GALLAS, or more correctly GALLA, a powerful Hamitic people of eastern Africa, scattered over the central parts of Abys sinia to the neighbourhood of the river Sabaki in Kenya Colony. The name "Galla" or "Gala" appears to be an Abys sinian nickname, unknown to the people, who call themselves Ilm' Orma, "sons of men" or "sons of Orma," an eponymous hero. In Shoa (Abyssinia) the word is connected with the river Gala in Guragie, on the banks of which a great battle is said to have been fought between the Galla and the Abyssinians. Arnaud d'Ab badie says that the Abyssinian Muslims recount that, when summoned by the Prophet's messenger to adopt Islam, the chief of the Galla said "No,"—in Arabic kal (or gal) la, and the Prophet on hearing this said, "Then let their very name imply their denial of the Faith." They appear to have occupied the southern part of their present territory since the 16th century. The tribes near Mount Kenya are stated to go on periodical pilgrimages to the mountain, making offerings to it as if to their mother. As a geographical term Galla-land is now used mainly to denote the south-central regions of the Abyssinian empire, the country in which the Galla are numerically strongest. There is no sharp dividing line between the territory occupied respectively by the Galla and by the Somali.
The Galla are members of the eastern Hamitic family with their neighbours, the Somali, the Afars (Danakil) and the Abyssinians. There is a strain of Negro blood in the Galla, who are "a wonder fully handsome race, with high foreheads, brown skins and soft wavy hair quite different from the wool of the Bantus." As a rule their features are quite European. Their colour is dark brown, but many of the northern Galla are of a coffee and milk tint. They are fine nosed with long heads.
The Galla are for the most part nomadic pastoralists, though in Abyssinia they have some agricultural settlements. Their dwell ings, circles of rough stones, roofed with grasses, are generally built under trees. Their wealth consists chiefly in cattle and horses. The ordinary food consists of flesh, blood, milk, butter and honey. 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. In the south monogamy is the rule, but in the north the number of a man's wives is limited only by his wealth. Marriage forms are numer ous. The dual organization into exogamous moieties is a special feature. Each tribe has its chief, who is the only merchant for his people, but in all public concerns must take advice of the fathers of families in council. In general they worship a supreme god Waka, and the subordinate god and goddess Oglieh and Atetieh, whose favour is secured by sacrifices of oxen and sheep. 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 have been converted to Moham medanism and are very bigoted. In the north, under Abyssinian rule, a kind of superficial Christianization has taken place, but to all practical intents paganism is still in force. The serpent is wor shipped, the northern Galla believing that he is the author of the human race. There is a belief in were-wolves (buda), and the northern Galla have sorcerers who terrorize the people. Though cruel in war, all Galla respect their pledged word. They are armed with a lance, a two-edged knife, and a shield of buffalo or rhinoceros hide.
Among the more important tribes in the south (the name in each instance being compounded with Galla) are the Ramatta, the Kukatta, the Baole, the Aurova, the Wadjole, the Ilani, the Arrar and the Kanigo Galla; the Borani, a very powerful tribe, may be 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 C. T. Beke, "On the Origin of the Gallas," in Trans. of Brit. Assoc. (1847) ; J. Ludwig Krapf, Travels in Eastern Africa (186o) and Vocabulary of the Galla Language (London, 1842) ; Arnaud d'Abbadie, Douze Ans dans la Haute-Ethiopie (1868) ; Ph. Paulitschke, Ethnographie Nord-Ost-Afrikas; Die geistige Kultur der Dan'akil, Galla u. Soma (Berlin, 1896) ; P. M. de Salviac, Les Galla (Paris, 1901) ; E. C. Foot, A Galla-English Dictionary (Cambridge, 1913) ; A. W. Hodson and C. H. Walker, An Elementary and Practical Gram mar of the Galla Language (1922).