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SEVENTEEN TRIPS THROUGH SOMÁLILAND
[Illustration: THE AUTHOR AND HIS ESCORT.
From a Photograph taken at the noon bivouac, Ambal River, Habr Toljaala
country, March 1891.
The exposure of the plate was carried out by a Somáli.]
SEVENTEEN TRIPS
THROUGH
SOMÁLILAND
A RECORD OF EXPLORATION & BIG GAME
SHOOTING, 1885 to 1893
BEING THE NARRATIVE OF SEVERAL JOURNEYS IN THE HINTERLAND OF THE
SOMÁLI COAST PROTECTORATE, DATING FROM THE BEGINNING
OF ITS ADMINISTRATION BY GREAT BRITAIN
UNTIL THE PRESENT TIME
WITH DESCRIPTIVE NOTES ON THE WILD FAUNA OF THE COUNTRY,
BY
CAPTAIN H. G. C. SWAYNE, R.E.
FELLOW OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
LONDON
ROWLAND WARD AND CO., LIMITED
‘THE JUNGLE,’ 166 PICCADILLY
1895
_All rights reserved_
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO MY BRAVE AND INTELLIGENT SOMÁLI FOLLOWERS
PREFACE
Somáliland, the new British Protectorate, is in some respects one of the
most interesting regions of the African Continent. In the present daily
life of its natives we have represented to us something of the wandering
patriarchal existence of Biblical times. The country contains ruins which
probably date back to a period of very ancient civilisation. It is,
moreover, the threshold to the mysterious nomad Gálla tribes who inhabit
the land between the Gulf of Aden and the Great African Lakes. Somáliland
is the home of most varieties of African large game, and affords one
of the best and most accessible of hunting-grounds to be found at the
present time.
In the intervening years, between 1884 and 1893, professional duties
necessitated my undertaking several journeys in Somáliland, with the
object of exploration. In the intervals between these journeys I devoted
my periods of leave to hunting in that country. During a period of
nine years I undertook seventeen separate journeys to the interior,
and so became familiar with the chief elements of interest to be found
there. At the outset of my travels my age was twenty-five. I enjoyed
absolute freedom of movement, and at this period had full control of a
small escort of Indian cavalry. The sense of responsibility, and the
prospect of exploring new country, filled me with delight and awakened my
faculties. When I first entered the interior of Somáliland, in 1885, it
was practically an untraversed country; and hitherto, though unjustly so,
it had always borne the reputation of being the desert home of bigoted
and ferocious savages.
My principal object in writing this book is to present phases of life
in nomadic North-East Africa, and to supply detailed information of a
nature that might prove useful to travellers and sportsmen who wish to
visit that country. As my brother and I have always been pioneering,
the men who have followed in our footsteps have naturally had better
opportunities for sport than we had, and I only give such of my more
successful sporting experiences as will assist me in my main object of
giving a general portrait of the country.
With reference to the following pages of my book, I would say that I
merely present a collection of facts. To write a continuous narrative of
my movements, in a manner to hold the interest of the reader throughout,
requires a special literary gift such as I do not possess. The careful
notes of all that came within the observation and experience of my
brother and myself, during our ten thousand miles of wanderings with
camel caravans, are here collected and presented in their most simple
form. Most of the illustrations are direct reproductions of my own
drawings, representing incidents I have seen, for the artistic merit of
which I must beg my readers’ indulgence.
My thanks are due to Brigadier-General J. Jopp, C.B., A.D.C., British
Resident at Aden; and to Lieut.-Colonel E. V. Stace, C.B., Political
Agent and Consul for the Somáli Coast; and to many officers of the Aden
Political Staff under whom I have been employed, or with whom I have
been associated, for many kindnesses and hospitalities extended to me
in Aden and the Somáli Coast ports; and to my brother, Captain E. J. E.
Swayne, 16th Bengal Infantry, for the use of his journals and sketches,
for all his valuable and indefatigable assistance, to say nothing of his
saving my life in a plucky and skilful manner under circumstances the
difficulty of which only sportsmen can fully appreciate. My best thanks
are also due to Prince Boris Czetwertynski and Mr. Seton Karr for having
given me permission to reproduce some of their beautiful and artistic
photographs; to Captain H. M. Abud, Assistant Resident at Aden, for
many hospitalities, and for his kindness in having supplied me with the
historical notes given in the first chapter.
I am also greatly indebted to Lieut.-General E. F. Chapman, C.B.,
Director of Military Intelligence, and to Lieut.-Colonel J. K. Trotter,
and other officers of the Intelligence Staff, for having permitted me
to use and to copy a reduction of my routes, which was made under their
direction; and also to Mr. W. Knight for the excellent manner in which
he has designed and drawn the maps which accompany this book. My third
chapter is rewritten from articles which have already been published in
the _Field_ in 1887, and I have to thank the Editor of that paper for his
courtesy in having allowed me to make use of them here.
I have to thankfully acknowledge the kindness of Dr. P. L. Sclater,
Secretary of the London Zoological Society, for having permitted me
to rewrite and amplify, in my supplementary chapter, two papers upon
Antelopes which were written by me for that Society and published in its
_Proceedings_.
Finally, I would express my gratitude to Mr. Rowland Ward, who has devoted
so much valuable time and experience to the production of my book.
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
ETHNOLOGY
Division of classes in Somáliland—The trading caravans from
Ogádén and Harar—Habits of the nomad tribes—The Somáli
brokers—The outcaste races and their characteristics—The
settlements of the mullahs—The Somáli, his
character—Religion—Costume and weapons—Condition of
women—Marriage laws—Industries of women—Blood money—Feuds—Native
councils—Respect for the English—Somáli vanity—The
_dibáltig_ ceremony—Influence of religion—Influence of
civilisation—Religious observances—Superstitions—Carelessness—The
origin of the Somáli race—Tracing descent for twenty-two
generations—Arab descent—Tribal customs—Plurality of
wives—Adoption of prefix _Ba_ to name of children—Somáli
nomenclature—Nicknames—Tribal divisions—“Brothers of the
shield”—Ruins, cairns, and graves—Frontier raids between
the Gállas and the Somális—Boldness of southern tribes—The
Golbánti Gállas-The Wa-pokómo negroes of the Tana—Origin of the
Gállas—The Esa tribe—The Gadabursi tribe—Evidences of former
highly-organised races in Somáliland—Interesting remains—Old
Gálla ruins—Curious legend to account for cairns—The robbers’
cover—Baneful influence of feuds 1-28
CHAPTER II
THE NOMADIC LIFE
Varieties of camel—Somáli camel willing and gentle—Method
of loading camels—On the march—Weight of loads—Marching
hours—Scourges, gadflies, ticks, and leeches—Firing
camels—Sore back—Camel food—Grazing customs—Breeding habits
of Somáli camels—The milk-supply of she-camels—Description
of Somáli ponies—Fodder—Ticks—Donkeys—Their usefulness
in Somáliland—Cattle—Cow’s milk—Ghee—Hides exported to
America—Sheep and goats—Powers of subsisting without
water—Camel meat and mutton the favourite meal of
Somális—The annual movements of trading caravans governed by
seasons—Duration of seasons—Great heat—Movements of the nomad
tribes—Caravan marauders—Tribal fights—Gangs of highway
robbers—Methods of the raiders—English scheme of protection
popular—Trade greatly injured through insecurity of routes—A
peculiarity of the Somáli guide—Mysterious strangers—Remarkable
