[1] It is worn for a year, during which modest women will not marry. Some
tribes confine the symbol to widowhood, others extend it to all male
relations; a strip of white cotton, or even a white fillet, instead of the
usual blue cloth, is used by the more civilized.
[2] Cain is said to repose under Jebel Shamsan at Aden--an appropriate
sepulchre.
[3] This beast, called by the Somal Jambel, closely resembles the Sindh
species. It is generally found in the plains and prairies.
[4] In the Somali country, as in Kafirland, the Duwao or jackal is
peculiarly bold and fierce. Disdaining garbage, he carries off lambs and
kids, and fastens upon a favourite _friandise_, the sheep's tail; the
victim runs away in terror, and unless the jackal be driven off by dogs,
leaves a delicate piece of fat behind it.
[5] The Somal call the owl "Shimbir libah"--the lion bird.
[6] The plume was dark, chequered with white, but the bird was so wild
that no specimen could be procured.
[7] The Arabs apply this term to tea.
[8] The Dayyib of the Somal, and the Sinaubar of the Arabs; its line of
growth is hereabouts an altitude of 5000 feet.
[9] Travellers in Central Africa describe exactly similar buildings, bell-
shaped huts, the materials of which are stakes, clay and reed, conical at
the top, and looking like well-thatched corn-stacks.
[10] Amongst the Fellatahs of Western Africa, only the royal huts are
surmounted by the ostrich's egg.
[11] These platforms are found even amongst the races inhabiting the
regions watered by the Niger.
[12] Charred sticks about six feet long and curved at the handle.
[13] Equally simple are the other implements. The plough, which in Eastern
Africa has passed the limits of Egypt, is still the crooked tree of all
primitive people, drawn by oxen; and the hoe is a wooden blade inserted
into a knobbed handle.
[14] It is afterwards stored in deep dry holes, which are carefully
covered to keep out rats and insects; thus the grain is preserved
undamaged for three or four years.
[15] This word is applied to the cultivated districts, the granaries of
Somali land.
[16] "The huge raven with gibbous or inflated beak and white nape," writes
Mr. Blyth, "is the corvus crassirostris of Ruppell, and, together with a
nearly similar Cape species, is referred to the genus Corvultur of
Leason."
[17] In these hills it is said sometimes to freeze; I never saw ice.
[18] It is a string of little silver bells and other ornaments made by the
Arabs at Berberah.
[19] Harari, Somali and Galla, besides Arabic, and other more civilized
dialects.
[20] The Negroes of Senegal and the Hottentots use wooden mortars. At
Natal and amongst the Amazulu Kafirs, the work is done with slabs and
rollers like those described above.
[21] In the Eastern World this well-known fermentation is generally called
"Buzab," whence the old German word "busen" and our "booze." The addition
of a dose of garlic converts it into an emetic.
[22] The Somal will not kill these plundering brutes, like the Western
Africans believing them to be enchanted men.
[23] Some years ago Adan plundered one of Sharmarkay's caravans; repenting
the action, he offered in marriage a daughter, who, however, died before
nuptials.
[24] Gisti is a "princess" in Harari, equivalent to the Somali Geradah.
[25] They are, however, divided into clans, of which the following are the
principal:--
1. Bahawiyah, the race which supplies the Gerads.
2. Abu Tunis (divided into ten septs).
3. Rer Ibrahim (similarly divided).
4. Jibril.
5. Bakasiyya.
6. Rer Muhmud.
7. Musa Dar.
8. Rer Auro.
9. Rer Walembo.
10. Rer Khalid.
[26] I do not describe these people, the task having already been
performed by many abler pens than mine.
[27] They are divided into the Bah Ambaro (the chief's family) and the
Shaykhashed.
[28] The only specimen of stunted humanity seen by me in the Somali
country. He was about eighteen years old, and looked ten.
[29] At first I thought of writing it in Arabic; but having no seal, a
_sine qua non_ in an Eastern letter, and reflecting upon the consequences
of detection or even suspicion, it appeared more politic to come boldly
forward as a European.
[30] It belongs, I was informed, to two clans of Gallas, who year by year
in turn monopolise the profits.
[31] Of this tree are made the substantial doors, the basins and the
porringers of Harar.
[32] The Webbe Shebayli or Haines River.
[33] This scarecrow is probably a talisman. In the Saharah, according to
Richardson, the skull of an ass averts the evil eye from gardens.
[34] The following is a table of our stations, directions, and
distances:--
Miles
1. From Zayla to Gudingaras S.E. 165° 19
2. To Kuranyali 145° 8
3. To Adad 225° 25
4. To Damal 205° 11
5. To El Arno 190° 11
6. To Jiyaf 202° 10
7. To Halimalah (the Holy Tree about half way) 192° 7
-- 91 miles.
8. To Aububah 245° 21
9. To Koralay 165° 25
10. To Harar 260° 65
-- 111 miles.
---
Total statute miles 202
[Illustration: COSTUMES OF HARAR]