MENSA  and MAREA, semi-

nomad pastoral tribes of Africans occupying part of the Abyssinian highlands induded in the Italian colony of Eritrea, and the adjacent coast plains of the Red Sea . They have for neighbours the Habab and Beni-Amer tribes, as well as Abyssinians . The Marea are found cnieily in the valley of the Khor Anseba, the Mensa dwelling farther north . These tribes claim Arab origin, tracing their descent from an uncle of the Prophet . Under Abyssinian rule they were Christians, but became Mahommedans in the 19th century . They speak a dialect of Tigrin (Abyssinian) . On the death of a Marea the head of every dependent tigre or slave family must give his heirs a cow . The tribes avenge an illegitimate birth by putting parents and child to death .