Thursday, July 31, 2008

Cadde Muuse ayaa magacaabey Wasiirka Arimaha Gudaha ee Puntland.



 
 

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via Horseed Media by Editor on 7/28/08

Cabdixamiid Garaad Jaamac Wasiirka Arimaha Gudaha ee PuntlandCabdixamiid Garaad Jaamac Wasiirka Arimaha Gudaha ee Puntland

Madaxweynaha Dawlad Goboleedka Puntland Mudane Maxamuud Muuse Xirsi ayaa soosaarey wareegto uu ku magacaabayo Wasiirka Arimaha Gudaha ee Puntland, Wareegtadan oo Lanbarkeeda lagu sheegay 28 kuna mudeysan 28.July 2008da ayaa loogu magacaabey Cabdixamiid Garaad Jaamac Wasiirka Arimaha Gudaha.

CabdiXamiid Garaad Jaamac ayaa ah siyaasi ka soo jeeda Gobolka Sool horeyna u noqdey Wasiirka Arimaha Dibada ee Dawlada iskiid isu taagtey ee Somaliland.
Wasriikii hore ee shaqo jojinta lagu sameeyay muddo sii horeysey Dr. Cabdirashiid Barkhad Warsame ayaa wareegtadan loogu magacaabey Lataliyaha Madaxweynaha ee arimaha Gobolka Sool.

Wasaarada Arimaha Gudaha ayaa ahayd muddooyinkii u danbeeyay meel aan shaqo ka socon kadib markii wasiirkii hore ee wasaardu Axmed Cabdi Xaabsade uu u galay maamulka Somaliland, iyada oo wasiirkii la bedeley ee Dr. Cabdirashiid Barkhad Warsame lagu sameeyay shaqo joojin kadib markii hanaan socodka wasaarada uu soo galay khilaaf.


 
 

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Lamaana Jarmalka ah ee afduubka lagu heysto oo ka hadlay xaaladooda



 
 

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via Horseed Media by mahad on 7/28/08

Laas Qoray(HR Media):- Labada ruux ee afduubka loogu heysto buuraha Sanaag ee Calmadow ayaa u waramay mid kamid ah Wargeysyada kasoo baxa dalka Jarmalka, ayagoo ka warbixiyey xaaladooda isla markaana baaq u soo jeediyey dowladooda.

Labada qof oo kala ah nin iyo haweenay isqaba oo lagu afduubay xeebaha dalka Yemen kadib markii ay qafaasheen koox Burcad badeed Soomaali ah ayaa hada lagu heystaa buuraha Calmadow ayadoo muddo todobaadyo ah lagu dadaalayey in laga siidayao kooxahaasi heysta.

Kooxda Afduubka ku heysta dadkan ayaa codsaday min 1 milyan oo dollar qofkiiba in laga siiyo ayagoo sheegay inaysan sii deyn doonin lamaanahan ayadoo ay horey Issimada gobalka Sanaag ku baaqeen in lasii daayo ajnabigaasi.

Labada oo wareysi dhinaca telefonka ku siiyey jariirada Der Spiegel ee dalka Jarmalka kasoo baxda ayaa sheegay in ay xaaladooda ay tahay mid aad u adag isla markaana daawooyinkii ay qaadan jireen ay ka dhamaadeen, ayna ku hareeraysan yihiin kooxo dhalinyaro hubeysan oo ay ku sheegeen in ay gaarayaan afartameeyo.

Labada ajnabi ayaa ugu baaqay dowlada Jarmalka in ay xoojiso dadaalka lagu doonayo in lagu siidaayo ayagoo sheegay in ay safaarada Kenya ee dalka Jarmalka ka codsanayaan in ay wax ka qabato xaaladooda.

Waa markii ugu horeysay oo ay wareysi noocaan ah bixiyaan labada qof ee afduubka lagu heysto ayadoo ay horey labadaasi shaqsi ay booqasho ugu tageen dad ka shaqeeya hay'ado, balse illaa iyo hada ma jirin xiriir toos ah oo ay saxaafada ulla yeesheen.

Illaa iyo hada dhinaca dalka Jarmalka ayaan laga bixin wax lacag ah taasi oo lafteeda keentay in ay sii dheeraato wakhtiga dadkan afduubka loo heysto, ayadoo sidoo kale marar badan uu maamulka Puntland sheegay in aan wax madax furasho ah kooxahaasi lasiin.

Waxaan sidoo kale lagu guuleysan hawlgalkii militari oo ay ciidamada Puntland wadeen kadib markii ay cuqaasha iyo issimada gobalka Sanaag codsadeen in aan wax weerar ah lagu qaadin kooxaha dhufeyska uga jira buuraha Calmadow, ayna ayagu ka shaqeyn doonaan in si nabad ah dadkan lagu soosii daayo, walow aan dadaalkaasi odayaasha aan weli lagu guuleysan.

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Shariif Axmed: Waxaan rabnaa in Shacabka ay helaan Nabad



 
 

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via Horseed Media by mahad on 7/28/08

Jabuuti(HR Media):- Guddoomiyaha Isbaheysiga Dib u xoreynta Soomaaliya Shiikh Shariif Axmed ayaa soo saaray Baaq uu ku dhiiri gelinayo in la taageero nabadeynta iyo xabada joojin ka dhacda dalka Soomaaliya, isla markaana ku baaqayo in la fuliyo qodobadii ku qornaa heshiiskii 9kii June ee ka dhacay Jabuuti.

Shiikh Shariif ayaa ugu baaqay dhamaan kooxaha Soomaaliya in ay taageeraan Xabad joojintii lagu xusay heshiiskii Dowlada Soomaaliya iyo Isbaheysiga ku dhexmaray magaalada Jabuuti bishii lasoo dhaafay ee June.

Shiikha ayaa ugu baaqay Beesha Caalamka in si deg degleh looga saaro dalka Soomaaliya Ciidamada Itoobiyaanka ah ee ku sugan dalka kuwaasi oo uu sheegay in ay dhibaato ku hayaan ummada Soomaaliyeed.

Shiikh Shariif Axmed ayaa xusay waxa ka danbeeyey go'aankii ay u qaateen nabada, asagoo sheegay in dadka iyo shacabka Soomaaliyeed la doonayaan in ay dhibka ka baxaan isla markaana fursad u helaan nabad iyo degenaansho kusoo noqota dalka Soomaaliya.

Wuxuuna hogaamiyaha Isbaheysiga Dib u Xoreynta sheegay in ay dhinacooda ku dadaalayaan sidii ay u meel marin lahaayeen qodobadii ay saxiixeen, inkastoo uu yiri waxaanu ka xunahay in isbaheysiga laba garab u kala jabo taasi oo uu ku sheegay nasiib xumo.

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UN Envoy Decries Illegal Fishing, Waste Dumping Off Somalia

UN Envoy Decries Illegal Fishing, Waste Dumping Off Somalia

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The UN special envoy for Somalia on Friday
sounded the alarm about rampant illegal fishing and the dumping of
toxic waste off the coast of the lawless African nation.

"Because there is no (effective) government, there is so much
irregular fishing from European and Asian countries," Ahmedou Ould
Abdallah told reporters.He said he had asked several international
non-governmental organizations, including Global Witness, which works
to break the links between natural resource exploitation, conflict,
corruption, and human rights abuses worldwide, "to trace this illegal
fishing, illegal dumping of waste."

"It is a disaster off the Somali coast, a disaster (for) the Somali
environment, the Somali population," he added.
Ould Abdallah said the phenomenon helps fuel the endless civil war in
Somalia as the illegal fishermen are paying corrupt Somali ministers
or warlords for protection or to secure fake licenses.
East African waters, particularly off Somalia, have huge numbers of
commercial fish species, including the prized yellowfin tuna.Foreign
trawlers reportedly use prohibited fishing equipment, including nets
with very small mesh sizes and sophisticated underwater lighting
systems, to lure fish to their traps.

"I am convinced there is dumping of solid waste, chemicals and
probably nuclear (waste)…. There is no government (control) and there
are few people with high moral ground," Ould Abdallah added.

Allegations of waste dumping off Somalia by European companies have
been heard for years, according to Somalia watchers. The problem was
highlighted in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami when broken
hazardous waste containers washed up on Somali shores.

But world attention has recently focused on piracy off Somalia, which
has taken epidemic proportions since the country sank into chaos after
warlords ousted the late president Mohamed Siad Barre in
1991.Somalia's coastal waters are now considered to be among the most
dangerous in the world, with more than 25 ships seized by pirates
there last year despite US navy patrols, according to the
International Maritime Bureau.

Some Somali pirates have reportedly claimed to be acting as
"coastguards" protecting their waters from illegal fishing and dumping
of toxic waste.Ould Abdallah cited the case of a Spanish trawler
captured by pirates while illegally fishing for tuna off Somalia in
April.He said payment of a ransom for the release of the crew "was
done in a very sophisticated manner" with the pirates arranging by
phone "to be paid in Macau."

The Spanish government said in late April that it paid no ransom to
secure the release of the crew of the Playa de Bakio after six days of
captivity. But Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya chapter of the Seafarers
Assistance Program then said a ransom of 1.2 million dollars (768,000
euros) was paid.

On Friday, Estonia urged the European Union to take stronger action
against Somali pirates attacking cargo ships bound for Europe, after
an Estonian sailor was held hostage for 41 days.

On Sunday pirates seized a 52,000-tonne Japanese vessel and its 21
crew members off the Somali coast.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Zimbabwe: Government of National Unity Soon?