faculties of adaptability in the Somáli—Baneful effect of
civilisation 29-44
CHAPTER III
BIG GAME SHOOTING, 1887
Start from Berbera—The first koodoo—First herd of elephants
seen; elephant bagged with a single shot—Fresh start
with another caravan—Waller’s gazelle bagged—Mandeira;
delightful headquarters—The Issutugan river—Herd of elephants
found—Elephant hunt at Jalélo, and death of a large bull—Our
night camp—Camp at Sobát—Elephants heard trumpeting at
night—Interesting scene; a herd of sixty elephants—Two
elephants bagged—Camp at Hembeweina; lions round camp—A herd of
elephants in the Jalélo reeds—Long and unsuccessful hunt—Tusks
stolen by a caravan—Lions roaring round the Hembeweina camp at
night—Visit of Shiré Shirmáki and thirty horsemen—Interesting
scene—A row in camp—News of a solitary bull at Eil
Danan—Exciting hunt; horsemen manœuvring a vicious elephant,
and death of the bull—Return to Berbera 45-76
CHAPTER IV
GOVERNMENT EXPLORATIONS
Early trips to the coast—Disturbed state of Bulhár—Stopping a
fight—Two skirmishes—First exploring trips—Hostility of the
natives—An unlucky trip—Start with my brother to explore the
Habr Toljaala and Dolbahanta countries on duty—Camp on Gólis
Range—Theodolite station at 6800 feet—Enter the waterless
plains—Advance to the Tug Dér—News of raiders ahead, and of
Col. A. Paget’s party—Dolbahanta horsemen—Advance to the
Nogal Valley—Constantly annoyed by the Dolbahanta—Prehistoric
tank and buildings at Badwein—Advance to Gosaweina—More
horsemen—Insecure border, and scene of a raid—Explore Bur
Dab Range—Robbers’ caves—Exploration of my brother on Wagar
Mountain—Lovely scenery—Return to Berbera—Start on a second
expedition to the Jibril Abokr country—The top of Gán
Libah—A new hartebeest—Death of a leopard—Hargeisa—Natives
clamouring for British protection against Abyssinia—Bold
behaviour of a leopard—Advance to the Marar Prairie—Camp at
Ujawáji—Extraordinary scene on the prairie—Quantities of
game—Gadabursi raid—Jibril Abokr welcome of the English—A
shooting trip on the plains—News of three lions—Vedettes posted
over lions—Advance to the attack—Savage charge; unconscious
and in the clutches of a lioness—My brother’s account of
the accident—His own narrow escape, and death of a fine
lion—Civility of the Jibril Abokr—Abyssinian news—Return to the
coast—Recovery from wounds—Third expedition; to the Gadabursi
country—Great raid by the Jibril Abokr on the Bahgoba—Curious
adventure with robbers—Betrayed by vultures—Raiding
tactics—First meeting with the Gadabursi—Meeting with Ugaz
Núr—The rival sultans—Construction of an Abyssinian fort at
Biyo-Kabóba—Esa in a ferment—Speech of Múdun Golab—My brother
bags a large bull elephant—March to Zeila 77-118
CHAPTER V
A RECONNAISSANCE OF THE ABYSSINIAN BORDER, 1892
First news of Abyssinian aggression—Start for
Milmil—Unfortunate Bulhár—Across the “Haud” waterless
plateau—Extraordinary landscape—Sudden meeting with the Rer
Ali—Their consternation and pleasant greeting—News of a
raid—Water-supply statistics—Great display at Milmil in honour
of Au Mahomed Sufi—Agitation against Abyssinia—Unsuccessful
lion hunt—Display in honour of the English—Interesting
scene—The vulture-like elders—Success of an Arab pony—Our
camp at Túli—The “Valley of Rhinoceroses”—Two rhinoceros
hunts—Four bagged—Death of a bull rhinoceros—The Waror
wells—Abbasgúl complaints against Abyssinia—First meeting
with Abyssinians—Disturbed country—English sportsmen met at
Hargeisa—Fresh start from Hargeisa—Incessant rains—Thousands of
hartebeests near Gumbur Dúg—Scouting for the Abyssinians—Visit
to the Abyssinian fort at Jig-Jiga—We approach Gildessa—The
caravan imprisoned by the Abyssinians—Embarrassing situation—A
letter to Rás Makunan of Harar—Exciting time at Gildessa—We
retire by night—The answer of the Rás—March to Zeila 119-154
CHAPTER VI
A VISIT TO RÁS MAKUNAN OF HARAR, 1893
Project to explore Gállaland—News of Colonel Carrington’s
party—A Bulhár feud—Start from Bulhár—Gadabursi dance to
the English—Esa raid—A rival sportsman—Awálé Yasín breaks
his leg—Native surgery—Adventures with leopards—Following a
wounded leopard by moonlight—A plucky home charge—Exciting
encounter—An oryx hunt—On the Marar Prairie again—Quantities of
game—Arrival at Jig-Jiga, and visit from Abyssinians—Attempted
arrest of the caravan by an Abyssinian general—Exciting
adventure—Arrival of Gabratagli—Character of Banagúsé—A letter
to the Rás—Interviews with Banagúsé—Bertiri complaints against
Abyssinians—An answer from the Rás—Picturesque journey to
Harar—Hospitality of Basha-Basha, an Abyssinian general—Enter
Harar—Meet Signor Felter—First interview with the Rás in
the audience-room—Entertained by Allaka Gobau Desta—My
servant wounded—Meet Count Salimbeni, M. Guigniony, and the
Archbishop of Gállaland—Interviews with the Rás and exchange
of presents—Farewells in Harar—Leave Harar for the Webbe 155-186
CHAPTER VII
FIRST JOURNEY TO THE WEBBE SHABÉLEH RIVER, 1893
Form an ambush over the pool at Kuredelli—A rhinoceros
wounded—Unsuccessful hunt after the rhinoceros—Two lions
seen—Another rhinoceros wounded at the pool; three
lionesses arrive; interesting moonlight scene—A lioness
drinks, and is wounded—Death of the lioness—Follow and
bag the rhinoceros—Exciting hyæna hunt with pistol and
knife—Abbasgúl fight—Unsuccessful rhinoceros hunt—We march
into the monsoon—Walleri buck wounded by me and pulled down
by a leopard—Death of the leopard—Camp again at Túli—Two
rhinoceroses bagged; furious charge—The Sheikh Ash, a
friendly tribe—A leopard in camp—Ambush at the Garba-ali
pool; leopard and hyæna bagged—Abundance of game—First
enter zebra country—Man-eating lions at Durhi—Malingúr at
Durhi—Elephant-hunting in Daghatto Valley; a bull bagged—Large
number of elephants—Interesting scene in Daghatto—Leopards
seen—Uninhabited country—Difficulty in finding the Rer Amáden
tribe—Halt at Enleh and send out scouts 187-212
CHAPTER VIII
FIRST JOURNEY TO THE WEBBE SHABÉLEH RIVER (_continued_)
Our camp at Enleh—Success of the Lee-Metford rifle—An oryx
hunt—Abundance of game—A night alarm—Attempt to catch a zebra
foal—Strange voices in the bush—News of the Rer Amáden—Jáma
Deria—Advance into the Amáden country—Meeting with Sheikh
Abdul Káder at Dambaswerer—Friendly reception by the Rer
Amáden—Decide to make a dash for Imé—Fine view of the Webbe
Valley—Difficulty and expense of a Somáli outfit—Close to
Imé; doubtful as to our welcome—Cordiality of the Adone or
Webbe negroes—Council of the elders; desire for an English
treaty—Kind hospitality of Gabba Oboho, chief of Imé—A word
for British management at the coast—Invited to return to the
Webbe—Shoot two waterbuck—Return to Dambaswerer—Jáma Deria
at home—Gálla raids—Extraordinary vitality of a Somáli—Jáma
Deria’s avarice—Reputation of Rás Makunan—Oryx shot—A lion
roars at night—Lion surprised stealing the carcase—Exciting
hunt, and death of the lion—Sit up for lion at Durhi—Melancholy
episode; Daura Warsama killed by a man-eater—Unsuccessful
hunt—Clarke’s gazelle bagged—Oryx bull bagged—Artificial
tanks—Form a camp for koodoo-hunting at Mandeira 213-241
CHAPTER IX
THREE WEEKS’ KOODOO STALKING ON GÓLIS RANGE, 1893
Our hunting camp in the mountains—The “Rock of the Seven
Robbers”—Exciting koodoo hunt; death of a splendid koodoo—My
shooting costume—Triumphant return to camp—Unsuccessful koodoo
hunt—March to Henweina—Unsuccessful hunt after four bull
koodoos—Bag a fine bull—A charming spot—Dog-faced baboons—Alarm
note of the koodoo cow—Picturesque bivouac—Cedar-trees in
Mirso—A leopard caught with a piece of rope and speared by
the Somális—March to Armáleh Garbadir—The great Massleh
Wein bull—Exciting hunt; success of the Martini; a glorious
koodoo—Return to the coast 242-257
CHAPTER X
SECOND JOURNEY TO THE WEBBE SHABÉLEH RIVER, 1893
The new caravan—Pass Lord Delamere’s party—Captain Abud in camp
