ing slaves. When the Dezzela take any prisoners, they tie their legs, and employ them either in making cloth or manufacturing iron; and, if incapable of work, they kill them. A strong people called Dippura resides in the interior of the Dabanja country. My informant spoke familiarly of the Duggala mountains; and said they were on the opposite side from Darfoor, and mentioned a mountain called Yiba Hossa, to which his countrymen are accustomed to retire, when pressed by an enemy. Several rivers, called Quoquea, Púsa, Kuōssa, and Popa, flow through these districts, which are all said to run in the same direction as the Bahr el Abiad. It is three days journey from the last mentioned river to the Kuōssa, and one from the Kuōssa to Púsa; the other lying still farther in the interior.
The only musical instruments in use among them are trumpets, made of the horn of the agazen, pipes formed of bamboo, and a kind of lyre with five strings, called "junqua." The man who gave me this information said, that the music of a large junqua was delightful, and seemed quite exhilarated at the bare recollection of its harmony. A copious vocabulary of the language of this people is given in the Appendix, as I conceive, that it is more likely to be connected with some of the western or southern dialects of the Negroes than any other I had the means of obtaining.
The tribe of Shangalla that resides near the Tacazze, has been very ably described by Mr. Bruce.[1] It pears to be a perfectly different people in every respect but colour and form, from that of Dabanja; the language of the two tribes being also entirely distinct. Two little boys belonging to the Tacazze Shangalla, who a short time before had been taken prisoners, much amused me, at Antalo, with their playful antics; dancing and singing in a manner peculiar to their nation: one of their songs, which they had been taught in their infancy, had something extremely affecting in the tune as well as in the words, and it was translated to me nearly as follows:
"They come, and catch us by the waters of the
Tacazze: they make us slaves.
- ↑ Vide Vol. IV. p. 28, et seq.