 
 

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via AllAfrica News: Latest on 25/07/08

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe and opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai agreed to a power-sharing arrangement on Monday during intensive meetings at the Rainbow Towers Hotel ahead of marathon inter-party talks that started in Pretoria yesterday.

 
 

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Northern Ireland | Apology over Somali visa blunder -

BBC NEWS | Northern Ireland | Apology over Somali visa blunder
 
Apology over Somali visa blunder
By Diarmaid Fleming
 
The Irish government has been forced to apologise to a Somalian woman in Dublin whose husband and children languished in a refugee camp in Ethiopia for three years because Irish officials failed to tell them they had visas to join her.
The 30-year-old woman was forced to go to the High Court after Department of Justice officials ignored her letters in 2005, 2006 and 2007 asking about her family's situation.
She had come to Ireland in 2003, was granted refugee status a year later, then applied for her husband, son and step-daughter to be allowed to join her.
Her son and daughter are aged eight and nine respectively, while her stepdaughter - the child of her husband's deceased brother - is 16.
 
The Irish Department of Justice decided in 2005 to allow the woman's family to come to Ireland - but failed to tell her, or any of her family.Her letters to officials in Dublin over three years were ignored, during which time her family were forced to stay in a refugee camp in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, instead of being with her in Ireland as they were entitled to.
The woman only found out her family's visa requests had been granted when her lawyers obtained her file under the Republic's Freedom of Information Act in late 2007.Despite the discovery, the family's ordeal continued.
 
Although the Department of Justice in Dublin told the woman that visas would be issued, when the family travelled from their refugee camp home to the Irish Embassy in Addis Ababa, diplomats there said they knew nothing about the case.
The woman then took legal action against the Irish State, claiming her rights under Irish refugee laws, the Irish constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights have been violated.
 
Apology
On Friday, High Court Judge Mr George Birmingham heard lawyer Sara Moorhead for the Irish State apologise on behalf of Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern, for a "profound systems failure"."We don't have excuses for it," the lawyer told the court.
She said that visas would be issued by the Irish Embassy in Ethiopia for the family to come to Ireland.
The Somalian woman was in court but the judge ordered that her identity be protected for her privacy.
He also said he would rule in October if the woman's action against the Irish state should go ahead, given the apology she has received.
In an affidavit to the court, the woman told of her extreme distress at being apart from her husband and children, knowing that they were at risk where they were, and was extremely upset at how long it took to get the visas.
"The time apart from them can never be replaced," she stated in the affidavit.
 
Flight arrangements are being made to fly the family to Ireland and they are expected to be reunited shortly with their mother.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said a review into procedures at the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service was already under way.An internal report by consultants into procedures at the service two years ago revealed that junior officials sometimes took decisions on visas which were not scrutinised externally, and that long backlogs exist for visa and residency applications.

Dowlada Vietnam Oo Arimaha Somalia Kahadashay



 
 

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Safiirka dowladda Vietnam u fadhiya golaha ammaanka ee Qaramada Midoobay Ambassador Le Luong Minh ayaa ka hadlay xaaladda dalka Soomaaliya, isagoo amaanay dadaalada ay waddo

 
 

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Wareysi bbc la yeelatay jendayi Frazer



 
 

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via Xaragaga Online on 25/07/08

Idaacada BBC oo la yeelatay Xoghayaha Arrimaha Afrika ee dalka Mareykanka Jendayi Frazer ..

 
 

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

safe our child

OGADEN ONLINE:SAFE OUR CHILDREN

From Hargeisa to Bossaso


From Hargeisa to Bossaso – the Pulse of the Beleaguered Populace Seethes with Rage
 
"Beware the leader who bangs the drum of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor. For patriotism is indeed a double- edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and patriotism, will offer up all of their rights to the leader and gladly so.
Julius Caesar
A delegation from Maan hadal led by a famed guru of mafrish denominations in Hargeisa and several of his ardent disciples took a trip to Garowe and Bossaso this week to take stock of the developments taking place in neighbouring state of Puntland – another self-styled entity bedevilled by moribund leadership and political stagnation, where the largely disgruntled population remains hostage to a corrupt and immorally self-indigent unpopular politicians and their sycophants who are oblivious and detached from the mundane realities and excruciating misery so prevalent all around them; where the emerging parvenu coterie are tenaciously clung with superstitious blend of mystic faith in astrology and Sufism, gazing heavenwards in the hope of catching the ultimate cosmic wave of Sufi saints. Another stagnant place where the ordinary people are helplessly bamboozled by Machiavellian politicians who are ruthlessly bent on self-aggrandizement; where people talk too much and think little as their stymied fellow compatriots in Hargeisa.
None of us carried essential travel survival kits, first aid boxes, books, magazines, camping equipment, sleeping bags or a bivvy sack. Instead, we loaded laptops, sat phones, cigarettes and plenty of fresh Awaday into our four-wheel-drive landcruiser – the best off-road vehicle ever. We mounted our rough terrain vehicle and started off at sunrise driving to the east to what seemed like terra incognita. At long last, an opportunity to escape somewhere from the ongoing unhealthy political climate in Hargeisa and the seemingly inescapable political posturing and vicious wrangling on increasingly insignificant issues of the virtually indistinguishable rival political parties, come into being.
 "A good rider doesn't forget the horse" goes an old adage. As savvy travellers, we were mindful of the possible scarcity of our daily sustenance in the eastern regions where fresh stocks of Awaday are often unattainable. Awaday is an essentially indispensable travel companion for itinerants driving on the increasingly potholed and dilapidated roads of the largely underdeveloped and ungoverned Horn of Africa region.
 
As the morning dawned bright and warm, wind blown garbage, plastic bags, newspapers, and Qat residuals littered the streets. Owing to the collapse of the municipal order, heaps of decaying and stinking garbage scattered everywhere are threatening the health of the resident population in some parts of Hargeisa. The residents of this rapidly burgeoning city are compelled by circumstances to indicate piles of rubbish as the directional signs to their homes. "Go past three rubbish piles and my house is the third left" is the usual way of directing friends and visitors to one's residence.
At a roadside stall in New Hargeisa, we collected the Saturday editions of Somaliland Times and The Republican newspapers, fresh from the print. "Ethiopia Troops Will Not Deploy In Somaliland" reads a front page headline in the Somaliland Times. The news item states that the "Market talk in the Somaliland capital Hargeisa focused on rumours that President Rayale's administration might deploy Ethiopian troops to the region if the opposition continues to expand." We ridiculed the item as a plain whitewash. Already Ethiopia has a full-fledged presence in Hargeisa with unparalleled influence in the political arena.  
We chatted merrily for a while as the driver sped in blithe disregard for traffic rules. The trip evoked memories from memorable past as we gathered speed. A sudden flashback from the scenes of the Gone with the wind reverberated in my mind.With unnoticed celerity, we were greeted with the blistering heat of the port city of Berbera. Yet respite was virtually at a corner as we began the winding ascent of the Sheikh range of Mountains.
We stopped for a lunch and refuelling in vibrant, noisy, sprawling, dusty and nondescript Burao, where we gathered the most recent news updates from the frontline where thousands of heavily armed militias are facing each other at Adhi Adeeye flashpoint. The impoverished, misgoverned and politically isolated self-styled regional entities of Somaliland and Puntland have been technically at war since early 2004. Both entities are diverting enormous resources to this increasingly inexplicable and senseless standoff that is only serving the empire-building egos of the power-thirsty politicos at the helm of affairs in Hargeisa and Garowe.
Much to our amazement, we were forced to change some green bucks after local vendors in Buroa refused Somaliland shillings. The most favoured currency in recalcitrant Burao was the worn out Siad Barre's old Somali shillings which obviously outlived their utility and in tatters. In a similar vein, we heard vociferous and virulent criticism towards the Rayaale's administration from people we met in Buroa. Disgruntlement with Hargeisa was the order of the day in defiant Buroa, the home of the legendary poet and lyricist Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame (Hadrawi).
We left Buroa after midday prayers hoping to cross the combat zone before the last light. Seized by the spirit of this momentous trip, we purposely commenced munching the lip-smacking Awaday Qude with earnest. The car stereo played a selection of all time favoured Qarami songs. The ambience was almost immediately animated.
 
Somewhere between Ainabo and Adhi Cadeeye, we were flabbergasted to sight a military helicopter flying low down over the main road. It tracked just above the tress going from north to south and back again before it disappeared in the horizon.  It was obvious that the chopper belonged to the ubiquitous Ethiopian defence forces that unabashedly court, arm and train both the warring militias of the antagonistic administrations; a phenomenally mysterious relationship that is yet to be deciphered.
We reached the first check-post of the intimidating frontline at Adhi Adeeye just after the sunset. To cross the volatile frontline, we generously greased the palms of several undisciplined, half-crazy, trigger-happy, gun-toting militiamen manning separate checkpoints, on either side of the disputed frontier, with bundles of Awaday and packs of cigarettes and hence managed to wangle our way with ease.
We checked in a well-run and comfortable hotel in Las Anod, the nerve-centre of the historical Darwishland. Due to the after-effect of the Awaday or perhaps owing to the travel fatigue, I had a fitful sleep that night. Early next day we headed to Garowe, ending our brief sojourn in Las Anod.
 
