DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0230
214 HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
the Galla in the countries through which I have passed.” The ethnographic characters of
the Fuga are those which especially mark the hunters of the central group. They are
“ darker in color than the Guragie and the inhabitants of Qabiena; they wear no clothes
until adolescence, after which they cover themselves with a short petticoat of cowskin.”
Bianchi remarks that the true Galla use this petticoat only in war; it is, however, used also
by the poorer classes and especially by countrymen. The arms of the Fuga include arrows
and a bow made of “an elastic rod of acacia, which is kept bent by a cord of musa ensete.”1
In addition to warfare, this bow is also used in dancing since the Fuga accompany the dance
by throwing blunt arrows, thus honoring their guests.
The Fuga, says Bianchi, are tributaries of the Guragie; it is probable that this means
that they are clients of the Guragie. The native informant of Bianchi told him that the
Guragie had converted the Fuga to Christianity.
1 Cf. E. Cerulli, ‘ L’origine delle basse caste della Somalia,’ (L’Esplorazione Commerciale, October, 1916), for
the use of the bow by the Midgan, hunters of Somaliland, and also, Franz Stuhlmann, Handwerk und Industrie in
Ostfrika, Hamburg, 1910.
the Galla in the countries through which I have passed.” The ethnographic characters of
the Fuga are those which especially mark the hunters of the central group. They are
“ darker in color than the Guragie and the inhabitants of Qabiena; they wear no clothes
until adolescence, after which they cover themselves with a short petticoat of cowskin.”
Bianchi remarks that the true Galla use this petticoat only in war; it is, however, used also
by the poorer classes and especially by countrymen. The arms of the Fuga include arrows
and a bow made of “an elastic rod of acacia, which is kept bent by a cord of musa ensete.”1
In addition to warfare, this bow is also used in dancing since the Fuga accompany the dance
by throwing blunt arrows, thus honoring their guests.
The Fuga, says Bianchi, are tributaries of the Guragie; it is probable that this means
that they are clients of the Guragie. The native informant of Bianchi told him that the
Guragie had converted the Fuga to Christianity.
1 Cf. E. Cerulli, ‘ L’origine delle basse caste della Somalia,’ (L’Esplorazione Commerciale, October, 1916), for
the use of the bow by the Midgan, hunters of Somaliland, and also, Franz Stuhlmann, Handwerk und Industrie in
Ostfrika, Hamburg, 1910.