THE NOMADIC LIFE
Varieties of camels—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.
There appear to be two distinct varieties of camel in Somáliland,—the Gel
Ad, or white variety, sold mostly on the Berbera side, and the Ayyun
or dark Dankali one, which is common on the Zeila side. Both have the
single hump. The Esa themselves admit the superiority of the Berbera
camel, and offer a higher price for it. There are certain camels fattened
for the butcher, which are never used for carrying loads. They can be
recognised by their hairiness and the great development of the hump, but
they are not, I believe, a distinct variety. Somális know their animals
individually by name. A fine large camel may often be christened “Maródi”
(the elephant); another, noted for its pace, is sometimes flatteringly
called “Faras” (the horse).
The Somáli camels, as contrasted with those of India, are willing and
gentle; and although whilst being laden they will generally complain,
and make feints at biting, yet I have seldom known them injure any one.
In moving about the camp at night one has often to pass among them as
they kneel in rows, sometimes stepping over them, or stooping under
their outstretched necks, but I have never had experience of a vicious
camel in Somáliland. Even when undergoing firing operations they rarely
bite, although the head is left free. This accommodating disposition
I attribute greatly to the manner in which they are treated by the
natives, who, though rather cruel to their ponies, will never ill-use
a camel. Many Somális are utterly ignorant of loading, this work being
done largely by the women. When a camel is intractable it is generally
through ignorant handling. The Somális talk and sing to their animals
when loading and unloading, and whistle while they are drinking, some of
these songs used upon such occasions being of very ancient origin. During
loading the camels are made to kneel, and the head-rope is passed round
the knees and made fast there.
When marching with loads they need to be watered every fifth day, though
upon emergency we have often worked them for ten days without distress.
While on the march they are tied head to tail, as in Northern India. In
rocky places, where the caravan animals are liable to stumbles and sudden
stops, the tail is sometimes torn off.
The usual load is not less than about two hundred and seventy-five
pounds, exclusive of mats, but it varies according to the nature of the
load. Dates are bad to carry, being compact and heavy in proportion to
their size, and the date load is generally two _gosra_, or two hundred
and fifty pounds. European baggage comes under the same category. The
marching hours are from about 4 A.M. to 9 A.M., and from 1 to 5 P.M. The
camels are allowed to graze during the midday heat, and for half an hour
before sunset. It takes three-quarters of an hour to load up, from the
time of rounding in the grazing camels to the start off, and unloading
takes about fifteen minutes. In stating these particulars I am giving
our own average with complicated boxes, tents, loads of trophies, and
so forth, a Somáli caravan taking probably less time. The usual rate of
marching is from two and a quarter to two and three-quarter miles an
hour, not counting short halts to adjust loads. The fastest rate, for a
short distance, which I have tested has been three and a quarter miles an
hour. The loaded Somáli camel will not trot as a rule, though sometimes
the Midgáns train them to do so, leading them by a string.
Camels are always delicate, and I have considered myself lucky when I
have not lost more than five per cent of my camels on a three months’
expedition. In Ogádén the _Balaad_, or small gadfly, is a terrible
scourge to them, and, to a lesser extent, so is the large gadfly, or
_Dúg_; they are also infested with ticks, which swell to the size of a
date-stone, and are seen clinging round the eyelids. In drinking the
camels often take in small leeches, which fix themselves to the root of
the tongue, growing to a great size and filling the mouth with blood.
Should a camel show stiffness, he is at once fired, either by raising
small blisters with a red-hot ramrod or spear, or by striping with hoops
of red-hot iron. Open sores have glowing stones strapped over them,
followed by an application of moist camel-dung; and when off his feed,
he is dosed with melted sheep’s tail. Thorns are excised from the foot
with the _biláwa_ or dagger, and the spike—often two inches long—having
been extracted, camel-dung is applied, and as a general rule the cut soon
heals.