In the ensuing three weeks, the Maan hadal delegation had extensively travelled through a large expanse of territory stretching from the scenic Las Anod to the booming, full-blown urbanized port city of Bossaso. Hospitality turned up everywhere as people came to know that we were from Hargeisa. As we countenanced the agonizing reality of Puntland, the lack of difference between this anguished entity and its antagonistic neighbour, Somaliland - apart from the suffix land - confounded our naive minds as we drove deeper into the labyrinths of the legendary land of aromatic frankincense. The analogy was manifestly apparent. From Las Anod to Bossaso, we were greeted with a wind of discontent similar to the widespread resentment and disquiet brewing in places like Hargeisa and Buroa. The misruled, alienated and divided masses are having their rude awakening. Whether in Hargeisa or Garowe, their hearts beat in tune with each other. While the rulers yearn for the perpetuation of their tyrannical regimes and their invidious monkey business, the subject people are trying to redeem themselves as their prayers fall on deaf ears. Feeling the pain of privation and their fundamental rights trampled upon, their patience is running thin.
In the rule of the jungle, 'the survival of the fittest' has been the conventional wisdom of the survival game – a game favoured by the bullying monsters. Justice and good governance are hard to come by in a country where there is no rule of law and the wretched population are at the mercy of ruthless gangsters. So is in present day Somalia where survival has become the prerogative of a select few who are fleecing the resource-rich lands without having any benefits trickle down to the less fortunate masses. One sad fact is that the problems facing the ordinary people in both Somaliland and Puntland are identical in many ways: lack of functioning governmental institutions, single clan domination, rampant corruption and mismanagement, intimidation of free press and public dissatisfaction with the ruling goons - a mere microcosmic mirror of the malaise that besets the troubled Somali society.
 
One does not need to be possessing Socratic sagacity to decipher into the ubiquity of economic and social injustices dotted about in this part of the world. The streets in Bossaso present the spectacle of diametrically opposed lifestyles where a fleet of expensive cars speeds past the paupers leaving them in a cloud of dust for hours. The struggle between the less equal and the more equal is glaringly upfront, and it appears that institutionalized corruption is the hallmark and effective measures are underway to further impoverish the poor already caught in the cobweb of skyrocketing inflation with lesser income generating opportunities. With the absence of responsible, benevolent government; adequate legislative mechanism, corporate watchdog to regulate and minimize systemic risks, and owing to endemic corruption and mismanagement, the situation is exacerbating day in day out.
A very outspoken intellectual we met in Bossaso has characterized Adde Muse's administration as a "den of the cannibals". As a politician with insatiable passion for cupidity, Adde Muse is living in hermetically sealed chamber where banal criticism, political or ethical debate, and humorous newspaper caricatures are forbidden much in the vein of other despotic rulers in the neighbourhood. He is surrounded by cruel and crafty coterie of likeminded self-seeking politicians who are adept at soft-pedalling of the prevailing grim situation. The Puntland administration of Adde Muse is widely believed to be milking from the economically devastating scam of minting the Somali shillings, defrauding the unsuspecting populace and hence generating severe inflation rates necessitating skyrocketing of the consumer goods prices that has further reduced the purchasing power of the impoverished masses. In a voracious fortune hunting spree, Adde Muse has been wooing unscrupulous oil companies, clandestinely signing shadowy deals whose terms had never been disclosed. As a plethora of evidence suggest, Adde and his kitchen clique must have pocketed generous kickbacks from these illegitimate deals.
 
Nobody in Adde's government is humane enough to take cognizance of the booming slave trade or grisly human trafficking, which is causing attrition to the population on the one hand and increasing the weight of traffickers' kitty. Thousands of internally displaced and dispossessed people, economic migrants and "boatpeople" are flocking in droves to the shores of Bossaso. The prevailing relative business boom in this sprawling city of clan hodgepodge is adversely serving as a pull-factor for thousands of disadvantaged, underprivileged and needy people from southern Somalia and the Somali region of Ethiopia. Thousands of Somalis and migrant Ethiopians are risking their lives every year on overcrowded fishing boats with the hope of finding sanctuary in the oil-rich arid Arabian Peninsula, from grinding poverty, instability and state-orchestrated ethnic cleansing. International aid agencies and the UN have repeatedly tried to draw the attention of the Puntland authorities to the flourishing deplorable human trafficking but all in vain, for these human traffic fodders hail from a land where life does not have any value but death sometimes has in high seas when the children of this universe are plunged at gunpoint into fathomless seas whose waves have now become brackish with their cadavers. Like that line from Macbeth, ". . . life's fitful fever . . ."
There are times in the history of every society when ideas germinate and revolution becomes an imperative necessity, when it heralds itself as inevitable.In Greek mythology, it is believed that whom the gods want to destroy, they first turn him mad. With these [new] states failing to forge ahead "with vision of development that included broad social benefits" (Hussein Adam,
 
From Tyranny to Anarchy: The Somali Experience 2007), but only capable to re-enforce social injustices and "autocratic rule" by elites, the two regions are on the verge of social upheavals. The recent violent demonstrations in Garowe and this weeks protests in Hargeisa and Buroa are precursors to something terrible, and a time would come when even the silent majority would fraternize with them and would storm the streets, lay siege to the palaces and the land of the gallant Somalis would be liberated from the clutches of callous gangsters. Maan hadal foresees a mellowed wave of reawakening among the harassed masses and galvanization of people's power for the restoration of their usurped rights and dignity. No power, big or small, can stop a revolution whose time has come!
 
A. Duale Sii'arag
 

IS RECOGNITION The Search for Recognition for “Somaliland”



IS RECOGNITION The Search for Recognition for "Somaliland"
 
Introduction
 
For some time now, Hargeisa has been systemically putting in place the infrastructure for a successful secession.  Chief among them is an army that proved superior to that of Puntland. It has also successfully recruited a number of Western scholars to champion the cause(2).  Unusual silence blanketing the other side, including the TFG and the elite of the Harti(3)clan, with the exception of the nascent Northern Somalis for Peace and Unity (NSPU),(4) did not hurt either.
Since the fall of Las Anod (October, 2007) into the hands of "Somaliland," and the blurb of a Pentagon employee of the Djibouti-based AFRICOM, suggesting the "eagerness of his Department to recognize "Somaliland", the Hargeisa administration has been moon struck by a robust [glimmer] of hope for recognition. 
 
There are three more immediate [local and global] developments that may change the equation of secession and the search for recognition.  First is the continued fiasco and the never-ending conflict in the southern part of the country, which Dr. Abdiweli Ali calls a manufactured conflict in that secessionists "perpetuate the war, they perpetuate the fighting in the south by helping (al Qaeda-connected) Shabaab and I think they are now in cahoots with the Eritrean groups... There is an argument that some of the Shabaab who left Mogadishu are now in Hargeisa, Somaliland."(5)
A second factor is Hargeisa's resolve to create a "new reality on the ground," and show to the worldthat it, as a state, fully controls its borders.(6)  A not-so-important third factor is the recent defection of Ahmed Xabsade to Hargeisa, whose attributes include former speaker of "Somaliland's" parliament under the late Egal, a co-founder of the ailing regional government of Puntland, and now back to Hargeisa's fold.  Mr. Xabsade joins a host of Dhulbahante notables (Qaybe, Fagadhe, Fuad Adan Cade, et al).  Although initially Xabsade's defection was thought to tip the balance in Hargeisa's favor, it seems to have now energized the unionists and could generate a backlash that neither Hargeisa nor Xabsade expected. 
 A fourth yet critical factor in deciding the fate of "Somaliland" is largely dependent on a possible policy shift by the only supper-power, i.e., the United States of America.(7)  The two Resolutions (1541) (XV) and (2649) (XXV) of the General Assembly,(8) which govern and arbiter issues of secession that so far protected the territorial integrity of Somalia notwithstanding, it is not unthinkable that the US could "partition Somalia" if its interest is being served this way.(9)
 
New Diplomatic Developments
The first week of December, 2007, almost one year since Ethiopia invaded Somalia with the tacit approval of the Bush administration, witnessed well-healed US leaders including Gondaleezza Rice and Robert Gates, Secretaries for State and Defense, respectively descending down on the region; their visit was highlighted by a foreign policy blurb given by one Captain Wright, a member of the US Defense Combined Task Force-Horn of Africa, AFRICOM, stationed in Djibouti, to the Washington Post, indicating his department's "eagerness" to recognize "Somaliland"(10) and how "the State Department is in the way." To which Mrs. Frazer, undersecretary for African affairs, who at the time was in Addis Ababa travelling with the Secretary of State, responded: "We do not want to get ahead of the continental organization on an issue of such importance." Following the Post's article, a simultaneous fact sheet released by the State Department on December 5, 2007, noted one of the most direct diplomatic languages that inch us towards a potential but real "partition of Somalia":
We understand that Somaliland is pursuing bilateral dialogue with the African Union and its member-states in this regard.  However, as the African Union continues to deliberate on this issue, the United States will continue to engage with all actors throughout Somalia, including Somaliland, to support the return of lasting peace and stability in the Horn of Africa.(11) 
Mrs. Frazer says this with the full knowledge that the AU fact finding mission, a one sided mission, had diplomatically indicated to endorse the claim of "Somaliland" by saying that "Somaliland's status was unique and self-justified and that the cause should not be linked to the notion of "opening a Pandora box." (Alison Egger, 2007).
 
