Besides a number of meritorious archaeologital works, especially in the department of numismaties, he also published a compilation from the Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, entitled Paroles remarquablcs, Dons mots ct martinis dos Ori'rntaua' (1694), and a translation from an Arabic manuscript, Do l'orz'gine ct u'u progris (lu. Cafe (1699). The former of these works appeared in an English translation in 1793. His Contcs rt Fablas- Inclicnncs dc Birlpu'i ct dc Loki/ran was published after his death (1724). Among his numerous unpublished manuscripts are said to be included a translation of the Koran and a Turkish dictionary.
GALLARATE, a flourishing town of Italy, the head of a circle in the province of Milan, situated on the railway 23 miles N.W. of Milan at the junction of the line running N. to Varese. It has a technical school, and carries on the manufacture of cotton and linen. In the Middle Ages it is mentioned as Galaratum and Glareatum, and especially in the 10th century it appears to have been a strongly fortified and important place. Population in 1871, 7576.
GALLAS, or more correctly Galla, a powerful race of eastern Africa, scattered over the wide region which extends for about 1000 miles from the interior of Abyssinia to the neighbourhood of the river Sabacki, in 3° 12' of S. latitude. Almost nothing has been definitely ascertained about the early homes and migrations of the race; but it appears to have occupied the southern portion of its present territory for nearly four centuries at least. According to Ludolf and Bruce, the Galla invaders first crossed the Abyssinian frontiers in the year 1537. The Gallas of Gojam (a district along the northern side of the river Abai) tell how their savage forefathers came from the south-east from a country on the other side of a bahr (lake or river), and the Yedju and Raia Galla also point towards the east and commemorate the passage of a bahr. Among the southern Gallas tradition appears to be mainly concerned with the expulsion of the race from the country now occupied by the Somali. It is usually maintained that the Gallas are ethnographically of Semitic affinity, and find their nearest kinsmen in the Somali, the Dankali, and the Abyssinians; but M. Lejean is of opinion that they rather belong to the Aryan race, and this is so far supported by their physiological characteristics. One thing is certain, that they have nothing in common with the negro type; the “musculation” of the arms, thighs, and calves is altogether different, and they have none of the fetor developed by the negro skin; their frame is large and powerful, their complexion a very dark brown, their brow broad and lofty, their eyes deep-sunk and lively, and their features not unfrequently of a regular and finely-shaped description. Of the Semitic affinity of the language their is no question, and according to the usual classification it belongs to the same Semitico-Hamitic group as the Somali, the Saho, and the Dankali.[1]
The Gallas are for the most part still in the nomadic and pastoral stage; though, as we advance northwards into Abyssinia, we find them more and more assimilated to the settled and agricultural inhabitants of that kingdom. Among the southern tribes it is said that about 7 or 8 head of cattle are kept for every man, woman, and child; and among the northern tribes, as neither man nor woman over thinks of going any distance on foot, the number of horses is very large. The ordinary food consists of flesh, blood, milk, butter, and honey, the last being considered of so much importance by the southern Gallas that a rude system of bee-keeping is in vogue, and the husband who fails to furnish his wife with a sufficient supply of honey may be excluded from all conjugal rights. This last fact is one of those which indicate the comparativer high position occupied by the Galla women, who, moreover, have the right, but rarely granted in a savage state of society, of refusing an unacceptable offer of marriage. In the south monogamy is the rule, but in the north the number of a man’s wives is limited only by his wishes and his wealth. Each tribe has its own heiitch or sultan, who enjoys the strange privilege of being the only merchant for his people, but in all public concerns must take the advice of the fathers of families assembled in council. The greater proportion of the tribes are still pagan, worshipping a supreme god Waka, and the subordinate god and goddess Oglia and Atilia, whose favour is secured by sacrifices of oxen and sheep. With a strange liberality of sentiment, they say that at a certain time of the year Waka leaves them and goes to attend to the wants of their enemies the Somali, whom also he has created. Some tribes, and notably the Wollo-Galla, have been converted to Mahometanism, and very bigoted adherants of the prophet they are. In the north a kind of superficial Christianization has taken place, to the extent at least that the people are familiar with the names of Maremma or Mary, Balawold or Jesus, Girgis or St George, &c.; but to all practical intents paganism is still in force. The serpent is a special object of worship, the northern Gallas believing that he is the author of the human race. A considerablc number of the men find employment in the Abyssinian armies, and in comparison with their neighbours are brave and warlike. The total number of the Gallas was estimated by Krapf at from six to eight millions, and Plowden mentions individual tribes that could bring into the field 20,000 or 30,000 horse. Among the more important tribes in the south (the name in each instance being compounded with Galla) are the Ramatta, the Kukatta, the Baóle, the Aurova, the Wadjole, the Hani, the Arrar, and the Kanigo Galla; the Borani, a very powerful tribe, maybe considered to mark the division between north and south; and in the north we find the Amoro, the Jarso, the Toolama, the Wollo, the Ambassil, the Aijjo, and the Azobo Galla.