A great cause of sickness is a sore back, brought on by the chafing of a
load. The worst place is in front of the hump. A camel when let out to
browse is likely to bite such a sore until it festers and becomes full
of maggots. There is a fly which is on the look-out for these sores, and
instead of laying eggs deposits lively maggots, which crawl about briskly
directly they leave the body of the fly. A red-beaked bird, very common
in Ogádén,[10] then attacks the sore, plunging its sharp beak again and
again into the hole, picking out the maggots and decayed mass, and even
the good flesh, until there is a cavity into which a man’s clenched fist
may be thrust. When in this condition it should always have a strip of
calico, steeped in carbolic solution, tied over the wound when sent out
to graze, to protect it from the birds, a dozen of which can be often
seen clinging flat to its shoulders, giving out at intervals their
long-drawn, discordant, shrill note.
The Somáli camel does not require grain, but thrives entirely on whatever
it can pick up by the way. Except at certain seasons in Guban, the coast
country, there is always an abundance of food for them everywhere, in the
unlimited expanse of grass and acacia forest, as they feed and thrive on
many grasses that ponies will not touch. When grazing, or browsing on
the leaves of the mimosa jungles, they roam about in enormous droves,
attended by a few men and women. In Ogádén and the Dolbahanta country
I have seen driven past a succession of herds, each containing over a
thousand camels, as they were taken to pasture in the mornings or back
to the karias at night. They often have to graze at a distance of six
miles or so from home, for, as the food near the karias is eaten up,
they are driven farther out daily, and after a month or two the mat huts
themselves are packed up and the tribe marches on, perhaps ten miles,
to a fresh pasturage. Horsemen are constantly scouring the surrounding
country to watch the next tribe, or to bring early news of a pasture
having received heavy rain.
Camels can be much more quickly rounded up and driven to the home karia
than cattle or flocks, so they are trusted much farther afield, and the
number of camels sometimes seen is astonishing, the whole horizon being
covered with them. When camped at Gagáb by the Milmil river-bed we daily
saw between ten thousand and thirty thousand driven to water past our
tents, belonging chiefly to the Rer Ali tribe. In Ogádén even an outcaste
Midgán will sometimes own three or four hundred, and the only limit to
their numbers is the capability of their owners to water and protect
them. When a tribe becomes rich every man’s eye is covetously turned
to this accumulation of camels, and it is not long before attempts are
made to raid them in a mass. We were told of instances in the Dolbahanta
country where ten thousand had been looted at one swoop. When unladen
they can be driven at great speed, and as the raiders are nearly always
on horseback, the attack is very sudden.
When grazing, in dry weather, they are watered every six days or so, but
when men are lazy, or animals very numerous, much longer periods are
allowed to elapse. When rain has fallen, and the grass is green, camels,
sheep, and goats are sometimes not watered for three months. We often
found tens of thousands of camels and sheep grazing at least forty miles
from water. The men and horses attendant on them live almost entirely on
camel’s milk, a little water being carried over these great distances for
the women and children.
Mobs of camels are generally led by an old one of immense size, a large
wooden bell (_kor_) being hung round his neck to indicate the position
of the mob after dusk. When returning from a good pasture, they show the
exuberance of their spirits by cantering and kicking their heels in the
air. A man running at best pace can with difficulty overtake one which is
bent on avoiding him, and for a greater distance than two hundred yards
the man is nowhere. They may often be seen scampering about the sands at
Berbera, the men following them for hours trying to catch them.
According to the Somális, camels have a young one every second year,
generally in the _Gu_ or monsoon. They begin to foal when three years
old; the foal—black, tawny-yellow, or white as a well-washed sheep—soon
gets on its legs, and in a few days can scamper about. They are called
_Gódir_, _Gel-Ass_, or _Gel-Ad_, according as they are born black,
reddish yellow, or white, and they retain these shades through life.
Yearlings, older camels, and she-camels with their young are kept in
distinct mobs. The Somális object to the firing of a gun near, or
otherwise startling the she-camels when about to foal, as they gallop
away in panic, injuring stock. A she-camel, besides nourishing her foal,
will daily give milk for two men who have no other food, and in the
event of more being required, the young one is killed, and the skin
removed, and whenever the mother is milked its skin is rubbed against
her nostrils. She becomes quite tractable, and will follow the man who
carries the skin. If the foal is allowed to live, as soon as it can
browse the udders of the mother are tied with bits of string, and the
milk reserved for human beings.