For an American marine captain to suggest to "partition Somalia", most of which is already under the occupation of Ethiopian soldiers encouraged by the US, is rather incongruent to international law and mutual respect of UN charter.(12) Yet both America's flirtation with "partitioning" Somalia and the AU's findings to potentially sanction the secession of "Somaliland" are in total contravention to international relations laws. 
Both the General assembly Resolutions and the Montevideo Convention, which set the framework for the regulatory authorities for secession versus territorial integrity and provide for the framework concept of a nation, respectively, provide for the protection and maintenance of the territorial integrity of states, in this case Somalia.   For example, the Montevideo Convention explicitly conditions that any nation must satisfy the following four factors before recognition is warranted:  it must (1) establish a permanent government;   (2) a defined territory; (3) a permanent population; and (4) a capacity to enter into relationship with other states are prerequisite for statehood.  These instruments stipulate that a secessionist part must seek its objectives within the framework of the "parent" state.  Mogadishu's say so in this case is a key to any future change in the status quo.(13)
 
While it appears plausible to argue that "Somaliland" has established a modicum of permanent but fragile government, it is nonetheless a government within a government and may not be able to enter meaningful relationships with neither bilateral governments, excepting Ethiopia, nor with international bodies.  Moreover, unlike Alison's argument, neither the population nor the territory claimed by "Somaliland" is defined.  If "Somaliland's" territory is to be defined as those regions inhabited by clans who had signed treaties with the former colonial government of Britain in the late 1800s, to distinguish them from that of the Italian protectorate, the Dhulbahante clan did not do so.(14)  There has never been an Anglo-Dhulbahae treaty at any time.  Both the territories and the clans who inhabit "Somaliland" are porous and shifting constantly.  A case in point is the multiple allegiances that Mr. Ahmed Xabsade, among many others, exhibited in the last 15 years.  Besides, if the former British Somaliland opted out for not uniting with the former Italian protectorate in that fate night of July 1, 1960, the Dhulbahante and the Harti tribes may have charted their own political course.  With significant human cost, the same could take place now in the event that the status quo is changed.
 
As to a US marine indicating a policy shift to "partition Somalia," it is an egregiously imprudent diplomacy to dismantle a nation state in order to satisfy the short-term needs of AFRICOM in Djibouti. International law clearly limits an overtly hostile diplomacy, such as the one the Djibouti-based US marine suggested in that (1) "states shall not dismember other states (i.e. use of force unlawfully) under the pretense of aiding self-determination; and (2) international law does not encourage secession, either."(15) Remaining oblivious to this law and flirting with the idea of "partitioning Somalia" at any time is tantamount to a deliberate destabilization of an already volatile region.(16)
 
Prognosis
If it chooses, the US government has its own way to circumvent international law by invoking Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law of the United States, Sec. 201, enacted in 1987.  This law enables US government to define and engage whomever entity it considers a nation, regardless of local, regional or international laws.  In other words, the US foreign interest and what it terms "national security" take precedence over any other interest including democracy, human rights, or least in this case, the Somali public opinion. 
Ted Dagne, an expert on the Horn who works at the Congressional Research Service in Washington says "recognition by the United States and, perhaps, the European Union would not give Somaliland legitimacy in the eyes of other Somalis,"(17) Mr. Dagne's caution warrants serious attention lest the situation in the region is so fluid.  It is too soon to make any serious conclusion based on one Captain's blurb on whether the US policy is shifting towards a "partition" of Somalia."  However, the diplomatic significance of the "Somaliland" issue surfacing at a time when power-studded leaders visiting the region is not an accidental phenomenon, and, at minimum, underscores what one analyst called a "ragging debate" in Washington in search for a new direction to the Somalia crisis.  
 
Many analysts believe that "Somaliland" has entered a new phase of crisis and active conflict.  If the new threat issued in Booame, Sool region, by the council of Garadas and sultans and chiefs of the Dhulbahante tribe comes to fruition, any shift in US policy towards the troubled waters of Somalia "may as well set ablaze", writes Abukar Arman, "the volatile inter-tribal tension looming in northern Somalia,"(18) This in turn may divert the scope of the AFRICOM from concentrating on the "war on terror," to mediating inter-tribal conflict.  How the clouds of war unfold in the coming months and propel "Somaliland" into a new conflict rather than into a state of recognition remains to be seen.
 
Faisal Roble
________________________________
(1)Endnotes
Faisal Roble is working on a forthcoming paper titled "Local and Global Norms: Challenges to Somaliland's Unilateral Secession."
(2)Chief among those advocating for the secession of Somaliland are I.M. Lewis and John Drysdale. Both are considered authoritative on Somalia affairs and have worked for the later dictator, Mohamed Said Barre, at different times
(3) Harti Kombo Clan is a lineage based diya- paying conglomerate of clans consisting of Majertin, Walsangle and Dhulbahabte; the latter two clans occupy the districts of Sanag, eastern Togdheeer, Sool and Cayn (formerly known as Buuhodle district) in the former British Protect also known as Northern Somalia.
(4) Nur Hussein Cadde, TFG Prime Minister's interview by VOA, Somali program, and how oblivious he sounded to the US possible shift in policy towards Somalia.
(5) Dr. AbdiWali, Global Watch, 2007.
(6) Faisal Roble, "Somaliland: Is Invading Las Anod, Part of Creating "New Reality on the Ground"?  http://www.wardheernews.com/articles_07/october/21_Somaliland_Faisal_Roble.html
(7) Faisal Roble, ibid, in a forthcoming article, would argue that the granting of recognition is mainly a function of world politics as much as it is the product of local politics.
(8) Resolution (1541) (XV) of the General Assembly is applied to colonies or territories administered by a colonizing country with distinct national characteristics, while Resolution (264) (XXV) in Article 1"affirms the legitimacy of peoples under colonial and alien domination.
_&_partition_of_Somalia_Arman.html, (accessed 16 December 2007).
(10) Ann Scott Tyson, U.S. Debating Shift of Support in Somali Conflict, Washington Post, December 4, 2007
(11) US Department of State Website, United States Policy on Somaliland, December 5, 2007.
(12) The unexpected bravado by an overseas-stationed, low-ranking marine captain commenting on such a high-valued diplomatic foreign policy while sharing the same podium with the Secretary of Defense without first acquiring clearance from higher authority is rather bazaar.
(13) "When State is a State? The Case for Somaliland," Boston College International and Comparative Law, Vol. 30.211, 2007
(14) The Illusory "Somaliland" ; Setting the Record Straight, NSPU, 2005
(15) Alison Eggers, ibid, 2007
(16) The US has several plans towards the region, especially owing to its paranoid-based "war on terror" policy; one such likely alternative policy includes "partitioning Somalia."  In the event that the Pentagon view triumphs over the meek and non-committal position of the State Department, US present and future administrations most likely would invoke Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law of the United States, Sec. 201, enacted in 1987.   This law, intended to free the Executive branch from the restrictions of international laws, states that "a[n] entity that satisfies the requirements of [the] Sec. 201 (definition of state) is a state whether or not its statehood is formally recognized by other states.
(18) Abukar Arman, ibid
 

Somalis are immensely indebted to ...

Somalis are immensely indebted to Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

R. Burton´s Undeserved, Racist Insults against Oromos and Gadabursi and Issa Somalis

R. Burton´s Undeserved, Racist Insults against Oromos and Gadabursi and Issa Somalis

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
July 23, 2008
In six earlier articles, entitled ´Richard Burton on Sanaag – At the Origins of the British Anti-Somali Perfidy´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/68668), ´Somalis and Oromos Misrepresented by British Colonial Empire´s Foremost Explorer´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/68901), ´Sailing from Aden to Zeyla – R. Burton´s Notes, Prejudices, and Misinterpretations´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/68958), ´Northern Somalia and Zeyla described by the English Explorer Richard Burton before 150 years´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/68984), ´English Orientalist R. Burton´s Adventures near Zeyla, in Northern Somalia´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/69088), and ´Somalis: ´a Peculiarity of Race´ for Racist, English Orientalist Richard Burton´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/69143), I published six units (Appendix I, Diary and Observations Made by Lieutenant Speke, When Attempting to Reach the Wadi Nogal - Chapter IV. The Somal, Their Origin and Peculiarities - Chapter I - Departure from Aden - Chapter II – Life in Zeyla – Chapter III – Excursions near Zeyla – Chapter V – From Zayla to the Hills) from the book ´First footsteps in East Africa or, An Exploration of Harar´ of the famous English Orientalist and explorer Richard Burton (published 1856).

For those willing to have a complete idea of the book´s contents, I state here that following a Dedication and a Preface, R. Burton´s book contains eleven (11) chapters, and several appendices. The main part´s chapters are as follows:

1. Departure from Aden

2. Life in Zayla

3. Excursions near Zayla

4. The Somal, their Origin and Peculiarities

5. From Zayla to the Hills

6. From the Zeyla Hills to the Marar Prairie

7. From the Marar Prairie to Harar

8. Ten Days at Harar

9. A Ride to Berberah

10. Berberah and its Environs

11. Postscript

In this article, I republish Chapter VI of R. Burton´s book. I will gradually reproduce all parts of R. Burton´s book. Preconceived ideas, misperceptions, misunderstandings and distortions are omnipresent within this book which served as basic point of study and reference for the formation of the English colonial policy in the area of the Horn of Africa at the second half of the 19th century.

As I have already received many mails full of questions and refutations of the English Orientalist´s book, after the re-publication of the entire book, I will publish several articles for necessary answers, clarifications, criticism, refutation and selective commentary. I therefore welcome your comments that along with mine will highlight the destructive role and the racist nature of the English colonialism.