at Hargeisa—Sheikh Mattar—Cross the Haud, and arrive at Seyyid
Mahomed’s town in Ogádén—Holy reputation—Why the Somális have
no Mahdi—Scene at the Seyyid’s town—Native impression of some
European travellers—Every European a doctor—Malingúr mission
to Harar—Ruspoli’s men seized—Jáma Deria’s Englishman—Reach
the Webbe and bag a waterbuck—Friendly Gilimiss Somális—First
news of the Webbe bushbuck—Shooting a crocodile—Great
beauty of our camp on the Webbe banks—Gálla raids on the
Gilimiss—The crossing of the Webbe at Karanleh—Unexpected
Gálla news—Entertain Gálla chiefs in camp; a defiant speech—A
Gálla trip planned—Fresh hippo tracks in the reeds—A waterbuck
swims the Webbe; a noble buck—Sad death of a horse—The
Aulihán—A row in camp—Unsuccessful buffalo-hunting—Wounded
waterbuck struck down by a lion—Starving negroes eat the
carrion—Disturbed country; the Gálla trip impracticable—Recross
the Webbe—Driving for bushbuck—A fine wart-hog bagged—A man
seized by a lion; extraordinary story—A leopard bagged—A buck
killed by leopards before our eyes—A row at Garbo—Success of
the Lee-Metford—The Awáré pan; beautiful hunting-ground—Lions
roaring at night—Unsuccessful lion hunts—Magnificent lion shot;
a surprising leap—Abundance of lions—Return to Berbera; and go
to England 258-291
CHAPTER XI
NOTES ON THE WILD FAUNA OF SOMÁLILAND 292-329
APPENDIX I.—ON FITTING OUT SOMÁLI EXPEDITIONS 331
” II.—PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 361
” III.—NOTES ON SOMÁLI TRADE 375
INDEX 379
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
THE AUTHOR AND HIS ESCORT _Frontispiece_
GROUP OF SOMÁLIS (WHITE ESA) 1
SOMÁLI CAMP FOLLOWERS AND A HORSEMAN FROM THE BUSH 5
A CAMP SERVANT WITH LESSER KOODOO SKULL AND HORNS 13
SOMÁLI SCOUTS HALTING IN A SANDY RIVER-BED TO LOOK FOR WATER 29
A HERD OF PLATEAU GAZELLE 45
ELEPHANTS 49
“FLYING THE BUSHES” 55
ELEPHANT AND CALF 61
LESSER KOODOO AND ALOES 76
♂ WATERBUCK HEAD 79
SOMÁLI HORSEMAN 81
“SAKÁRO” ANTELOPE 89
JUNGLE OF “HIG” ALOES AND “GUDÁ” THORN-TREES 107
ON THE MULE-TRACK, NEAR HARAR 118
GAME ON THE PLAINS 123
DIK-DIK ANTELOPE 124
WALLER’S GAZELLE 125
ORYX FIGHTING—“A TRIAL OF STRENGTH” 133
A SLUMBERING LION 135
GREATER KOODOO HEAD 145
♂ SŒMMERING’S GAZELLE HEAD 153
A HERD OF “AOUL” 155
A HERD OF HARTEBEEST 164
JUNGLE OF “WÁDI” THORN-TREES AND “HIG” ALOES; SUBUL ODLI, HAUD 179
♂ SŒMMERING’S GAZELLE HEAD 186
“AOUL” BUCKS AT PLAY 187
RHINOCEROS AT POOL OF KUREDELLI 190
A HERD OF ORYX 203
A SOUNDER OF WART-HOG 212
A HERD OF GERENÚK 213
GREATER KOODOO ON THE LOOK-OUT 242
ROCK RABBITS 256
A HERD OF WATER ANTELOPE 258
WATERBUCK SWIMMING 269
CENTRAL AFRICAN BUFFALO, SKULL AND HORNS 274
LION—“A SNAP SHOT” 289
VULTURES 292
BLACK RHINOCEROS HEAD 296
“ORYX BEISA” HEAD 298
LESSER KOODOO HEAD 304
SOMÁLI HARTEBEEST 305
BUSHBUCK HEAD 309
CLARKE’S GAZELLE HEAD 311
CLARKE’S GAZELLE 312
WALLER’S GAZELLE HEAD 313
♂ PELZELN’S GAZELLE HEAD 317
♀ PELZELN’S GAZELLE, SKULL AND HORNS 317
KLIPSPRINGER, HEAD AND SKULL AND HORNS 318
DIK-DIK ANTELOPES, HEADS AND SKULL AND HORNS 319
DIK-DIK AND ALOES 320
WART-HOG HEAD 324
♂ SPEKE’S GAZELLE HEAD 325
♀ SPEKE’S GAZELLE HEAD 328
HUNTING MAP OF NORTHERN SOMÁLILAND.
MAP OF THE HORN OF AFRICA.
[Illustration: GROUP OF SOMÁLIS (WHITE ESA).
_From a Photograph by the Author._]
CHAPTER I
ETHNOLOGY
Division of classes in Somáliland—The trading
caravans from Ogádén and Harar—Habits of the nomad
tribes—The Somáli brokers—The outcaste races and
their characteristics—The settlements of the
mullahs—The Somáli, his character—Religion—Costume and
weapons—Condition of women—Marriage laws—Industries of
women—Blood money—Feuds-Native councils—Respect for the
English—Somáli vanity—The _dibáltig_ ceremony—Influence
of religion—Influence of civilisation—Religious
observances—Superstitions—Carelessness—The origin of the
Somáli race—Tracing descent for twenty-two generations—Arab
descent—Tribal customs—Plurality of wives—Adoption of prefix
_Ba_ to names of children—Somáli nomenclature—Nicknames—Tribal
divisions—“Brothers of the shield”—Ruins, cairns,
and graves—Frontier raids between the Gállas and the
Somális—Boldness of southern tribes—The Golbánti Gállas-The
Wa-pokómo negroes of the Tana—Origin of the Gállas—The Esa
tribe—The Gadabursi tribe—Evidences of former highly-organised
races in Somáliland—Interesting remains—Old Gálla ruins—Curious
legend to account for cairns—The robbers’ cover—Baneful
influence of feuds.
“He who dines alone, dines with the devil.”—_Somáli proverb._
The inhabitants of Somáliland may be divided into four separate
classes:—The nomad Somális, who keep sheep, goats, cattle, and camels,
and who breed ponies; who live almost entirely upon milk and meat, and
follow the rains in search of grass for their animals. The settled
Somális, who form a comparatively small community, living in or near the
coast towns, and who are principally occupied as _abbáns_ or brokers.
Certain outcaste races, living in a precarious way, scattered about
among the different Somáli tribes, engaged principally gathering gum and
hunting. The traders, who bring large caravans from the interior to the
coast at certain seasons.
The most important trading caravans are those which come to Berbera from
Ogádén and Harar. They bring hides, ivory, ostrich feathers, rhinoceros
and antelope horns, prayer-skins, honey, coffee, ghee (clarified butter),
and gum; exchanging these products and loading up for the return journey
with the beads, dates, rice, cotton goods, and other articles which form
the cargoes of dhows visiting the ports. The traders have portable huts
(_gurgi_) which are packed on the camels, and can be pitched or struck in
about an hour. These they erect on long halts, and when staying at the
coast towns in the trading season. The _rer_ or kraal (_karia_ in Arabic)
is formed by unpacking the _gurgi_ and pitching them in a semicircle,
surrounding the whole by a thorn fence or zeríba. The huts are carried on
camels in sections, and consist of a framework of bent gipsy poles, over
which mats and skins are sewn when a halt is made. While on the march the
mats do duty as packsaddles for the camels, the skins being tied over the
loads to protect them from sun and rain. While the caravans are at the
coast, generally during the greater part of the cold weather, the camels
are placed under the care of the nomad Somális, to be fed and tended
until the return journey to the interior in the spring.
The nomadic tribes also form zeríbas during their constant wanderings,
staying in camp for a month or two at a time. Each nomad clan wanders in
an orbit of its own, and reoccupies its former zeríbas at the different
pastures year after year. Their zeríbas differ from those of trading
caravans by being made in a double ring, the outer circle of which is
often twelve feet high, to keep out lions. Inside the double brushwood
fence the space is divided into pens for cattle, camels, sheep, and
goats, the ponies being hobbled and allowed to graze abroad by day, while
at night they are tied to the outside of the huts or to thorn trees,
and for their further protection fires are lit round the inside of the
zeríba and in the huts. At the coast towns the arrangements are not
so formidable, a low single fence to keep in the animals being deemed
sufficient. The huts are put up by women, while the men form the zeríba
and cut logs for the watch-fires, using an axe (_fás_) consisting of a
block of soft iron, worked into a ring with a forked stick inserted—much
like the axe of jungle tribes in India. The men are extremely lazy, and
consider that their dignity is lowered by tending anything but camels,
cattle, and ponies. Thousands of sheep and goats are looked after by a
few women and small children; while the donkeys and water-vessels which
they carry are the particular care of the oldest and most decrepit women.