Somáli ponies average about thirteen hands and a half, and are bred
by every tribe except the Esa and Géri. Of the tribes I have met on
different expeditions, those having the most ponies are the Dolbahanta,
the Rer Ali, the Rer Amáden, the Habr Gerhajis, and the Jibril Abokr
sub-tribe of the Habr Awal. In the Nogal country we saw enormous numbers,
one man sometimes owning one hundred and fifty. The Somáli pony carries
a light weight splendidly; his feet are harder than even those of an
Arab horse, and, indeed, unless well shod the latter would make poor
work on the rocky ground over which the Somáli animal, which is never
shod, will gallop at full speed. He is handy among bushes, and will go
for three days, or even longer, without water, eats nothing but grass,
and requires no care. I have never seen a Somáli pony covered up or
groomed; it is exposed to all weathers, and is usually infested with
ticks. The _Kud-kudaha_ is a tick about half an inch in diameter, with a
tortoise-shell back, its bite being venomous and drawing blood. Ponies
are bred solely for intertribal fighting, the mares being considered the
best.
Sir Richard Burton, in his _First Footsteps in East Africa_, gives
an admirable description of the Somáli pony and his rider, not very
flattering to either. But he could not have seen the best stamp of pony
among the Gadabursi, and we have noticed that the tribes farther to the
east were not so cruel as the Gadabursi, a man often dismounting and
walking to save his animal.
The few ponies which are kept in waterless tracts, as a guard for the
grazing camels, receive each a daily allowance of the milk of two
camels mixed with a quart of water, the latter being brought from great
distances. They are never used as pack animals, being too valuable in
the eyes of the Somáli to be degraded by doing donkey’s work. Mules are
sometimes used on the Zeila-Harar road, but are found nowhere else in
Somáliland, to my knowledge.
We tried the best Somáli ponies ridden by their owners against an
ordinary 14.1 “Gulf Arab” which I imported from Bombay, and which was
ridden by my brother. The Somáli invariably jumped off with a good start,
keeping it for about one hundred and fifty yards, and then dropping
hopelessly behind when once the advantage of the start was lost.
Donkeys are not much used for transport except on the Zeila-Harar roads,
where the nature of the country is stony. They are largely employed
in taking salt and rice from Zeila to Harar, a bag of rice weighing
one hundred and seventy pounds, or half a camel load, being carried by
each. Only women ride donkeys, the Somáli man considering it beneath his
dignity to do so.
When surveying in 1886, with a small escort of Bombay Infantry sepoys, I
provided each man with a donkey, either to ride or to carry his valise
and water-bottle on, according to inclination. There were twelve men so
mounted, and the experiment proved a great success. The donkeys were
driven herded together by two little boys. The escort was composed partly
of these men and partly of Hindustáni policemen mounted on ponies,
carrying carbines in saddle-buckets. In my later journeys, however,
finding that the natives of Hindustán, being used to plenty of water,
were at a great disadvantage when crossing waterless tracts, I formed the
escort purely of well-drilled Somális, and this arrangement proved less
expensive and better adapted to the requirements of the country.
Cattle are kept chiefly by the tribes inhabiting hilly country where
water is plentiful, and by the mullahs in their settlements. Cow’s
milk is generally tainted by the smoked vessels in which it is kept,
and to obtain good milk it is necessary to see the cow milked. Ghee,
or clarified butter (_subug_), is prepared from the cow’s milk which
is left after the people have drunk their fill, and this ghee is sent
down for sale to Berbera, where the coast people, who live chiefly on
rice, consume a great quantity. Somális need fat or butter, and when not
eating mutton or camel’s flesh, or drinking large quantities of milk,
they insist upon a plentiful allowance of ghee to mix with their rice.
The cattle from the interior are largely exported to Aden for the supply
of the garrison, and vast quantities of hides are annually exported to
America. It is possible that the Aden supply has been affected of late
years by the great drain caused by the Abyssinian foraging expeditions
into Ogádén.
