DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0227
THE FOLK-LITERATURE OF THE GALLA
211
(a statement which is very incorrect) speaks one and the same language,”1 in another place,
he classifies the language of the Wayto among the Kushitic languages,2 and remarks that
it is spoken “ by individuals scattered along the banks of Lake Tana,” therefore, only in
the northern group. It would appear that he was undecided whether to ascribe the hunters
to the negroes or to the Proto-Kushites.
Giuffrida-Ruggeri, on the contrary, definitely assigns them to the group which he calls
“ Proto-Ethiopians.” 3 He demonstrates this hypothesis by means of two arguments, one
linguistic, the other cultural. The linguistic argument is that the Watta, Way to, etc. speak
an Agau dialect; the cultural that they live in portable tents with conical roofs, a kind of
hut peculiar to the Ethiopians. However, it is not true that the Watta speak an Agau
dialect. Giuffrida-Ruggeri has gathered this information from de Castro,4 a source not
worthy of consideration. De Castro has here repeated the mistake of the predecessors of
Bruce, confusing Way to and Qemant", even worse, he has confounded the Qemant and the
Agau linguistically. This confusion of de Castro is not strange; he connects the language
of the Way to with that of the Vavassa (possibly a Bantu people), and in another place
writes that into Ethiopia “ came the Pre-Semites or Kushites, among whom were the Agau,
the Kanuri, the Bogo, etc.,” thus transplanting into East Africa the Kanuri of West
Africa! Moreover, he adds that after these peoples, “the Hyxos came into Ethiopia.” When
one founds his opinion on many different sources, it is necessary to distinguish between the
original sources, and the secondary sources or compilations.
The second argument of Giuffrida-Ruggeri has been taken from Heuglin who accurately
describes the Wayto of the northern group as living “ in ambulanten backofenformigen
Schilfhutten.” But this must not be considered as a general cultural character of these
groups of hunters, because, as I have already said, the habitations of the Watta range
in different districts from cane huts to hiding places in trees. It is not worth while to
consider in detail the opinion of Rava that the Wayto (he speaks only of the northern
group) were originally Moslem Amara, as so many others (sic!) and that when they moved
to the banks of the Tana, far from their churches and religious centres, their faith degener-
ated and therefore they were abjured by their brethren. How does this explain the origin
of the Watta living on the banks of the Galana Sagan where Islam has penetrated only
during the last few years and is perhaps known only by name ? It is not true that the Wayto
of the Tana are Moslem, and besides, they do not live far from religious centres, since the
Islam-biet of Gondar was at least until a few years ago, a little centre of Islamic culture.5 6
1 Montandon, op. cit., p. 65. 2 Ibid., p. 202.
3 V. Giuffrida-Ruggeri, ‘ Nuovi studi sull’antropologia dell’ Africa orientale,’ (Archiv. 1’Antrop. e Ethnol., Firenze,
1915, vol. 45, p. 142-144).
4 De Castro (op. cit., p. 384) says that “ they (the Wdtta) spring from M ingio, a man of the Busciascio, the
first tribe to occupy this country.” Here he confounds the Mango, i.e. the low caste of hunters with the Mingo of
the dynasty Bucasie (called in some Kaffa dialects Busaso), now the ruling branch of that dynasty in Kaff a.
6 This is illustrated by the following anecdote which I learned from a native. When the emperor Johannes IV,
before Matamma, returned to Gondar which had been plundered in the preceding year by the Dervishes of the Mahdi
211
(a statement which is very incorrect) speaks one and the same language,”1 in another place,
he classifies the language of the Wayto among the Kushitic languages,2 and remarks that
it is spoken “ by individuals scattered along the banks of Lake Tana,” therefore, only in
the northern group. It would appear that he was undecided whether to ascribe the hunters
to the negroes or to the Proto-Kushites.
Giuffrida-Ruggeri, on the contrary, definitely assigns them to the group which he calls
“ Proto-Ethiopians.” 3 He demonstrates this hypothesis by means of two arguments, one
linguistic, the other cultural. The linguistic argument is that the Watta, Way to, etc. speak
an Agau dialect; the cultural that they live in portable tents with conical roofs, a kind of
hut peculiar to the Ethiopians. However, it is not true that the Watta speak an Agau
dialect. Giuffrida-Ruggeri has gathered this information from de Castro,4 a source not
worthy of consideration. De Castro has here repeated the mistake of the predecessors of
Bruce, confusing Way to and Qemant", even worse, he has confounded the Qemant and the
Agau linguistically. This confusion of de Castro is not strange; he connects the language
of the Way to with that of the Vavassa (possibly a Bantu people), and in another place
writes that into Ethiopia “ came the Pre-Semites or Kushites, among whom were the Agau,
the Kanuri, the Bogo, etc.,” thus transplanting into East Africa the Kanuri of West
Africa! Moreover, he adds that after these peoples, “the Hyxos came into Ethiopia.” When
one founds his opinion on many different sources, it is necessary to distinguish between the
original sources, and the secondary sources or compilations.
The second argument of Giuffrida-Ruggeri has been taken from Heuglin who accurately
describes the Wayto of the northern group as living “ in ambulanten backofenformigen
Schilfhutten.” But this must not be considered as a general cultural character of these
groups of hunters, because, as I have already said, the habitations of the Watta range
in different districts from cane huts to hiding places in trees. It is not worth while to
consider in detail the opinion of Rava that the Wayto (he speaks only of the northern
group) were originally Moslem Amara, as so many others (sic!) and that when they moved
to the banks of the Tana, far from their churches and religious centres, their faith degener-
ated and therefore they were abjured by their brethren. How does this explain the origin
of the Watta living on the banks of the Galana Sagan where Islam has penetrated only
during the last few years and is perhaps known only by name ? It is not true that the Wayto
of the Tana are Moslem, and besides, they do not live far from religious centres, since the
Islam-biet of Gondar was at least until a few years ago, a little centre of Islamic culture.5 6
1 Montandon, op. cit., p. 65. 2 Ibid., p. 202.
3 V. Giuffrida-Ruggeri, ‘ Nuovi studi sull’antropologia dell’ Africa orientale,’ (Archiv. 1’Antrop. e Ethnol., Firenze,
1915, vol. 45, p. 142-144).
4 De Castro (op. cit., p. 384) says that “ they (the Wdtta) spring from M ingio, a man of the Busciascio, the
first tribe to occupy this country.” Here he confounds the Mango, i.e. the low caste of hunters with the Mingo of
the dynasty Bucasie (called in some Kaffa dialects Busaso), now the ruling branch of that dynasty in Kaff a.
6 This is illustrated by the following anecdote which I learned from a native. When the emperor Johannes IV,
before Matamma, returned to Gondar which had been plundered in the preceding year by the Dervishes of the Mahdi