The neighbourhood of nomad encampments and watering places is always
noisy and dusty, the ground being worked into powder by the feet of
thousands of animals. Most of the bushes are denuded of their branches
for firewood, and the grass is eaten and worn away. At the important
wells watering is done by sub-tribes, to each of which is allotted a
certain well at a certain hour. When watering is going on, the groups of
naked men singing in chorus as they pass the water up to the troughs, the
lowing of the cattle, the countless flocks and herds moving to and fro
half veiled by clouds of dust, go to form a very remarkable scene. The
nomads who live about the Gólis Range draw near to the coast during the
cool trading season, and return to the high Ogo country to remain there
during the summer months. They form no large caravans, but are engaged in
a good deal of petty barter with the coast and in the export of sheep.
With reference to the class engaged in brokerage, they are people settled
permanently at the ports of the North Somáli coast. Until a short time
ago the office of _abbán_ or broker was considered to be important. When
a trader arrived off the coast in a dhow, or with a caravan from the
interior, he was obliged to engage an _abbán_ to transact his business,
to protect his interests, to act as general agent, paying in return for
such services a small commission on all purchases and sales.
Of the outcaste races the most important are the Tomal, Yebir, and
Midgán. They are not organised in tribes, but live in scattered families
all over Somáliland. The Tomal are the blacksmiths, who fashion all
kinds of arms, axes, and general ironwork. The Yebir are workers in
leather, such as saddlery, scabbards, and so forth. The Midgáns are
probably the most numerous of the outcaste people. They are armed with
the _mindi_ (a small dagger), bow, and poisoned arrows, carrying the
latter in a large quiver. They keep wild and savage pariah dogs, which
they train to hunting, their chief quarry being the oryx (_Oryx beisa_),
the large bovine antelope with the rapier-like horns.
I have often been out oryx-hunting on foot in the Bulhár Plain with
Midgáns and dogs. When a bull oryx is killed a disc from fifteen to
eighteen inches in diameter is cut from the thick skin of his withers
and sometimes from the rump: these are worth from one to four rupees at
the coast, and are used by the Midgáns for making shields. The Midgáns
are a hardy race, used to living away from karias, stealthy and perfect
trackers, and they are sometimes, in intertribal warfare, engaged to
act as messengers, scouts, and light skirmishers. There appears to be
no physical difference between them and other Somális, except that the
average stature of the Midgáns may be slightly shorter. I have on more
than one occasion come upon a party of Midgáns pegging out the fresh skin
of a lion which they had just killed; many of these animals are brought
to bag every year with no other weapons than their tiny arrows. The lions
are found asleep under the _khansa_ bushes at midday, or are shot from an
ambush at night over a living bait, or when returning to a “kill.”
In the interior of Northern Somáliland there are no permanent settlements
except those founded and occupied by religious Mahomedans, called
sheikhs, mullahs, or widads. These settlements occur, on an average,
about seventy miles apart. The two largest which I have seen are Seyyid
Mahomed’s Town in Ogádén, and Hargeisa in the Habr Awal country. There
are about a dozen others of minor importance, all inhabited by mullahs,
scattered over several degrees of latitude and longitude, and Hargeisa
may be taken as the type of them all.
[Illustration: SOMÁLI CAMP FOLLOWERS AND A HORSEMAN FROM THE BUSH.
_From a Photograph by Prince Boris Czetwertynski._]
Mullahs are enabled to settle down and form permanent villages, and
cultivate, on account of the respect in which they are held by all
tribes. A looting party must be driven to the last extremity of hunger
before it will attack them, and generally in such a case only as many
animals would be looted as are needed to provide food. The mullahs are
drawn from various tribes, and being cosmopolitan, have very extended
influence. They are a quiet, respectable class, generally on the side of
order, and are civil to travellers.
Hargeisa, a compact village of a few hundred _agal_ or permanent huts,
is surrounded by a high mat fence, and a square mile or two of _jowári_
(_Holcus sorghum_) cultivation belonging to different mullahs. Sheikh
Mattar, the chief of Hargeisa, is a pleasant mannered man affecting Arab
dress; he reads and writes Arabic, and is a steady supporter of British
interests. Like many of the more important mullahs in Somáliland he
has a very dark complexion, almost black, in fact, with well-formed,
intelligent features. With the exception of these mullah settlements,
a few graves dotted about the country, and some cairns and ancient
remains of former races, there is nothing permanent to show the presence
of human beings. The caravan tracks are mere paths made by the feet of
camels and passing flocks, crossed by game tracks in every direction. For
countless years long lines of baggage camels have gone aside from the
straight course in order to wind round some stone or bush that a child
could remove. The work is left to the next caravan, or to Allah, who is
made responsible for everything, good or bad, in Somáliland. There is no
social system, but patriarchal government by tribes, clans, and families;
no cohesion, and no paramount authority; and the whole country has been
from time immemorial in a chronic state of petty warfare and blood feuds.
The Somáli has a many-sided character. He is generally a good camelman,
a cheerful camp-follower, a trustworthy, loyal, and attentive soldier;
proud of the confidence reposed in him, quick to learn new things, and
wonderfully bright and intelligent. He is untiring on the march, and he
is often a reckless hunter, and will stand by his master splendidly.
I know of one Somáli who, to save his English master, hit a lion over
the head with the butt of his rifle; and quite lately, under similar
circumstances, another Somáli caught hold of a lion by the jaws.
Occasionally, however, he relapses into a state of original sin; he
becomes criminally careless with the camels, breaking everything in the
process of loading, from leather to cast steel; he can be disrespectful,
mutinous, and sulky. He is inordinately vain, and will walk off into the
jungle and make his way home to the coast, leaving two months’ back pay
and rations behind him, if he considers his lordly dignity insulted. If
he sees a chance of gain he is a toady and flatterer. His worst fault is
avarice.
The Somáli, although by no means a coward, is much more afraid of his
fellow-man than of wild animals,—a fact which is possibly due to the
general insecurity of life and property. Above all things he dreads
crossing the frontiers of his country, holding his hereditary enemies
the Gállas in great abhorrence. He has a great deal of romance in his
composition, and in his natural nomad state, on the long, lazy days, when
there is no looting to be done, while his women and children are away
minding his flocks, he takes his praying-mat and water-bottle, and sits
a hundred yards from his karia under a flat, shady _gudá_ tree, lazily
droning out melancholy-sounding chants on the themes of his dusky loves,
looted or otherwise; on the often miserable screw which he calls _faras_,
the horse; and on the supreme pleasure of eating stolen camels.
The summer and winter rains are his great periods of activity. There is
then plenty of grass, and pools of water are abundant throughout the
country; and he bestrides his “favourite mare,” and in company with many
dear brothers of his clan, leaving his flocks and herds in the charge of
his women and young children, he rides quietly off a hundred miles into
the heart of the jungle to loot the camels of the next Somáli tribe, the
owners of which are perhaps away doing exactly the same thing elsewhere.
There is tremendous excitement, and the camels are driven across miles
of uninhabited wilderness, trailing clouds of dust behind them; and so
back to the home karia, where he finds his own herds have perhaps been
looted in his absence. He at once goes off on a fresh horse, smarting
under his wrongs and intent on vengeance; and if in the spear and shield
skirmish that ensues a man has been killed, he and his companions ride
back covered with sweat and glory, the tired nags showing gaping spear
wounds and mouths dripping with blood from the cruel bit. This is life!
In the intervals between expeditions the Somális, when not sleeping, sit
in circles on the outskirts of their karias, talking, drinking camel’s
milk, and eating mutton, and doing nothing else for days together. Every
adult male has his say in the affairs of the tribe, and is to a certain
extent a born orator.
Somális are Mussulmans of the Shafai sect, and use the Somáli salutation
“_Nabad_” or the Arab “_Salaam aleikum_,” which is answered by “_Aleikum
salaam_” and touching of hands. The men are nearly all dressed alike, in
long “tobes” of white sheeting of different degrees of dirtiness, from
brown to dazzling white; and not a few of the tobes have been dipped in
red clay and are of a bright burnt-sienna colour, making the wearers look
like Burmese priests. A long dagger (_biláwa_) is strapped round the
waist, while a shield and two spears are carried in the hands. A grass
water-bottle and Ogádén prayer-carpet are slung over the shoulders of
some, and on the feet are thick sandals, turned up in front, and changed
every hour or so to ease the feet. Many of the men wear a leather charm
containing a verse of the Koran, a lump of yellow amber, or a long prayer
chaplet (_tusba_) of black sweet-smelling wood around the neck. The
camels are often adorned with cowrie necklaces.