Sheep and goats constitute the ordinary Somáli meat food. Camel meat is
preferred, but it is considered a luxury, and cattle are seldom killed.
The common sheep are of the black-headed variety (_dumba_), with fat
tails, and they are seen whitening the hillsides wherever tribes are
encamped. In the rains they get very fat, their tails becoming flabby
masses. At this season the Bur Dab raider hurries back to his family,
to luxuriate on the delicious meat. Sheep are given as presents to
caravans, and, like fruit in India, “they represent in the bountiful
East the visiting cards of the meagre West.” In many places a chief is
not supposed to be officially aware of a stranger’s presence till he has
received his gift of a sheep or two, or a piece of cloth. Sheep and goats
can ordinarily go a week without water, but when grass is green they
require none. We saw thousands of sheep grazing in the Haud pastures,
forty miles away from water, and we were told they would remain there for
three months.
Somáli sheep have no wool to speak of, and are never sheared. A few goats
are herded with every flock of sheep, and the goats, being by far the
more intelligent animals, take the lead when the flock is moving. The
shepherd walks in front, calling to the goats, and they are followed by
the sheep. Sheep are imported in large numbers to Aden. In 1891 there
were sixty-eight thousand exported chiefly to feed the garrison. Amongst
the tribes quantities of sheep are killed daily, and devoured at the
evening meal in the karias, with singing and dancing. Mutton only ranks
second to camel meat as the favourite food of a Somáli.
The annual movements of the trading caravans and the nomad tribes of
Somáliland depend, of course, on the seasons. Roughly the duration of the
seasons is as follows:—
(1) _Jilál_—January to April—the driest season; great heat.
(2) _Gu_—May, June—the heavier rains (little felt on the coast).
(3) _Haga_—July, August, September—the hot weather. The _karíf_ wind,
or south-west monsoon, blows furiously. It is hot in Guban, with
sand-storms, but cold on the Haud and other parts of the high interior.
(4) _Dair_—October, November, December—the lighter rains. Heavy on the
coast.
(5) At the end of _Jilál_ is a short season of greatest heat just before
_Gu_, called _Kalíl_.
Of these seasons the _Haga_ is the most unpleasant on the coast, the
_karíf_, a strong south-west gale, sweeping along with great fury,
blowing the dust and stones in the face of any caravan so unfortunate
as to have to march against it, and making it impossible to keep a tent
up. The wind generally commences at midnight and blows till 2 P.M. on
the next day; the remainder of the twenty-four hours, from 2 P.M. till
midnight, being a time of great heat, which is even more unpleasant than
the wind, unless tempered by a slight north-east breeze, coming as a
reaction after the fourteen hours’ gale. My usual plan was to make the
longest marches in the mornings, in spite of the wind, and on halting,
to camp under the shade of a tree till the wind should have stopped
sufficiently for us to pitch tents. Then at night a bivouac was made
by piling all the baggage and camel-mats into a steep wall, all of us
sleeping under the lee of it in the open, by which means one could get
a comfortable sleep till morning; but I never kept up a tent during the
wind-storm.
At this season coast communication by dhow is very uncertain; dhows
cannot beat against the _karíf_, but while sailing before it they make
about eleven knots an hour. Dhows for Aden cannot leave the Berbera
harbour during the _Haga_ season until evening, when the lull occurs,
and then they sail out to near the lighthouse, three miles west of the
town, waiting till midnight to cross towards Aden; on getting thirty-five
miles out to sea they are usually clear of the _karíf_. This wind seems
to cease above the level of Guban, and above Gólis the heat of July is
mitigated by cool south-west breezes which are not very violent. As one
descends again to the Webbe Shabéleh valley in the far interior, one
comes into the _karíf_ again; it is much worse at Bulhár, Berbera, and
Karam than it is on the Zeila side.