First footsteps in East Africa or, An Exploration of Harar

By Richard Burton

http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/b/burton/richard/b97f/index.html

Chapter VI

From the Zayla Hills to the Marar Prairie

I have now, dear L., quitted the maritime plain or first zone, to enter the Ghauts, that threshold of the Ethiopian highlands which, beginning at Tajurrah, sweeps in semicircle round the bay of Zayla, and falls about Berberah into the range of mountains which fringes the bold Somali coast. This chain has been inhabited, within History´s memory, by three distinct races,—the Gallas, the ancient Moslems of Adel, and by the modern Somal. As usual, however, in the East, it has no general vernacular name. 1

The aspect of these Ghauts is picturesque. The primitive base consists of micaceous granite, with veins of porphyry and dykes of the purest white quartz: above lie strata of sandstone and lime, here dun, there yellow, or of a dull grey, often curiously contorted and washed clear of vegetable soil by the heavy monsoon. On these heights, which are mostly conoid with rounded tops, joined by ridges and saddlebacks, various kinds of Acacia cast a pallid and sickly green, like the olive tree upon the hills of Provence. They are barren in the cold season, and the Nomads migrate to the plains: when the monsoon covers them with rich pastures, the people revisit their deserted kraals. The Kloofs or ravines are the most remarkable features of this country: in some places the sides rise perpendicularly, like gigantic walls, the breadth varying from one hundred yards to half a mile; in others cliffs and scaurs, sapped at their foundations, encumber the bed, and not unfrequently a broad band of white sand stretches between two fringes of emerald green, delightful to look upon after the bare and ghastly basalt of Southern Arabia. The Jujube grows to a height already betraying signs of African luxuriance: through its foliage flit birds, gaudy-coloured as kingfishers, of vivid red, yellow, and changing-green. I remarked a long-tailed jay called Gobiyan or Fat 2, russet-hued ringdoves, the modest honey-bird, corn quails, canary-coloured finches, sparrows gay as those of Surinam, humming-birds with a plume of metallic lustre, and especially a white-eyed kind of maina, called by the Somal, Shimbir Load or the cow-bird. The Armo-creeper3, with large fleshy leaves, pale green, red, or crimson, and clusters of bright berries like purple grapes, forms a conspicuous ornament in the valleys. There is a great variety of the Cactus tribe, some growing to the height of thirty and thirty-five feet: of these one was particularly pointed out to me. The vulgar Somal call it Guraato, the more learned Shajarat el Zakkum: it is the mandrake of these regions, and the round excrescences upon the summits of its fleshy arms are supposed to resemble men´s heads and faces. On Tuesday the 5th December we arose at 6 A.M., after a night so dewy that our clothes were drenched, and we began to ascend the Wady Darkaynlay, which winds from east to south. After an hour´s march appeared a small cairn of rough stones, called Siyaro, or Mazar4, to which each person, in token of honor, added his quotum. The Abban opined that Auliya or holy men had sat there, but the End of Time more sagaciously conjectured that it was the site of some Galla idol or superstitious rite. Presently we came upon the hills of the White Ant5, a characteristic feature in this part of Africa. Here the land has the appearance of a Turkish cemetery on a grand scale: there it seems like a city in ruins: in some places the pillars are truncated into a resemblance to bee-hives, in others they cluster together, suggesting the idea of a portico; whilst many of them, veiled by trees, and overrun with gay creepers, look like the remains of sylvan altars. Generally the hills are conical, and vary in height from four to twelve feet: they are counted by hundreds, and the Somal account for the number by declaring that the insects abandon their home when dry, and commence building another. The older erections are worn away, by wind and rain, to a thin tapering spire, and are frequently hollowed and arched beneath by rats and ground squirrels. The substance, fine yellow mud, glued by the secretions of the ant, is hard to break: it is pierced, sieve-like, by a network of tiny shafts. I saw these hills for the first time in the Wady Darkaynlay: in the interior they are larger and longer than near the maritime regions.

We travelled up the Fiumara in a southerly direction till 8 A.M., when the guides led us away from the bed. They anticipated meeting Gudabirsis: pallid with fear, they also trembled with cold and hunger. Anxious consultations were held. One man, Ali—surnamed "Doso," because he did nothing but eat, drink, and stand over the fire—determined to leave us: as, however, he had received a Tobe for pay, we put a veto upon that proceeding. After a march of two hours, over ground so winding that we had not covered more than three miles, our guides halted under a tree, near a deserted kraal, at a place called El Armo, the "Armo-creeper water," or more facetiously Dabadalashay: from Damal it bore S. W. 190°. One of our Bedouins, mounting a mule, rode forward to gather intelligence, and bring back a skin full of water. I asked the End of Time what they expected to hear: he replied with the proverb "News liveth!" The Somali Bedouins have a passion for knowing how the world wags. In some of the more desert regions the whole population of a village will follow the wanderer. No traveller ever passes a kraal without planting spear in the ground, and demanding answers to a lengthened string of queries: rather than miss intelligence he will inquire of a woman. Thus it is that news flies through the country. Among the wild Gudabirsi the Russian war was a topic of interest, and at Harar I heard of a violent storm, which had damaged the shipping in Bombay Harbour, but a few weeks after the event.

The Bedouin returned with an empty skin but a full budget. I will offer you, dear L., a specimen of the "palaver" 6 which is supposed to prove the aphorism that all barbarians are orators. Demosthenes leisurely dismounts, advances, stands for a moment cross-legged—the favourite posture in this region—supporting each hand with a spear planted in the ground: thence he slips to squat, looks around, ejects saliva, shifts his quid to behind his ear, places his weapons before him, takes up a bit of stick, and traces lines which he carefully smooths away—it being ill-omened to mark the earth. The listeners sit gravely in a semicircle upon their heels, with their spears, from whose bright heads flashes a ring of troubled light, planted upright, and look stedfastly on his countenance over the upper edges of their shields with eyes apparently planted, like those of the Blemmyes, in their breasts. When the moment for delivery is come, the head man inquires, "What is the news?" The informant would communicate the important fact that he has been to the well: he proceeds as follows, noting emphasis by raising his voice, at times about six notes, and often violently striking at the ground in front.

"It is good news, if Allah please!"

"Wa Sidda!"—Even so! respond the listeners, intoning or rather groaning the response.

"I mounted mule this morning:"

"Even so!"

"I departed from ye riding."

"Even so!"

"There" (with a scream and pointing out the direction with a stick).

"Even so!"

"There I went."

"Even so!"

"I threaded the wood."

"Even so!"

"I traversed the sands."

"Even so!"

"I feared nothing."

"Even so!"

"At last I came upon cattle tracks."

"Hoo! hoo!! hoo!!!" (an ominous pause follows this exclamation of astonishment.)

"They were fresh."

"Even so!"

"So were the earths."

"Even so!"

"I distinguished the feet of women."

"Even so!"

"But there were no camels."

"Even so!"

"At last I saw sticks"

"Even so!"

"Stones"

"Even so!"

"Water"

"Even so!"

"A well!!!"

Then follows the palaver, wherein, as occasionally happens further West, he distinguishes himself who can rivet the attention of the audience for at least an hour without saying anything in particular. The advantage of their circumlocution, however, is that by considering a subject in every possible light and phase as regards its cause and effect, antecedents, actualities, and consequences, they are prepared for any emergency which, without the palaver, might come upon them unawares.

Although the thermometer showed summer heat, the air was cloudy and raw blasts poured down from the mountains. At half past 3 P.M. our camels were lazily loaded, and we followed the course of the Fiumara, which runs to the W. and S. W. After half an hour´s progress, we arrived at the gully in which are the wells, and the guides halted because they descried half-a-dozen youths and boys bathing and washing their Tobes. All, cattle as well as men, were sadly thirsty: many of us had been chewing pebbles during the morning, yet, afraid of demands for tobacco, the Bedouins would have pursued the march without water had I not forced them to halt. We found three holes in the sand; one was dry, a second foul, and the third contained a scanty supply of the pure element from twenty to twenty-five feet below the surface. A youth stood in the water and filled a wicker-pail, which he tossed to a companion perched against the side half way up: the latter in his turn hove it to a third, who catching it at the brink, threw the contents, by this time half wasted, into the skin cattle trough. We halted about half an hour to refresh man and beast, and then resumed our way up the Wady, quitting it where a short cut avoids the frequent windings of the bed. This operation saved but little time; the ground was stony, the rough ascents fatigued the camels, and our legs and feet were lacerated by the spear-like thorns. Here, the ground was overgrown with aloes7, sometimes six feet high with pink and "pale Pomona green" leaves, bending in the line of beauty towards the ground, graceful in form as the capitals of Corinthian columns, and crowned with gay-coloured bells, but barbarously supplied with woody thorns and strong serrated edges. There the Hig, an aloetic plant with a point so hard and sharp that horses cannot cross ground where it grows, stood in bunches like the largest and stiffest of rushes. 8 Senna sprang spontaneously on the banks, and the gigantic Ushr or Asclepias shed its bloom upon the stones and pebbles of the bed. My attendants occupied themselves with gathering the edible pod of an Acacia called Kura9, whilst I observed the view. Frequent ant-hills gave an appearance of habitation to a desert still covered with the mosques and tombs of old Adel; and the shape of the country had gradually changed, basins and broad slopes now replacing the thickly crowded conoid peaks of the lower regions.