The tobe is a simple cotton sheet of two breadths sewn together, about
fifteen feet long, and is worn in a variety of ways. Generally it is
thrown over one or both shoulders, a turn given round the waist, and
allowed to fall to the ankles. In cold weather the head is muffled up
in it after the fashion of an Algerian “burnouse.” When sleeping round
a camp fire the body is enveloped in it from head to foot, as in a
winding-sheet; for a fight the chest and arms are left bare, the part
which was thrown over the shoulders being wound many times round the
waist to protect the stomach. In the jungle the tobes are worn till they
are brown and threadbare; but at the coast towns they are generally of
dazzling whiteness. Elders, horsemen, and those who wish to assume a
little extra dignity, discard the common tobe and affect the _khaili_, a
gorgeous tartan arrangement in red, white, and blue, each colour being
in two shades, with a narrow fringe of light yellow. On horseback it is
a very becoming dress, and it is often affected by a favourite wife. All
_khaili_ tobes are about the same in appearance, so that practically the
white tobe or _khaili_, shield, and spears, is a uniform that seldom
varies much in the whole country. There is very little distinction in
the dress of different tribes. The Esa seldom wear the tobe, having
only a small cloth hung round the loins. The Dolbahanta, Ogádén, Esa,
and the Ishák[1] tribes differ from one another in the shape of their
spear-blades; and the Midgáns carry bow and quiver instead of spear and
shield. The _biláwa_ or sword is a long two-edged, sharp-pointed knife
with soft wrought iron blade, about two feet long and an inch broad at
the broadest part; the weight is well forward for hacking. The hilt,
too small for an European hand, is made of horn, ornamented with zinc
or pewter, and the scabbard is of white leather, sewn crossways to a
long white thong which goes round the waist. The _gáshán_ or shield is
a round disc of white leather, of rhinoceros, bullock, or preferably
oryx hide, from fifteen to eighteen inches in diameter, with a boss in
the centre and a handle behind. It is easily pierced by a pistol bullet.
Two kinds of spears are used throughout the country, each man among the
Ishák tribes, near Berbera, carrying one of each kind. The small spear,
plain or barbed like a fish-hook, is for throwing at a distance of from
twenty-five to thirty yards, but the aim is not accurate much over thirty
yards, though I have seen it thrown as far as seventy-five yards on foot
in competitions at Bulhár. The Somáli grasps his spear firmly in the
fingers, and gives it one or two quick jerks against the palm of the hand
before casting, the vibration being supposed to keep the point straight
when in flight. The best spear-shafts come from Eilo, a mountain in the
Gadabursi country near Zeila, and round the butt is twisted a bit of soft
iron to balance the spear-head. The ponderous laurel-leaf shaped spear,
bound with brass wire, is used for close quarters, being especially
useful against horses. The men of the Esa tribe generally carry one of
these and no throwing spear. They fight on foot and charge home, stabbing
at close quarters, while most Somális prefer light skirmishing. Some
spears are scraped bright, others are blackened and polished. The Somáli
is often a great dandy in these matters, and keeps his shield in a white
calico cover.
The water-bottle (_karúra_) is a wonderfully neat affair, plaited by
the women from the fibres of a root, or from grass, and made watertight
by applying fat or other substances to the inside, and is corked with
a wooden plug. The prayer-carpet generally comes from Ogádén, and is a
small piece of very thick tanned leather. On this the Somáli makes his
regular prostrations at dawn and sunset, and during the day, as becomes
a devout Mussulman, and when not put to this use, it is hung over the
shoulder to afford protection from the chafing of the spears. The sandals
are very heavy; they are of several thicknesses of white leather, sewn
together, rising in a knob in front. They make a great noise, so when
stalking game the wearer carries them and goes barefoot. The club or
kerrie is a foot and a half long, made of the hard _wogga_ wood, and is
thrown with dexterity.
Somális have generally good Arab features, with particularly smooth
skins, varying from the colour of an Arab to black. Among certain
tribes those who have killed a man wear an ostrich feather in the hair.
Originally it was only worn for enemies killed in a fight, but now this
is not always necessary. Little boys carry miniature spears and shields
as soon as they can learn to use them, and many an Esa youth of sixteen
can show an ostrich feather which has been earned in the orthodox manner.
The hair is worn in various ways according to sex and age. Old men shave
the head, and sometimes grow a slight beard. Men in the prime of life
wear their hair about an inch and a half long, and periodically smear
it with a gray mixture, apparently composed of ashes and clay, leaving
it for a day or two to dry. It is then dusted out and the hair becomes
beautifully clean and highly curled. My followers have always gone
through this performance a day or two before reaching Berbera at the
conclusion of a trip. Young men and boys grow their hair in a heavy mop,
often of a yellow colour, like the mane of a lion. Married women wear it
in a chignon, enclosed in a dark blue bag. Young women and girls wear
a mop like the young men, but carefully plaited into pigtails. Small
children have their heads shaven, three cockscombs of short hair being
left, giving the skull the appearance of a crested helmet.
Women are of very little account among the Somális, every small boy
appearing to lord it over the female members of his family, of whatever
generation. The father of many daughters is rich in that while they are
young they herd his sheep and goats, and when they marry he receives from
the husband of each her _yerad_ or price, in return for which he has to
provide a new hut and furniture for the pair. When a man marries he pays
the father of the woman, say, two or three horses and about two hundred
sheep. Often this is given back to the woman by her father, and sometimes
a dowry is given by him. In the Rer Ali tribe we once passed a drove of
about fifty camels being driven by a pretty young woman, who stopped to
proudly tell us that they were her dowry, which her father was sending
along with her to her husband. One favourite way of obtaining a wife is
to loot her in a foray, along with a lot of sheep. Often when I have
asked a man where he got his pretty wife, he has answered, “Oh, I looted
her from the Samanter Abdallah,” or the Rer Ali, naming a neighbouring
tribe. A nod and a laugh from the wife has corroborated the story, and
she does not appear to be at all unhappy about it. Marriage with aliens
is, I think, looked upon with favour by Somális, because it brings new
blood into the tribe; and it has the additional advantage of extending
diplomatic relations, a man who has married into a tribe being tolerably
safe when in its territory, even in disturbed times.
Some rich women, who have brought a large dowry to their husbands, only
perform light work in the huts, and make mats. Others tend sheep and
cattle, draw water, hew wood, and work all day long, with no reward
but blows. I go by what Somális themselves say, for I have never seen
any cruelty to support the statement. Women work very hard. From every
watering-place old women are seen struggling to the karias with heavy
_háns_ full of water, often containing three or four gallons. They carry
the _háns_ and bundles of firewood in exactly the same manner as they
do their babies, slung on their backs. The water _háns_ are composed
of plaited bark. They are easily broken, and on every march one or
two may become useless, owing either to contact with thorn branches
or to the tired camels sitting on them. A little water must always be
lost by slight leakage. My own experience of _háns_ has been somewhat
unfortunate, chiefly because my caravans being composed almost entirely
of men, their management has not been properly understood.
Another industry practised by the women is the plaiting of camel-mats;
these are made by chewing the stripped bark of the _Galol_ tree, weaving
it into a mat, which it takes them a week to make. They also extract the
fibres from the _Hig_ or pointed aloe plants, by beating them between
stones, the fibre then being twisted into ropes. The Somáli women lead
the camels on the longest marches, and exhibit wonderful powers of
endurance, marching sometimes the four hundred miles from the Webbe to
Berbera in about sixteen days. From constantly loading camels they become
nearly as strong in the arms as the men.
[Illustration: A CAMP SERVANT WITH LESSER KOODOO SKULL AND HORNS.
_From a Photograph by Mr. Seton Karr._]
The _mag_, _dia_,[2] or blood money for a man killed is one hundred
milch-camels. Among the Habr Yunis, Habr Gerhajis, if one man of the
tribe kills another the blood money is one hundred she-camels and four
horses, half this number being considered enough for a woman. For the
loss of an eye or permanent disablement of a limb fifty camels have to
be paid, and for the loss of both eyes or disablement of both limbs the
full blood money, as for murder, is demanded. If blood is drawn from the
head about thirty camels are demanded, and even for a bruise the demand
is for three or four camels. Such minor cases, however, are, as a rule,
specially referred to the mullahs for decision. As a matter of fact, in
most cases the blood money actually paid is far below the nominal amount.
If a man captures his wife during a raid on another tribe, he generally
sends a present afterwards to her parents to secure peace; should,
however, a married woman be carried off, or one to whose parents cows
have already been paid by another man, the offence is a grave one, and
the tribe of the woman must fight. One of the most unpardonable offences
is the striking of any one with a shoe or whip, or the open hand, and
theoretically this act can only be wiped out by blood.
There are always innumerable blood feuds going on in Somáliland, but as a
rule the tribal fights are not very serious, a dozen men killed in every
thousand engaged being a fair proportion. The men slain in these combats
are buried on the spot, and then begins a long series of negotiations
for the settlement of the amount of blood money, which generally lasts
months, or even years, before any result is arrived at. Often at a
council all the old men on both sides will get up in a fury and leave
hurriedly for their kraals with angry shouting, showing that diplomacy
has failed.