In the _Kalíl_ season, the intense heat just before the rains, I have
registered 118° Fahrenheit under the shade of a double “Cabul” tent at
midday, in my camp at Malgui in the maritime mountains. As we marched to
the camp where this heat was registered, several of the men were bleeding
from the nose, and on my asking them the reason, they said cheerfully,
“Oh! Allah makes our noses bleed to cool our heads.” The Somális do not
wear anything on their heads, and the close-shaven skulls of the older
men are entirely exposed to the hot sun.
Caravans coming down from a distance of ten or twelve days’ march—that
is, from Milmil or from this side of Gerlogubi—generally make two trips
to the coast each year. For the first trip they come down from the
interior late in the _Haga_, or about September, leaving Berbera again
for the interior in the _Dair_, about December. They then come on a
second trip in _Jilál_, bringing down animals, hides, ivory, feathers,
gum, and ghee; and return in _Kalíl_, taking up chiefly rice and cloth.
From distant parts of Ogádén, or the Webbe, caravans make one trip a
year, coming down at the end of _Haga_ and returning in _Kalíl_ or the
beginning of _Gu_. Many smaller caravans, coming from the nearer parts
of the Haud and Ogo, and engaged in petty barter, make more than two
journeys to and from Berbera. Those coming from Fáf in Ogádén make the
journey in, say, fifteen days’ fast marching without halts. The _gédi_,
or march, is usually from four to five hours, ten to twelve miles being
covered. The start is made at 4 A.M., marching goes on till 9 A.M., the
midday halt giving the camels time to feed till 1 P.M., when another
march is made till about 5 P.M.[11]
Eastern tribes make longer marches than the Gadabursi and Esa. The
longest are made over waterless or uninhabited country, while in the
inhabited tracts the caravan dawdles at every encampment. Our own men
used to advise us to make one long march instead of two short ones, but
we found it did not benefit the camels, the only saving being in trouble
to the men, as the camp had to be formed once instead of twice.
In the hot weather on the Berbera maritime plain, the best time to march
is at night, especially if there is a moon; the caravans swing along at
a great pace in the cool of the night, especially if the paths are good
and there is not too much jungle. Caravans leaving Berbera in the evening
march throughout the night, reaching Laferug, thirty miles from Berbera,
before halting.
At Berbera the camels are handed over, by arriving caravans, to the
Esa Musa sub-tribe of the Habr Awal, or other nomadic people similarly
situated, who tend them till such time as they shall be required for the
return journey to the interior.
In _Haga_ the Esa Musa and similar tribes are to be found at or near
the base of Gólis Range, and in _Dair_ they climb up this step into the
Ogo country, which is vacated by the Habr Gerhajis tribe, who in their
turn have retired far into the Haud, where the pastures are good at this
season. In _Jilál_, the dry season, the Haud, having neither green grass
nor surface pools, is uninhabitable, and the Habr Gerhajis being obliged
to come north into their Ogo pastures and about Gólis Range, the Esa
Musa are apparently pushed down into Guban and the maritime plain, which
is their own country. In the _Gu_, or heavy rains, the best season for
grass, the Esa Musa have only their own sheep and cattle to look after.
They are then found in Ogo, the Habr Gerhajis being far out in the Haud,
taking advantage of the green pasture.
All the nomads belonging to the coast tribes go into the Haud when there
is green pasture and surface water, each tribe moving generally north and
south, and keeping to its own strip of the plateau. Their best pastures
are in the Haud, but they all have to leave in _Jilál_, and are then
sure to be found north of the Haud edge. Sometimes the Habr Awal cross
the Haud nearly to its southern edge, and at others the Ogádén come
northwards till about half-way across. In this way what may be called the
“orbits” of tribes overlap. In the _Gu_, or rains, when the Habr Gerhajis
are far away in the Haud, and competition at the coast is at its lowest
ebb, the Esa Musa export their cattle and sheep to Aden. They have agents
at Berbera, and as opportunities offer, batches of, say, ten oxen or
two hundred sheep are brought down for export, marching by easy stages.
Coming from Bur’o, eighty miles from the coast, cattle or sheep reach
Berbera in four to six days, while caravans generally cover the distance
in three days.