As the sun sank towards the west, Long Guled complained bitterly of the raw breeze from the hills. We passed many villages, distinguished by the barking of dogs and the bleating of flocks, on their way to the field: the unhappy Raghe, however, who had now become our protege, would neither venture into a settlement, nor bivouac amongst the lions. He hurried us forwards till we arrived at a hollow called Gud, "the Hole," which supplied us with the protection of a deserted kraal, where our camels, half-starved and knocked-up by an eight miles´ march, were speedily unloaded. Whilst pitching the tent, we were visited by some Gudabirsi, who attempted to seize our Abban, alleging that he owed them a cow. We replied doughtily, that he was under our sandals: as they continued to speak in a high tone, a pistol was discharged over their heads, after which they cringed like dogs. A blazing fire, a warm supper, dry beds, broad jests, and funny stories, soon restored the flagging spirits of our party. Towards night the moon dispersed the thick mists which, gathering into clouds, threatened rain, and the cold sensibly diminished: there was little dew, and we should have slept comfortably had not our hungry mules, hobbled as they were, hopped about the kraal and fought till dawn.

On the 6th December, we arose late to avoid the cold morning air, and at 7 A.M. set out over rough ground, hoping to ascend the Ghauts that day. After creeping about two miles, the camels, unable to proceed, threw themselves upon the earth, and we unwillingly called a halt at Jiyaf, a basin below the Dobo10 fiumara. Here, white flocks dotting the hills, and the scavengers of the air warned us that we were in the vicinity of villages. Our wigwam was soon full of fair-faced Gudabirsi, mostly Loajira11 or cow-herd boys, who, according to the custom of their class, wore their Tobes bound scarf-like round their necks. They begged us to visit their village, and offered a heifer for each lion shot on Mount Libahlay: unhappily we could not afford time. These youths were followed by men and women bringing milk, sheep, and goats, for which, grass being rare, they asked exorbitant prices,—eighteen cubits of Cutch canvass for a lamb, and two of blue cotton for a bottle of ghee. Amongst them was the first really pretty face seen by me in the Somali country. The head was well formed, and gracefully placed upon a long thin neck and narrow shoulders; the hair, brow, and nose were unexceptionable, there was an arch look in the eyes of jet and pearl, and a suspicion of African protuberance about the lips, which gave the countenance an exceeding naivete. Her skin was a warm, rich nut-brown, an especial charm in these regions, and her movements had that grace which suggests perfect symmetry of limb. The poor girl´s costume, a coif for the back hair, a cloth imperfectly covering the bosom, and a petticoat of hides, made no great mystery of forms: equally rude were her ornaments; an armlet and pewter earrings, the work of some blacksmith, a necklace of white porcelain beads, and sundry talismans in cases of tarnished and blackened leather. As a tribute to her prettiness I gave her some cloth, tobacco, and a bit of salt, which was rapidly becoming valuable; her husband stood by, and, although the preference was marked, he displayed neither anger nor jealousy. She showed her gratitude by bringing us milk, and by assisting us to start next morning. In the evening we hired three fresh camels 12 to carry our goods up the ascent, and killed some antelopes which, in a stew, were not contemptible. The End of Time insisted upon firing a gun to frighten away the lions, who make night hideous with their growls, but never put in an appearance.

The morning cold greatly increased, and we did not start till 8 A.M. After half an hour´s march up the bed of a fiumara, leading apparently to a cul de sac of lofty rocks in the hills, we quitted it for a rude zig-zag winding along its left side, amongst bushes, thorn trees, and huge rocks. The walls of the opposite bank were strikingly perpendicular; in some places stratified, in others solid and polished by the course of stream and cascade. The principal material was a granite, so coarse, that the composing mica, quartz, and felspar separated into detached pieces as large as a man´s thumb; micaceous grit, which glittered in the sunbeams, and various sandstones, abounded. The road caused us some trouble; the camels´ loads were always slipping from their mats; I found it necessary to dismount from my mule, and, sitting down, we were stung by the large black ants which infest these hills.13

About half way up, we passed two cairns, and added to them our mite like good Somal. After two hours of hard work the summit of this primitive pass was attained, and sixty minutes more saw us on the plateau above the hills,—the second zone of East Africa. Behind us lay the plains, of which we vainly sought a view: the broken ground at the foot of the mountains is broad, and mists veiled the reeking expanse of the low country.14 The plateau in front of us was a wide extent of rolling ground, rising slightly towards the west; its colour was brown with a threadbare coat of verdure, and at the bottom of each rugged slope ran a stony water-course trending from south-west to north-east. The mass of tangled aloes, ragged thorn, and prim-looking poison trees,15 must once have been populous; tombs and houses of the early Moslems covered with ruins the hills and ridges.

About noon, we arrived at a spot called the Kafir´s Grave. It is a square enceinte of rude stones about one hundred yards each side; and legends say that one Misr, a Galla chief, when dying, ordered the place to be filled seven times with she-camels destined for his Ahan or funeral feast. This is the fourth stage upon the direct road from Zayla to Harar: we had wasted ten days, and the want of grass and water made us anxious about our animals. The camels could scarcely walk, and my mule´s spine rose high beneath the Arab pad:—such are the effects of Jilal 16, the worst of travelling seasons in Eastern Africa.

At 1 P.M. we unloaded under a sycamore tree, called, after a Galla chieftain17, "Halimalah," and giving its name to the surrounding valley. This ancient of the forest is more than half decayed, several huge limbs lie stretched upon the ground, whence, for reverence, no one removes them: upon the trunk, or rather trunks, for its bifurcates, are marks deeply cut by a former race, and Time has hollowed in the larger stem an arbour capable of containing half-a-dozen men. This holy tree was, according to the Somal, a place of prayer for the infidel, and its ancient honors are not departed. Here, probably to commemorate the westward progress of the tribe, the Gudabirsi Ugaz or chief has the white canvass turban bound about his brows, and hence rides forth to witness the equestrian games in the Harawwah Valley. As everyone who passes by, visits the Halimalah tree, foraging parties of the Northern Eesa and the Jibril Abokr (a clan of the Habr Awal) frequently meet, and the traveller wends his way in fear and trembling.

The thermometer showed an altitude of 3,350 feet: under the tree´s cool shade, the climate reminded me of Southern Italy in winter. I found a butter-cup, and heard a wood-pecker 18 tapping on the hollow trunk, a reminiscence of English glades. The Abban and his men urged an advance in the afternoon. But my health had suffered from the bad water of the coast, and the camels were faint with fatigue: we therefore dismissed the hired beasts, carried our property into a deserted kraal, and, lighting a fire, prepared to "make all snug" for the night. The Bedouins, chattering with cold, stood closer to the comfortable blaze than ever did pater familias in England: they smoked their faces, toasted their hands, broiled their backs with intense enjoyment, and waved their legs to and fro through the flame to singe away the pile, which at this season grows long. The End of Time, who was surly, compared them to demons, and quoted the Arab´s saying:—"Allah never bless smooth man, or hairy woman!" On the 8th of December, at 8 A.M., we travelled slowly up the Halimalah Valley, whose clayey surface glistened with mica and quartz pebbles from the hills. All the trees are thorny except the Sycamore and the Asclepias. The Gub, or Jujube, grows luxuriantly in thickets: its dried wood is used by women to fumigate their hair19: the Kedi, a tree like the porcupine,—all spikes,—supplies the Bedouins with hatchet-handles. I was shown the Abol with its edible gum, and a kind of Acacia, here called Galol. Its bark dyes cloth a dull red, and the thorn issues from a bulb which, when young and soft, is eaten by the Somal, when old it becomes woody, and hard as a nut. At 9 A.M. we crossed the Lesser Abbaso, a Fiumara with high banks of stiff clay and filled with large rolled stones: issuing from it, we traversed a thorny path over ascending ground between higher hills, and covered with large boulders and step-like layers of grit. Here appeared several Gudabirsi tombs, heaps of stones or pebbles, surrounded by a fence of thorns, or an enceinte of loose blocks: in the latter, slabs are used to make such houses as children would build in play, to denote the number of establishments left by the deceased. The new grave is known by the conical milk-pails surmounting the stick at the head of the corpse, upon the neighbouring tree is thrown the mat which bore the dead man to his last home, and hard by are the blackened stones upon which his funeral feast was cooked. At 11 A.M. we reached the Greater Abbaso, a Fiumara about 100 yards wide, fringed with lovely verdure and full of the antelope called Gurnuk: its watershed was, as usual in this region, from west and south-west to east and north-east. About noon we halted, having travelled eight miles from the Holy Tree.

At half past three reloading we followed the course of the Abbaso Valley, the most beautiful spot we had yet seen. The presence of mankind, however, was denoted by the cut branches of thorn encumbering the bed: we remarked too, the tracks of lions pursued by hunters, and the frequent streaks of serpents, sometimes five inches in diameter. Towards evening, our party closed up in fear, thinking that they saw spears glancing through the trees: I treated their alarm lightly, but the next day proved that it was not wholly imaginary. At sunset we met a shepherd who swore upon the stone20 to bring us milk in exchange for tobacco, and presently, after a five miles´ march, we halted in a deserted kraal on the left bank of a Fiumara. Clouds gathered black upon the hill tops, and a comfortless blast, threatening rain, warned us not to delay pitching the Gurgi. A large fire was lighted, and several guns were discharged to frighten away the lions that infest this place. Twice during the night our camels started up and rushed round their thorn ring in alarm.