This sitting in council discussing tribal politics appears to be the
principal occupation of Somális, and at Berbera, in the native town, they
may generally be seen sitting in circles holding protracted discussions.
They appeal to our courts to decide the greatest and most trivial cases,
delighting in arbitration; and tribes from very great distances inland,
even from Ogádén or the Marehán country, come to the Berbera Court with
cases, a great number of which have to do with raids of some sort, which
have been committed either upon grazing flocks and herds or upon caravans.
Although a good deal of intermittent fighting is prevalent all over
the interior, the Somális have no quarrel whatever with the English.
They hold respect for the English as being their natural protectors and
arbitrators. The chronic fighting which goes on throughout the country
is only looked upon by the elders as healthy blood-letting, giving the
young men something to do. It is only considered serious when it occurs
on the main caravan routes, thereby damaging trade. In Guban quarrels and
raids have practically ceased within the last five years, a fact which is
entirely due to British influence.
The Somális love display, and do honour to their own sultans[3] by the
performance of a ceremony called the _dibáltig_. When this function is
to be gone through a body of horsemen is collected, and line having been
formed, the tribal minstrel or _gérára_ sings, while sitting in the
saddle, long extempore songs in praise of the sultan and the tribe, the
most atrocious flattery being the leading feature of the song. At every
great hit scored by the minstrel the song rises to a shriek, and all the
horsemen turn and gallop away, returning and reining up in a dense mass,
crying “_Mót!_” (Hail to thee). The men are generally dressed in the
red _khaili_ tobes, and the saddlery is covered with red tassels. Among
the Esa tribe the _dibáltig_ is represented by a dance on foot, with
shield and spear. In this dance the warriors go through the performance
of pretending to kill a man, crowding in a semicircle round him, and
stabbing him again and again, all the while yelling “_Kek-kek-kek!
Kek-kek-kek!_” as they gasp for breath. I have the authority of Captain
Abud, the assistant Resident at Berbera, for stating that the _dibáltig_
is never performed except on the election of a sultan or in honour of
an English traveller, whom the people recognise as a representative of
the paramount authority in the country. It may be performed in honour of
Europeans other than English who visit the country, but only when they
do so under the ægis of the British Government. Among Somális themselves
it is the open recognition of the authority of a sultan, and notifies
the acceptance of his rule by the sub-tribes or _jilibs_ performing it.
It may therefore be looked upon as a species of coronation ceremony. The
word _mót_ is the royal salute. The assistant Resident at Berbera had a
case brought before him in which a part of the Eidegalla tribe had thrown
off allegiance to Sultán Deria, and when Captain Abud’s intervention was
successful, one of the terms proposed by the delinquents themselves was
that they would _dibáltig_ before him as a recognition of their return
to his control.
The influence of the Mussulman teaching is apparent in many of the
predominating customs throughout the country. The Somális are as a
rule clean and decent in their dress, and of course such a thing as a
drunken Somáli in Somáliland is practically unknown. I have seen a man
dangerously ill with snake-bite, and believed to be dying, refuse brandy
when offered to him as a medicine, saying that he would rather die than
take it.
In speaking of Somális I do not, of course, attempt to describe the Aden
hack-carriage driver or boatman. These products of civilisation are not
found in the interior of Somáliland; they are, to my mind, the only true
Somáli savages. The Aden Somáli as a boy diving for silver coins in the
harbour is a delightful little fellow, but when he grows up he becomes
odious. As a cabman or boatman he sees too much of the weaknesses of
Europeans, and as a result of the familiarity he loses his respect for
them. To cite an instance of the familiarity which breeds contempt, Aden
Somális have been known to call visitors from passing ships “damned fool
passengers”! The real jungle Somáli from the African side of the Gulf
never quite gets used to Aden life. After having made his money there,
he returns to his own country to invest his savings in cows, camels, and
sheep, and a wife or two to tend them. He lives the old pastoral life,
and soon shakes off every trace of his sojourn among the white men. Give
him a fine house in Aden, and he will build a round _gurgi_ of mats and
skins inside it.
In the far interior I have more than once met a horseman, looking quite
like a jungle Somáli, tricked out in all the finery of a mounted warrior,
yet whose salutation has been “Good morning, sir,” in excellent English,
and I have found that he has been to Marseilles and London, having done
his spell as a fireman on a steamer; and he has come back at last to his
country, disgusted with civilisation, and worse in many ways than when
he started on his travels. With such a man the jungle Somáli will often
refuse to eat, saying he is no longer a clean Mussulman, that he is a
_Frinji_, and must eat alone.
Whatever faults a Somáli may have, lack of intelligence, and what, for
want of an English word, may be called _savoir faire_, are not among
them. His bringing up, in a country where every man has his spears ready
to hand to answer an insult on the moment, tends to make him keep his
temper and maintain a diplomatic calm. Once that calm is broken through,
however, he becomes a veritable madman. From laughter to rage is the
transition of a second. Luckily he keeps his infrequent tantrums for
black men. The rich white man is a privileged person, being allowed
the eccentricity which may be excused in the great. If a white man, in
pyjamas and slippers, unfortunately loses his temper, and kicks a lazy
Somáli all round his zeríba for breach of contract, the latter sulks for
a time, but soon gives way before the ridiculous; yet he will permit no
Somáli to insult him.
There is no written Somáli language, so only a few mullahs who are
learned in Arabic can read the Koran. The bulk of the people who cannot
read are more prejudiced than the mullahs, wishing to be on the safe
side, and having all sorts of complicated rules which mullahs know to be
unnecessary. For a long time we could not get our men to eat game which
had had the throat cut low down, although the customary _bismillah_ had
been said as the knife was drawn. On going to Hargeisa I appealed to
Sheikh Mattar and his mullahs, who explained to them that they might eat
the flesh of game bled in this way, and after the sheikh’s decision we
never had any trouble on this point. It is an important one, for a gash
in the skin from ear to ear is very unsightly in a valuable trophy when
set up in England.
The fastidiousness of Somális varies according to circumstances. They say
all game is dry, and will not generally eat birds or fish, and they will
despise all other food if there is a fat sheep to be procured. Not eating
birds, their ignorance about them is extraordinary, and I believe very
few varieties have distinctive names.
The life of a Somáli includes many interesting observances, which unfold
themselves day by day in the course of a journey. Some are very regular
in their prayers and prostrations at the orthodox hours, praying for all
they are worth, in season or out of it; others seldom or never pray.
When on the Gálla frontier, however, I noticed that every one of my
followers, in view of approaching death, became very devout, and mustered
in great force in line for the daily church parade at sunset, no one
being absent; and all day on the frontier the Somáli looks for a prowling
enemy under every bush, fingering his _tusba_ or chaplet to keep away
evil.[4]
When the new moon appears he plucks a tussock of grass and holds it in
flattering compliment between the slender crescent and his eyes, to keep
them from being dazzled by the light. If he sees a tortoise he stands
upon it, first casting off his sandals, believing, I think, that the
soles of his feet will thereby be hardened; but whatever the motive may
be, the act is very commonly practised.
One of the chief faults of the Somáli is carelessness. When a caravan
moves off in the early morning there is generally a forgotten camel or
straying sheep to be hunted for, which has perhaps wandered miles away
into the bush. The men who have not to lead camels linger round the
camp-fires warming their spears, thereby storing up heat for ten minutes
longer to comfort their hands on their cold morning march. There is a
great deal of shouting to the stragglers to bring along things which
have been left behind. On our Abyssinian frontier reconnaissance our
men temporarily lost, at different times, our goats, three Arab riding
camels, the horse, a flock of sheep, and one or two baggage camels,
besides two boxes of Martini-Henry ammunition. The man who loses or
forgets a thing generally remembers the omission after travelling about
fifteen miles, and he then cheerfully trots back to get it, returning
perhaps at noon next day. He is philosophical as to results, for if he
loses your property, is it not his fate? and no man can fight with fate
or with the will of Allah! He has lost your property, and there is an end
of it.[5]
Although I have made many jungle trips in India and elsewhere, yet in no
country have I had such obedient and cheerful followers and such pleasant
native companions, despite their faults, as in Somáliland. In my earlier
and later trips I have often been from one to four months in the interior
with no other companion than the Somális; and I cannot say there has been
a dull moment.
Captain H. M. Abud, who has for some years lived in, and had the
immediate administration of Berbera and Bulhár, and the greater part of
the Somáli coast protectorate, and who is doubtless the best authority
on the intricate intertribal relations of the Somális, has very kindly
furnished me with a few notes on what he knows about their early
history. He says: “The real origin of the Somális is wrapped in mystery.