See Beke, “On the Origin of the Gallas," in Trans. of Brit. Assoc., 1847; Krapf., Travels . . . in Eastern Africa, 1860; D’Abbadie, Douzc Ans en [lame-Ethiopia, 1868 ; Brenner, “F orschungen in Ost-Afrika," in Petermann’s .llitlhcilngrn, 1868; Plowden, Tracels in Abyssinia and the Gal/a Country, 1868 ; and a paper by Louis Lande in Rome (lcs Delta: Momlcs, 1878.
ALBERT GALLATIN[2]
Copyright, 1879, by Henry Cabot Lodge.
FAMILY pride led the Gallatins to boast a descent from A. Atilius Callatinus, the Roman consul (a. u. c. 494 and 498). A gap of fifteen hundred years between the consul and the first appearance of the name in European history tends to invalidate this rather splendid bit of genealogy, but there can be no doubt that the Gallatins were both an old and noble family. They are first heard of in Savoy in the year 1258, and more than two centuries later they came to Geneva (1510), united with Calvin in his opposition to Rome, and associated their fortunes with those of the little Swiss city. Here they remained, and with one or two other great families governed Geneva, and sent forth many representatives to seek their fortune and win distinction in the service of foreign princes, both soldiers and ministers. On the eve of the French Revolution the Gallatins were still in Geneva, occupying the same position which they had held for two hundred years. They were republican nobles, simple in their manners, frugal and unostentatious in their habits of life, but genuine aristocrats of high breeding and cultivated minds. They numbered among their friends such widely different persons as Voltaire and the landgrave of Hesse, and, although not wealthy, had everything that could reasonably be desired both socially and politically.
in Geneva on the 29th of January 1761. His father died in 1765, his mother five years later, and his only sister in 1777. Although left an orphan at nine years old, Albert Gallatin was by no means lonely or unprotected. His grand-parents, a large circle of near relations, and Mlle. l’ictet, an intimate friend, cared for him during his boyhood. He was thoroughly educated at the schools of Geneva, and graduated with honour from the college or academy in 1779. His grandmother then wished him to enter the army of the landgrave of Hesse, but he declined to serve “a
tyrant,” and a year later slipped away from Geneva and
- ↑ The similarity to the Semitic was pointed out by Benfey in (flitting. G'elchrts Anzez'gen, 1846, in a review of Tutschek’s lexicon and grammar (1814, 1845). Further details in regard to its vocabulary and structure will he found in Lottner’s paper in the Transactions of the Philological Society, London, 1860-61, and in the Norara Iteise, 1867. Krapf had published a grammar as early as 1840.
- ↑ This is reprinted here, with the consent of Mr Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts, from his work entitled Albert Gallatin, by Henry Cabot Lodge. New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1879. Copyright, 1879, by Henry Cabot Lodge.