Late in the morning of Saturday, the 9th December, I set out, accompanied by Rirash and the End of Time, to visit some ruins a little way distant from the direct road. After an hour´s ride we turned away from the Abbaso Fiumara and entered a basin among the hills distant about sixteen miles from the Holy Tree. This is the site of Darbiyah Kola,—Kola´s Fort,—so called from its Galla queen. It is said that this city and its neighbour Aububah fought like certain cats in Kilkenny till both were "eaten up:" the Gudabirsi fix the event at the period when their forefathers still inhabited Bulhar on the coast,—about 300 years ago. If the date be correct, the substantial ruins have fought a stern fight with time. Remnants of houses cumber the soil, and the carefully built wells are filled with rubbish: the palace was pointed out to me with its walls of stone and clay intersected by layers of woodwork. The mosque is a large roofless building containing twelve square pillars of rude masonry, and the Mihrab, or prayer niche, is denoted by a circular arch of tolerable construction. But the voice of the Muezzin is hushed for ever, and creepers now twine around the ruined fane. The scene was still and dreary as the grave; for a mile and a half in length all was ruins—ruins—ruins.

Leaving this dead city, we rode towards the south-west between two rugged hills of which the loftiest summit is called Wanauli. As usual they are rich in thorns: the tall "Wadi" affords a gum useful to cloth-dyers, and the leaves of the lofty Wumba are considered, after the Daum-palm, the best material for mats. On the ground appeared the blue flowers of the "Man" or "Himbah," a shrub resembling a potatoe: it bears a gay yellow apple full of brown seeds which is not eaten by the Somal. My companions made me taste some of the Karir berries, which in color and flavor resemble red currants: the leaves are used as a dressing to ulcers. Topping the ridge we stood for a few minutes to observe the view before us. Beneath our feet lay a long grassy plain-the sight must have gladdened the hearts of our starving mules!—and for the first time in Africa horses appeared grazing free amongst the bushes. A little further off lay the Aylonda valley studded with graves, and dark with verdure. Beyond it stretched the Wady Harawwah, a long gloomy hollow in the general level. The background was a bold sweep of blue hill, the second gradient of the Harar line, and on its summit closing the western horizon lay a golden streak—the Marar Prairie.

Already I felt at the end of my journey. About noon, reaching a kraal, whence but that morning our Gudabirsi Abbans had driven off their kine, we sat under a tree and with a pistol reported arrival. Presently the elders came out and welcomed their old acquaintance the End of Time as a distinguished guest. He eagerly inquired about the reported quarrel between the Abbans and their brother-in-law the Gerad Adan. When, assured that it was the offspring of Somali imagination, he rolled his head, and with dignity remarked, "What man shutteth to us, that Allah openeth!" We complimented each other gravely upon the purity of our intentions,—amongst Moslems a condition of success,—and not despising second causes, lost no time in sending a horseman for the Abbans. Presently some warriors came out and inquired if we were of the Caravan that was travelling last evening up a valley with laden camels. On our answering in the affirmative, they laughingly declared that a commando of twelve horsemen had followed us with the intention of a sham-attack. This is favourite sport with the Bedouin. When however the traveller shows fright, the feint is apt to turn out a fact. On one occasion a party of Arab merchants, not understanding the "fun of the thing," shot two Somal: the tribe had the justice to acquit the strangers, mulcting them, however, a few yards of cloth for the families of the deceased. In reply I fired a pistol unexpectedly over the heads of my new hosts, and improved the occasion of their terror by deprecating any practical facetiousness in future.

We passed the day under a tree: the camels escorted by my two attendants, and the women, did not arrive till sunset, having occupied about eight hours in marching as many miles. Fearing lions, we pitched inside the kraal, despite crying children, scolding wives, cattle rushing about, barking dogs, flies and ticks, filth and confinement.

I will now attempt a description of a village in Eastern Africa.

The Rer or Kraal21 is a line of scattered huts on plains where thorns are rare, beast of prey scarce, and raids not expected. In the hills it is surrounded by a strong fence to prevent cattle straying: this, where danger induces caution, is doubled and trebled. Yet the lion will sometimes break through it, and the leopard clears it, prey in mouth with a bound. The abattis has usually four entrances which are choked up with heaps of bushes at night. The interior space is partitioned off by dwarf hedges into rings, which contain and separate the different species of cattle. Sometimes there is an outer compartment adjoining the exterior fence, set apart for the camels; usually they are placed in the centre of the kraal. Horses being most valuable are side-lined and tethered close to the owner´s hut, and rude bowers of brush and fire wood protect the weaklings of the flocks from the heat of the sun and the inclement night breeze.

At intervals around and inside the outer abattis are built the Gurgi or wigwams—hemispheric huts like old bee-hives about five feet high by six in diameter: they are even smaller in the warm regions, but they increase in size as the elevation of the country renders climate less genial. The material is a framework of "Digo," or sticks bent and hardened in the fire: to build the hut, these are planted in the ground, tied together with cords, and covered with mats of two different kinds: the Aus composed of small bundles of grass neatly joined, is hard and smooth; the Kibid has a long pile and is used as couch as well as roof. The single entrance in front is provided with one of these articles which serves as a curtain; hides are spread upon the top during the monsoon, and little heaps of earth are sometimes raised outside to keep out wind and rain.

The furniture is simple as the building. Three stones and a hole form the fireplace, near which sleep the children, kids, and lambs: there being no chimney, the interior is black with soot. The cow-skin couches are suspended during the day, like arms and other articles which suffer from rats and white ants, by loops of cord to the sides. The principal ornaments are basket-work bottles, gaily adorned with beads, cowris, and stained leather. Pottery being here unknown, the Bedouins twist the fibres of a root into various shapes, and make them water-tight with the powdered bark of another tree.22 The Han is a large wicker-work bucket, mounted in a framework of sticks, and used to contain water on journeys. The Guraf (a word derived from the Arabic "Ghurfah") is a conical-shaped vessel, used to bale out the contents of a well. The Del, or milk pail, is shaped like two cones joined at the base by lateral thongs, the upper and smaller half acting as cup and cover. And finally the Wesi, or water bottle, contains the traveller´s store for drinking and religious ablution.

When the kraal is to be removed, the huts and furniture are placed upon the camels, and the hedges and earth are sometimes set on fire, to purify the place and deceive enemies, Throughout the country black circles of cinders or thorn diversify the hill sides, and show an extensive population. Travellers always seek deserted kraals for security of encampment. As they swarm with vermin by night and flies by day23, I frequently made strong objections to these favourite localities: the utmost conceded to me was a fresh enclosure added by a smaller hedge to the outside abattis of the more populous cow-kraals.

On the 10th December we halted: the bad water, the noon-day sun of 107°, and the cold mornings—51° being the average—had seriously affected my health. All the population flocked to see me, darkening the hut with nodding wigs and staring faces: and,—the Gudabirsi are polite knaves,— apologised for the intrusion. Men, women, and children appeared in crowds, bringing milk and ghee, meat and water, several of the elders remembered having seen me at Berberah24, and the blear-eyed maidens, who were in no wise shy, insisted upon admiring the white stranger.

Feeling somewhat restored by repose, I started the next day, "with a tail on" to inspect the ruins of Aububah. After a rough ride over stony ground we arrived at a grassy hollow, near a line of hills, and dismounted to visit the Shaykh Aububah´s remains. He rests under a little conical dome of brick, clay and wood, similar in construction to that of Zayla: it is falling to pieces, and the adjoining mosque, long roofless, is overgrown with trees, that rustle melancholy sounds in the light joyous breeze. Creeping in by a dwarf door or rather hole, my Gudabirsi guides showed me a bright object forming the key of the arch: as it shone they suspected silver, and the End of Time whispered a sacrilegious plan for purloining it. Inside the vault were three graves apparently empty, and upon the dark sunken floor lay several rounded stones, resembling cannon balls, and used as weights by the more civilised Somal. Thence we proceeded to the battle-field, a broad sheet of sandstone, apparently dinted by the hoofs of mules and horses: on this ground, which, according to my guides, was in olden days soft and yielding, took place the great action between Aububah and Darbiyah Kola. A second mosque was found with walls in tolerable repair, but, like the rest of the place, roofless. Long Guled ascended the broken staircase of a small square minaret, and delivered a most ignorant and Bedouin-like Azan or call to prayer. Passing by the shells of houses, we concluded our morning´s work with a visit to the large graveyard. Apparently it did not contain the bones of Moslems: long lines of stones pointed westward, and one tomb was covered with a coating of hard mortar, in whose sculptured edge my benighted friends detected magical inscriptions. I heard of another city called Ahammed in the neighbouring hills, but did not visit it. These are all remains of Galla settlements, which the ignorance and exaggeration of the Somal fill with "writings" and splendid edifices.

Returning home we found that our Gudabirsi Bedouins had at length obeyed the summons. The six sons of a noted chief, Ali Addah or White Ali, by three different mothers, Beuh, Igah, Khayri, Nur, Ismail and Yunis, all advanced towards me as I dismounted, gave the hand of friendship, and welcomed me to their homes. With the exception of the first-named, a hard-featured man at least forty years old, the brothers were good-looking youths, with clear brown skins, regular features, and graceful figures. They entered the Gurgi when invited, but refused to eat, saying, that they came for honor not for food. The Hajj Sharmarkay´s introductory letter was read aloud to their extreme delight, and at their solicitation, I perused it a second and a third time; then having dismissed with sundry small presents, the two Abbans Raghe and Rirash, I wrote a flattering account of them to the Hajj, and entrusted it to certain citizens who were returning in caravan Zayla-wards, after a commercial tour in the interior.