They themselves say that they are descended from ‘noble Arabs,’ who,
having had occasion to fly from their own country, landed on the Somáli
coast and intermarried with the aboriginal inhabitants, many of whose
descendants still exist, though they now mingle with the Somális.
“The Somális, although none of them, except a few mullahs, can write,
know their genealogical descent by heart, and, although the custom is
beginning to die out, nearly every youngster is made to learn the names
of his forefathers in their order. Out of at least a thousand elders
examined by me while working at the genealogy of the tribes, none could
trace their descent further than twenty or twenty-two generations; and
if this number is correct the dawn of the Somáli nation would be placed
about twelve or thirteen hundred years ago, nearly coinciding with the
rise of Mahomed, on whose account the Arabs were obliged to fly from
Mecca. This coincidence in time is so much in favour of the Somáli
claim; but, on the other hand, it is difficult to believe that ‘noble
Arabs’ would knowingly give their children the barbarous names some of
them have. In any case we must seek away from the true African races for
the origin of the Somáli, for he bears no trace of the negroid type.
It is supposed by some, from a resemblance, fancied or real, in the
languages, that the Somális may be allied to the races of Hindustan. So
far, however, the subject has not been thoroughly worked out, and for all
practical purposes the descent from ‘noble Arabs’ may be assumed as a
convenient starting-point.
“The two great tribal groups of the Somáli nation are named Ishák and
Dárud from their supposed progenitors, Sheikh Ishák bin Ahmed and Sheikh
Jaberti bin Ismail, whose son Dárud is said to have been. The Habr Awal,
Habr Gerhajis, and Habr Toljaala tribes, with whom we have most dealings
in Berbera, belong to the Ishák group; and the Ogádén, Bertiri, Abbasgúl,
Géri, Dolbahanta, Warsingali, Midjerten, Usbeyan, and Marehán belong to
the Dárud group. The descent of the Esa and Gadabursi tribes is unknown,
but it is more than probable that they are offshoots of a great tribe
called Rer Afi.
“The tribal collective prefixes Rer, Habr, Ba, and Ba Habr are often met
with. The Somális are a nomad race, and the tribes wander about, each in
an orbit of its own, in search of pasture for its flocks and herds. A
wealthy Somáli surrounds his huts, cattle, sheep, and camels by a zeríba
of brushwood, and one of these, with the contents, is called a _rer_,
being the kraal or temporary village. It will easily be understood,
therefore, that all the descendants of a man called, say, Ibrahim, may be
called the ‘Rer’ Ibrahim after him.[6]
“Every Somáli, being a Shafai Mussulman, can have four wives at a time,
and it is each man’s object to have as many children as possible, to
increase his own power and that of his tribe. Plurality of wives being
allowed, the children of one wife must be distinguished from those of
another. This is done by the prefix Ba. For an example of this, we have
the case of the Rer Dahir Farah sub-tribe of the Habr Toljaala. The
children by an Ibran woman were called the Ba Ibran; those by a Habr Awal
woman were called the Ba Awal, and those by a woman named Gailoh, the Ba
Gailoh.
“There are comparatively few names used among the Somális, the changes
being rung on different combinations of Mahomed, Ali, Hassan, Esa,
Samanter, Ismail, Gadíd, and others, many of which are names used in
every Mussulman country. Owing to this scarcity of names, and to the
vast number of people consequently named alike, the use of nicknames is
very prevalent. A Somáli will, as often as not, when asked his name, tell
you his nickname, and I have known many a man at a loss when asked his
real name. For instance, the descendants of Daud Gerhajis are called the
Eidegalla, meaning ‘he who rolls in the mud,’ while those of Said Harti
are known by his nickname, and are called the Dolbahanta tribe.
“Somáli children are, as often as not, named after the circumstances
of their birth, unless they receive ordinary Mussulman names: for
instance, Wa-berri means that the man bearing this name was born in the
morning, from _berri_, morning. Similarly, the bearers of the name Gédi,
‘a march,’ were born while the _rer_ or kraal was shifting to another
pasture. Gadíd denotes a man born at noon, and Róbleh, from _rób_, rain,
a man born in wet weather. Descriptive nicknames are suggested by some
personal peculiarities, as Afhakam, Afweina, ‘big mouth,’ Daga-yéra,
‘small ears.’ Even Europeans do not escape, and such names as Gadweina,
‘big beard,’ Gudani, ‘small stomach,’ Madah weina, ‘big head,’ have been
bestowed on English officers without any disrespect being intended; and
the bearers of these nicknames are known by them, especially when Somális
are speaking among themselves.
“The usual divisions among Somális are the tribe, the sub-tribe, the
clan, and the _jilib_ or family. Thus the chief of the Eidegalla, Sultán
Deria, would describe himself as Habr Gerhajis (tribe), Eidegalla
(sub-tribe), Rer Mattan (clan), Rer Guléd (family). If further asked
he would describe himself as one of the Ba Ambaro, or sons of Ambaro.
In the event of a man having a large number of sons, he is entitled
to call himself a separate family; for instance, Shirmáki Adan, a man
still living and still procreating, has already twenty-three sons and
twenty-nine daughters, and these are now called the Rer Shirmáki Adan.
A weak clan is likely to be looted and absorbed by a stronger, and thus
the weaker clans join together for protection. When whole families so
unite the members combine under the name ‘Gáshánbúr,’ or ‘brothers of
the shield.’ Somális have no surnames in the English sense, and when a
distinction is to be made, the name of the man’s father is added to his
own. Thus the son of Shiré Shirmáki is Deria Shiré, and he again might
have a son called Hussein Deria.”
Without myself having gone so deeply as Captain Abud into evidence on
historical questions, I have been led, in a long intercourse with the
natives at the camp-fire and on the march, to draw my own conclusions on
certain points.[7] From ruins, cairns, and graves which have been pointed
out to me to be of Gálla origin, I have been led to believe that before
the Arab immigrations what is now called Somáliland, even to the northern
coast, was owned by the Gállas. The immigrant Arabs and their followers
with “friendlies” on the spot, becoming strong, began to seize the coast,
driving the original Gállas inland towards the parts of their country
which lie round Harar and beyond the Webbe. On the frontier between the
Somális and Gállas there are periodical raids still in active progress
from one side or the other. These raids were occurring at Karanleh on the
Webbe when I went there in 1893, and put me to much inconvenience; and in
1889, when I visited a mission station called Golbánti on the Tana River,
not far from Lamu on the east coast, I found a Somáli encroachment taking
place.
The Gállas at this place a few years before my visit numbered between
one and two thousand souls, rich in cattle, but latterly they had been
annually raided by the Masai from the south and the Somális from the
north, till the village of Golbánti had dwindled down to about one
hundred and fifty inhabitants, and it had been only kept going by the
exertions of, and protection afforded by the representative of the United
Methodist Mission who was stationed there. Three years before my visit
the former missionary and his wife, an English lady, had been murdered
there by the Masai, and less than two years later the German station of
Ngai, a few miles up-stream, had been burnt by a party of over a thousand
Somális, who came to within a short distance of Golbánti, but were
unprepared to attack the fine stockade and house which had been built by
the missionaries, the upper verandah having been thoughtfully lined with
a few rifles.[8] The German missionaries from Ngai had taken refuge in
the Golbánti house, and saw the flare of their own mission burning a few
miles away. The Gállas at Golbánti said they feared the Somális even more
than the Masai, as the former being good swimmers, the Tana River was no
obstacle to them.
The southern Somáli tribes are very bold, and are said to raid cattle
from the Gállas and take them to the mixed Gálla and Arab town of Lámu,
on the east coast, to sell them again. As they have horsemen, they are
said to be able to cope with the Masai, whom they sometimes meet when
both are raiding the Gállas near the Tana. I saw a few of the southern
Somális walking about Lámu. They appear to be rougher, more savage, and
finer men than the northern Somális.
The Gállas of Golbánti were well-featured men, very quiet in manners,
brown in colour, with thin lips, and slightly built.[9] The Somális
are very like them, but rather bigger and better built, and the only
difference that I could observe was that there appeared to be some Arab
blood in the Somális. The little I saw of the nomad Gállas at Imé and
Karanleh on the Webbe tended to strengthen me in the belief that the
Somális are Gállas with a very slight strain of Arab in their blood. The
Somális themselves, of course, deny this, and claim their descent to be
from the higher race. The Gállas and Somális, though such bitter enemies,
are much alike, and both are utterly different from the negritic and
mongrel Swahili races to the south.
On the Tana I found a river population called the Wapokómo, negroes of
fine physique, lorded over and held in bondage by the warlike Gállas;
and on the Webbe Shabéleh a river race called the Adone, who were also
negroes, were working in the fields and punting rafts on the river for
their masters, the Somális.