Overlooking the Berbera-Bulhár coast track, at a spot about twenty-four
miles west of Berbera, is a low spur of bare sandstone hills, called
Dabada Jiáleh, ending at a single _jia_ thorn-tree, and it is known as
a spot which has till a few years ago been used by Esa Musa marauders
as a watching-place when on the look-out for Ayyal Ahmed or Ayyal Yunis
caravans passing along the track. There are similar spots all over the
country, known as watching-places, sometimes a sandy hillock, sometimes
a “boss” of rock (_dagah_, the South African _kopje_); and many have
descriptive names, such as “Dagaha Todoballa” (rock of the seven
robbers), showing the use to which they have been put.
Annually when wandering in search of rain, tribes which are at feud are
liable to meet where their orbits overlap, and so often is there a fight,
and a few graves on the scene of action are left to mark the event. The
country is further rendered unsafe by raiding and plundering parties
which surprise caravans, and gangs of highway robbers, who do not disdain
to attack small parties, or single men and women in charge of a camel or
two.
In the _Gu_, when the coast tribes are in Ogo and Haud, and there are
pools of surface water everywhere and green grass for the ponies, and the
tribes, moreover, have all their numbers present, a great deal of petty
warfare and raiding goes on. Large mounted bands of young men go out
from the tribes and travel great distances in search of caravans, or of
grazing flocks. When out on raid the cavalier ties a grass water-bottle
to his saddle-bow, together with a quantity of sun-dried meat, and thus
provided he will often cross seventy miles of thorn forest to surprise
his neighbour’s flocks and herds. The attack, made at dawn or in the
afternoon, is arranged to take place suddenly, and it is timed when the
male owners are scattered far and wide, sleeping in zeríbas or under
the shade of trees, wrapped up in their tobes, and the flocks are only
attended by boys and girls. The looted animals are hastily driven off,
urged by gentle spear pricks, and the raiders return to their tribe to
the musical strains of lowing cattle, bleating sheep, and screaming
camels. If the enterprising horsemen are pursued in force the captured
flocks are relinquished, but the camels, travelling faster, are clung to
as long as possible, at the risk of a human life or two. A looted horse
is a great prize, and the happy gainer will boast long and loudly of his
deed.
In my several expeditions we were constantly crossing the tracks of these
looting parties, which muster from thirty to four hundred mounted men.
We actually fell in with a Dolbahanta troop, which was returning from an
unsuccessful raid on the Habr Toljaala herds, having covered a journey of
one hundred and forty miles.
Sometimes when resting at night the men sleep in line on the ground,
the bridle of each pony being passed round the man’s wrist and the pony
standing over him. In fighting order the troops are in single or double
line, extended at an interval equal to the breadth of one pony.
The tribes near the northern coast most addicted to raiding appear
to be the Jibril Abokr sub-tribe of the Habr Awal, the Mahamud Gerád
Dolbahanta, and the Eidegalla, Habr Gerhajis. Late caravans, going into
the interior in the beginning of _Gu_ by the Mandeira route, are liable
to be raided by the Jibril Abokr, parties of whom come from Arabsíyo, by
Argán, to the low Assa Range, an extensive tract of broken country, and
there wait for several days together on the chance of catching caravans
on their way through the Murgo and Jeráto Passes. The time is chosen
when the Esa Musa and Habr Gerhajis are absent in Ogo and Haud searching
for pasture, and have left unoccupied the stretch of country below the
passes. The marauders, hiding in broken ground and deep ravines, will
subsist for a long time on stolen camels, picked up here and there,
until a sufficiently large caravan yields a rich harvest of camels and
property, with which the robbers then decamp to their own country.
Caravans going from Berbera to Hargeisa, Milmil, and the south-west,
fearful of danger, will go directly south by Sheikh, and thence round
by Toyo Plain, to Hargeisa. The Sheikh Pass is also used by caravans
fearing to go into the interior by the Gaha and other eastern passes,
which are annually threatened by the Mahamud Gerád; but both the Sheikh
and Jeráto Passes have been greatly improved, both in point of safety and
practicability, by the British authorities within the last three or four
years.
