mon-
keys, aquatic birds, and crocodiles.
As to occupations other than hunting, those of the central group, according to P. Leon
des Avancher, Massaja, and Cecchi, are the executors of the death sentences decreed by
the kings of Galla and Kaffa countries. This is confirmed also by the Galla-Italian diction-
ary compiled by Viterbo.1 This dictionary translates and Watto, “executioner.”
P. Leon adds that they also cut wood for their patrons, and Cecchi says that they tan
skins. This is perhaps a mistake because of the frequent confusion of the two low castes,
the Watta and the tanners. But still it is probable that the Wdtta, although chiefly hunters,
also engage in other occupations esteemed ignoble. Cecchi states the Watta make their
own knives. Those of the northern group are also fishers and boatmen. They construct
a kind of raft (called in Amharic tankua), putting together canes of the papyrus (cy perus
papyrus), and laying them in piles. The rafts are pushed by one oar only, with which they
row alternately to the right and to the left. Moreover, all these hunters of the northern
and central group are considered by the Amara, the Galla, and the Sidama to be sorcerers,
and rich in magical powers. Their malediction is much feared. This helps to lighten for them
the yoke of the high castes.
As the low castes of Somaliland are called by the insulting nickname bahth ‘uno, i.e.
“ dead-eating ” (those who eat impure meat), so the most usual reason of contempt for
the hunters of Abyssinia is their eating flesh of unclean animals, e.g. the hippopotamus,
monkeys, aquatic birds (the Galla call the water-hen hindaqd Say tana, “ the fowl of
Satan ”), hares, and wild boars. Naturally the popular imagination has exaggeratedly im-
puted to the contemned Way to all other kinds of impure foods; even crocodiles,2 elephants
(according to P. Leon), and serpents.3
We may distinguish two legal codes of the Wdtta (Wdytb, etc.); one governing their
relations among themselves, the other governing their relations to the higher castes. We
know almost nothing about the law of the Wdtta. Massaja tells us that in the central group
marriage between brother and sister is not forbidden by these hunters forced into endogamy
1 Vocabolario della lingua Oromonica, (Cecchi, op. cit., vol. 3, p. 263).
2 Bruce, op. cit., p. 455. 3 Cf. Guidi, Vocabolario amarico-italiano, Wdyto.