My theory is that the Gállas seem to be wedged in between the
continually advancing Somális from the north and the Masai from the
south, the apex of the wedge being somewhere near the Tana mouth, and the
base at the sources of the Juba. The effect of this pressure is perhaps
driving the Tana Gállas up the river, to the country where they are more
numerous and can hold their own.
Monseigneur Taurin Cahaigne of Harar, who probably knows as much as any
man living about the Gállas, hinted, so far as I can remember, that the
origin of the Gálla nation was probably near the mouth of the Tana, and
that they spread northward and westward from there.
The tribe occupying the coast round Zeila is the Esa, and those about
Bulhár and Berbera are the Habr Awal, and farther east Habr Toljaala. The
nearest inland tribe to Zeila is the Gadabursi, and those on the Berbera
side are the Habr Gerhajis and Dolbahanta. The six above named are the
tribes with which the British authorities have most directly to deal.
Of these the most capable in war is probably the Esa. The Gadabursi and
Habr Awal fear them, and it is only because the former tribes are mounted
and the latter have no horses that the balance of power is maintained.
The Esa are chaffed by the Ishák tribes for being uncouth and barbarous.
The men go about dressed in a simple short cloth round the loins, while
eastern Somális generally wrap themselves in a full tobe. The Esa women
do not necessarily cover up the breast, while among the Ishák tribes all
but the oldest and most destitute are well dressed from head to foot. In
no tribe that I have seen do the Somáli women cover the face.
The Gadabursi tribe is rich in ponies of a poor stamp. The Jibril Abokr
sub-tribe of the Habr Awal is, I think, the best mounted among the tribes
named, and the Dolbahanta also have enormous numbers of good ponies, and
are wild and addicted to raiding on a very large scale.
It is certain that Somáliland has at different times been occupied by
highly-organised races, whose habits of life have been quite different
from those of the present nomadic tribes. Widely distributed over the
country are traces of permanent settlements, many of them probably of
great antiquity. Some appear so ancient that they might belong to any
time, of which all record has been lost. Many of these ruins are traced
to Mussulman occupations by the Arabs from Yemen, some hundreds of years
back, but other older remains are assigned by tradition to a people
who were “before the Gállas.” There are no writings, and many of the
remains are scarcely recognisable as being of human origin. Sometimes
blocks of dressed stone are found lying in a rectangular pattern on
the ground, overgrown and half buried by grass and jungle; a series of
parallel revetment walls on a hill overlooking a pass is occasionally to
be met with, and frequently one may observe the scanty evidences of an
ancient tank to catch rain-water. It is possible to travel for weeks in
Somáliland without coming on these remains; they are met with by chance,
and it seldom occurs to the natives to think of pointing them out to
travellers.
Near the mullah village of Guldu Hamed, at Upper Sheikh, are the remains
of a very large ruined town, and close by there is a graveyard containing
some five thousand graves. I believe these remains are not very ancient,
but are traced to early Mussulman settlements from Yemen. West of
Hargeisa is an old fort of considerable size, crowning the detached hill
called Yoghol. In the Gadabursi country there is the ancient ruined town
of Aubóba, and at the head of the Gáwa Pass, on a hill to the west, and
about four hundred feet above it, are some massive ancient ruins, which
must have once been a fort, commanding the pass. They are called Samawé,
from the name of a sheikh whose tomb crowns the ruins. The hill-top is
surrounded by parallel retaining walls built of dressed stone, rising in
steps from the bottom. In some places the walls were six or eight feet
high, and there were remains of extensive ancient buildings filling the
enclosure. Surmounting the whole in the centre was the ruin of a building
of cut stone, which appeared to be the sheikh’s tomb.
The position of the Samawé ruins would favour a supposition that some
power holding Harar, and having its northern boundary along the hills
which wall in the southern side of the Harrawa valley, had built the
fort to command the Gáwa Pass, which is one of the great routes from the
Gadabursi country up on to the Marar Prairie. On the other hand, the fort
may have been built by a power holding the coast, to close the pass on
the Harar side.
Within half a mile of the Samawé tomb, on the sloping ground to the
south, we found a curious stone enclosure, half buried in jungle. It was
in the form of a rectangle measuring fifty-seven yards by fifty-eight
yards, marked by long rows of dressed stones, each about nine inches
by a foot, lying loosely on the ground. Some of these were blocks of
limestone, and some apparently basalt.
Near Hug, in the mountainous Jibril Abokr country, my brother found many
signs of old “Gálla” habitations and graves, and some well-made pathways
down the hillsides. His followers told him that the hills having in the
olden time been used as places of refuge by the Gállas, these roads were
made to enable the cattle to be quickly driven up in case of alarm—the
custom being for a part of the clan to camp on the top of a hill, in
order to hold it, while the rest looked after the flocks and herds
grazing below. He was told that the Gállas on the Abyssinian border, and
the Abyssinians themselves, still do this.
All over the territory of the Ishák tribes, and in the Dolbahanta
country, we found many old Gálla graves and cairns. At Kirrit there is
a well in which a very ancient cross has been carved in the face of the
rock. Crowning nearly every prominent hill in the countries named is a
cairn or pile of stones, each stone being, roughly speaking, about the
size of a man’s head. They are made up of many hundreds of such stones,
and are generally about twelve or fifteen feet high and eight yards
in diameter. Each one is circular, having in the centre a depression,
suggesting that there may have been a tomb beneath, which has fallen in.
I never cared to dig one up, not wishing to offend the susceptibilities
of the natives. Some of them are of immense size, and are called Taalla
Gálla or Gálla cairns.
There is a curious legend accounting for the origin of these cairns,
which was told me by one of the Esa Musa tribe, while I was camped on the
Golis Range, and by others of the Habr Awal at different times.
The drift of his story was that when the Gállas were in the country
there once lived a great and powerful queen, called Arroweilo. She was
very wicked, and was the origin of all evil in women at the present day.
For some reason she conceived a ferocious prejudice against all male
children, and a mother, to escape from her tyrannies, fled into a far
country with her baby boy. As years went on this son grew, and when he
had become a man he returned into Arroweilo’s country armed with a sword.
He attacked Arroweilo in a lonely pass, and hacking her to pieces, tied
her remains on a camel, and sent it off with a parting cut. The camel
trotted in mad career all over the country, and wherever a piece of
Arroweilo fell, the pious native, as he passed, said a prayer and threw
a stone “to keep her down.” The chief use of these cairns now is to form
cover for robbers when watching for caravans; and my brother and I found
they made very recognisable points when seen through the telescope of a
theodolite.
At Badwein (_i.e._ “Big Tank”) in the Dolbahanta country, one hundred
and fifty miles, as the crow flies, from Berbera, we found a tank forty
feet deep and a hundred and twenty yards in diameter, evidently excavated
by human labour. Near it was a temple or large house with walls still
standing at a height of ten feet, and the space enclosed was so large
that a party of horsemen could ride into it.
The Dolbahanta told us that before the Gállas a race of men occupied the
country who could read and write. Unfortunately none of their literary
work was visible, as we examined many remains for inscriptions, but found
none. One man, for a small fee, took us four miles out of our way to read
an inscription, but the result was not promising, for we only found on a
tombstone some scratches, perhaps twenty years old, evidently made by an
idle sheep boy. All these discoveries of ancient remains go to prove that
the elevated parts of Somáliland (not semi-desert Guban) have once been
capable of permanent settlement under a more secure form of society than
at present exists.
The deserted village of Dagahbúr in Ogádén is an example which shows how
settlement and cultivation have been successfully begun, and abandoned
because of the insecurity resulting from intertribal feuds. At Dagahbúr
there were formerly many square miles of _jowári_ cultivation, which have
been abandoned within the last few years, and now there is only left an
immense area of stubble and the ruins of the village. Dagahbúr used to
be a thriving settlement of one thousand five hundred inhabitants, with
trade caravans plying regularly across the Haud to Hargeisa and Berbera;
and now not a hut is left.
The fact is, that although the natural conditions are suitable to the
settlement of large tracts of country, and though many of the people are
willing enough to engage in cultivation, yet the tribes and sub-tribes
are so incessantly at feud, that the religious mullahs or widads,
who enjoy a certain immunity from raids, alone dare settle down and
cultivate; and now that many of the old wells and tanks have fallen into
disuse and ruin, the water-supply could only be restored by a great
expenditure of capital, for which there would perhaps be no adequate
return for some generations.
[Illustration: SOMÁLI SCOUTS HALTING IN A SANDY RIVER-BED TO LOOK FOR
WATER.
_From a Photograph by Prince Boris Czetwertynski._]