When water and grass are to be had for the horses, the Mahamud Gerád,
Dolbahanta, and the coast section of the Habr Gerhajis organise strong
mounted bands, which sweep through the Duss and Gaha Passes, and raid
sometimes as far as Biyogóra and the Berbera maritime plain, carrying off
everything they can steal, and retiring at once. They often make raids
in the Waredad Plain above the Huguf Pass in the Habr Toljaala country,
and few are the caravans which have the hardihood to come through this
country by the Haliélo route. In fact, the Mahamud Gerád raids from the
east, across the caravan routes to the Ogádén and Marehán countries, do
immense harm to the Berbera trade.
In the Dolbahanta country we found many natives with hides piled in
their karias ready to be taken to Berbera, but fearing to risk them on
the road. One caravan took advantage of the protection afforded by our
escort to pass through the disturbed Bur Dab district. That caravans have
persisted in crossing the country at all in face of the dangers to which
they have always been exposed, speaks well for the value of Berbera as a
port, and for the trading enterprise of the Somális. The British system
of furnishing armed “biladiers”[12] for the protection and at the expense
of caravans has given great encouragement to trade.
Men of caravans on meeting in the jungle will halt to exchange the news,
and with one’s own caravan it is difficult to make a guide pass his own
karias. I have often been led five or six miles out of my way because
the guide’s karia lay in that direction. His ambition is to bring the
caravan to his home, to show off his own importance to his relations, and
to be able to play the host with a liberal distribution of his master’s
presents. On the march our men have constantly shared their allowance of
food with strangers who have been going our way, and we have sometimes
been astonished, when loading up at dawn, to see half a dozen natives
warming their spears over the dying embers of our watch-fires, who have
turned up in the night from no one knows where. In many cases these are
women, and being industrious, they save the men a good deal of work.
Somehow or other there is nearly always a woman or two in camp, generally
young, pretty, and respectable, with the hair enclosed in the regulation
dark blue bag, denoting that she is married. When I ask where she has
sprung from I always hear, “Oh, one of Mahomed’s cousins,” or “Jáma’s
sister.” Generally “Jáma’s sister” was going to a karia on ahead, to see
about a stolen sheep. These relatives are always quiet, cheerful, and
thrifty, eating little and doing the work of two men, besides inducing
half a dozen youngsters to work harder at camel-loading to show off
their muscles. They appear whenever we come to a karia, and disappear
mysteriously at another farther on, just as passengers get into a train
at one station and leave it at another. Often my men have told me that
the new-comers were people who had been waiting to make a journey, but,
fearing to do so till we came by, they had joined us for the sake of our
protection, working for us in return.
Sometimes I have been standing over a fire in the cold wind an hour
before dawn, waiting for the cook to bring me my cup of coffee, without
which I never march, when a youth, whom I have never seen before, has put
down his shield and spears on the grass, and going to my bedding, has
brought my ulster, saying, “Oh, _Sircal!_[13] here is your coat,” in the
most natural way, as if I had paid him for a month.
It is wonderful how quickly these strangers worm themselves into one’s
service. An unlicked cub of a karia dandy comes up with shield and
spear and joins your caravan. In a few days he has shown some special
qualification, for tracking or camel-loading, for helping the cook, or
carrying the theodolite. An accident deprives you of one of your men,
and he receives the sick man’s rifle and cartridge belt, and is numbered
among your escort. In a fortnight he has come to the front as one of
your best men, and on the next expedition he may be head camelman, and
perhaps on a third or fourth he may be interpreter and caravan leader.
When he first joined you a year before he knew no language but Somáli
and a little Arabic, but while in your service he has picked up a fair
amount of Hindustáni. A few years later you meet him again as a merchant,
who has in the interim accompanied half a dozen European sportsmen on
shooting trips, and has now invested his savings in merchandise, trading
with tribes which he would never have dared to visit except in the
service of his white masters. Many a time have I wished that I could
transform the complacent, shaven-headed, sleek-looking scoundrel back
into the original unsophisticated cub with the well-oiled mop of hair who
came into my camp two or three years before!
[Illustration: A Herd of Plateau Gazelles]