Danâkil

Danâkil (singular Dankali), the Arabic and now general name for the numerous nomad and fisher tribes inhabiting the coast of north-east Africa, from Massowah south to Tajurrah Bay, and from there south-west to Shoa. They belong to the Ethiopic Hamites, and are well built and slender, with features indicating an intermixture of Arab blood. In a country of waterless plains, they are generally nomads, living partly by caravan traffic and the slave-trade, but mostly on the milk of their flocks. For the language, see Isenberg's Vocabulary (Lond. 1840); see also Scaramucci and Giglioli, Notizie sui Danachili (1884).