Before they departed, there was a feast after the Homeric fashion. A sheep was "cut," disembowelled, dismembered, tossed into one of our huge caldrons, and devoured within the hour: the almost live food25 was washed down with huge draughts of milk. The feasters resembled Wordsworth´s cows, "forty feeding like one:" in the left hand they held the meat to their teeth, and cut off the slice in possession with long daggers perilously close, were their noses longer and their mouths less obtrusive. During the dinner I escaped from the place of flies, and retired to a favourite tree. Here the End of Time, seeing me still in pain, insisted upon trying a Somali medicine. He cut two pieces of dry wood, scooped a hole in the shorter, and sharpened the longer, applied point to socket, which he sprinkled with a little sand, placed his foot upon the "female stick," and rubbed the other between his palms till smoke and char appeared. He then cauterized my stomach vigorously in six different places, quoting a tradition, "the End of Physic is Fire."

On Tuesday the 12th December, I vainly requested the two sons of White Ali, who had constituted themselves our guides, to mount their horses: they feared to fatigue the valuable animals at a season when grass is rare and dry. I was disappointed by seeing the boasted "Faras"26 of the Somal, in the shape of ponies hardly thirteen hands high. The head is pretty, the eyes are well opened, and the ears are small; the form also is good, but the original Arab breed has degenerated in the new climate. They are soft, docile, and—like all other animals in this part of the world— timid: the habit of climbing rocks makes them sure-footed, and they show the remains of blood when forced to fatigue. The Gudabirsi will seldom sell these horses, the great safeguard against their conterminous tribes, the Eesa and Girhi, who are all infantry: a village seldom contains more than six or eight, and the lowest value would be ten cows or twenty Tobes.27 Careful of his beast when at rest, the Somali Bedouin in the saddle is rough and cruel: whatever beauty the animal may possess in youth, completely disappears before the fifth year, and few are without spavin, or sprained back-sinews. In some parts of the country28, "to ride violently to your hut two or three times before finally dismounting, is considered a great compliment, and the same ceremony is observed on leaving. Springing into the saddle (if he has one), with the aid of his spear, the Somali cavalier first endeavours to infuse a little spirit into his half-starved hack, by persuading him to accomplish a few plunges and capers: then, his heels raining a hurricane of blows against the animal´s ribs, and occasionally using his spear-point as a spur, away he gallops, and after a short circuit, in which he endeavours to show himself to the best advantage, returns to his starting point at full speed, when the heavy Arab bit brings up the blown horse with a shock that half breaks his jaw and fills his mouth with blood. The affection of the true Arab for his horse is proverbial: the cruelty of the Somal to his, may, I think, be considered equally so." The Bedouins practise horse-racing, and run for bets, which are contested with ardor: on solemn occasions, they have rude equestrian games, in which they display themselves and their animals. The Gudabirsi, and indeed most of the Somal, sit loosely upon their horses. Their saddle is a demi-pique, a high-backed wooden frame, like the Egyptian fellah´s: two light splinters leave a clear space for the spine, and the tree is tightly bound with wet thongs: a sheepskin shabracque is loosely spread over it, and the dwarf iron stirrup admits only the big toe, as these people fear a stirrup which, if the horse fall, would entangle the foot. Their bits are cruelly severe; a solid iron ring, as in the Arab bridle, embracing the lower jaw, takes the place of a curb chain. Some of the head-stalls, made at Berberah, are prettily made of cut leather and bright steel ornaments like diminutive quoits. The whip is a hard hide handle, plated with zinc, and armed with a single short broad thong.

With the two sons of White Ali and the End of Time, at 8 A.M., on the 12th December, I rode forward, leaving the jaded camels in charge of my companions and the women. We crossed the plain in a south-westerly direction, and after traversing rolling ground, we came to a ridge, which commanded an extensive view. Behind lay the Wanauli Hills, already purple in the distance. On our left was a mass of cones, each dignified by its own name; no one, it is said, can ascend them, which probably means that it would be a fatiguing walk. Here are the visitation-places of three celebrated saints, Amud, Sau and Shaykh Sharlagamadi, or the "Hidden from Evil," To the north-west I was shown some blue peaks tenanted by the Eesa Somal. In front, backed by the dark hills of Harar, lay the Harawwah valley. The breadth is about fifteen miles: it runs from south-west to north-east, between the Highlands of the Girhi and the rolling ground of the Gudabirsi Somal, as far, it is said, as the Dankali country. Of old this luxuriant waste belonged to the former tribe; about twelve years ago it was taken from them by the Gudabirsi, who carried off at the same time thirty cows, forty camels, and between three and four hundred sheep and goats.

Large herds tended by spearmen and grazing about the bush, warned us that we were approaching the kraal in which the sons of White Ali were camped; at half-past 10 A.M., after riding eight miles, we reached the place which occupies the lower slope of the Northern Hills that enclose the Harawwah valley. We spread our hides under a tree, and were soon surrounded by Bedouins, who brought milk, sun-dried beef, ghee and honey in one of the painted wooden bowls exported from Cutch. After breakfast, at which the End of Time distinguished himself by dipping his meat into honey, we went out gun in hand towards the bush. It swarmed with sand-antelope and Gurnuk: the ground-squirrels haunted every ant-hill, hoopoos and spur-fowls paced among the thickets, in the trees we heard the frequent cry of the Gobiyan and the bird facetiously termed from its cry "Dobo-dogon-guswen," and the bright-coloured hawk, the Abodi or Bakiyyah29, lay on wing high in the cloudless air.


When tired of killing we returned to our cow-hides, and sat in conversation with the Bedouins. They boasted of the skill with which they used the shield, and seemed not to understand the efficiency of a sword-parry: to illustrate the novel idea I gave a stick to the best man, provided myself in the same way, and allowed him to cut at me. After repeated failures he received a sounding blow upon the least bony portion of his person: the crowd laughed long and loud, and the pretending "knight-at-arms" retired in confusion.

Darkness fell, but no caravan appeared: it had been delayed by a runaway mule,—perhaps by the desire to restrain my vagrant propensities,—and did not arrive till midnight. My hosts cleared a Gurgi for our reception, brought us milk, and extended their hospitality to the full limits of even savage complaisance.

Expecting to march on the 13th December soon after dawn, I summoned Beuh and his brethren to the hut, reminding him that the Hajj had promised me an escort without delay to the village of the Gerad Adan. To my instances they replied that, although they were most anxious to oblige, the arrival of Mudeh the eldest son rendered a consultation necessary; and retiring to the woods, sat in palaver from 8 A.M. to past noon. At last they came to a resolution which could not be shaken. They would not trust one of their number in the Gerad´s country; a horseman, however, should carry a letter inviting the Girhi chief to visit his brothers-in-law. I was assured that Adan would not drink water before mounting to meet us: but, fear is reciprocal, there was evidently bad blood between them, and already a knowledge of Somali customs caused me to suspect the result of our mission. However, a letter was written reminding the Gerad of "the word spoken under the tree," and containing, in case of recusance, a threat to cut off the salt well at which his cows are periodically driven to drink. Then came the bargain for safe conduct. After much haggling, especially on the part of the handsome Igah, they agreed to receive twenty Tobes, three bundles of tobacco, and fourteen cubits of indigo-dyed cotton. In addition to this I offered as a bribe one of my handsome Abyssinian shirts with a fine silk fringe made at Aden, to be received by the man Beuh on the day of entering the Gerad´s village.

I arose early in the next morning, having been promised by the Abbans grand sport in the Harawwah Valley. The Somal had already divided the elephants´ spoils: they were to claim the hero´s feather, I was to receive two thirds of the ivory—nothing remained to be done but the killing. After sundry pretences and prayers for delay, Beuh saddled his hack, the Hammal mounted one mule, a stout-hearted Bedouin called Fahi took a second, and we started to find the herds. The End of Time lagged in the rear: the reflection that a mule cannot outrun an elephant, made him look so ineffably miserable, that I sent him back to the kraal. "Dost thou believe me to be a coward, 0 Pilgrim?" thereupon exclaimed the Mullah, waxing bold in the very joy of his heart. "Of a truth I do!" was my reply. Nothing abashed, he hammered his mule with heel, and departed ejaculating, "What hath man but a single life? and he who throweth it away, what is he but a fool?" Then we advanced with cocked guns, Beuh singing, Boanerges-like, the Song of the Elephant.

In the Somali country, as amongst the Kafirs, after murdering a man or boy, the death of an elephant is considered the act of heroism: most tribes wear for it the hair-feather and the ivory bracelet. Some hunters, like the Bushmen of the Cape30, kill the Titan of the forests with barbed darts carrying Waba-poison. The general way of hunting resembles that of the Abyssinian Agageers described by Bruce. One man mounts a white pony, and galloping before the elephant, induces him, as he readily does, —firearms being unknown,—to charge and "chivy." The rider directs his course along, and close to, some bush, where a comrade is concealed; and the latter, as the animal passes at speed, cuts the back sinew of the hind leg, where in the human subject the tendon Achilles would be, with a sharp, broad and heavy knife.31 This wound at first occasions little inconvenience: presently the elephant, fancying, it is supposed, that a thorn has stuck in his foot, stamps violently, and rubs the scratch till the sinew is fairly divided. The animal, thus disabled, is left to perish wretchedly of hunger and thirst: the tail, as amongst the Kafirs, is cut off to serve as trophy, and the ivories are removed when loosened by decomposition. In this part of Africa the elephant is never tamed.32

For six hours we rode the breadth of the Harawwah Valley: it was covered with wild vegetation, and surface-drains, that carry off the surplus of the hills enclosing it. In some places the torrent beds had cut twenty feet into the soil. The banks were fringed with milk-bush and Asclepias, the Armo-creeper, a variety of thorns, and especially the yellow-berried Jujube: here numberless birds followed bright-winged butterflies, and the "Shaykhs of the Blind," as the people call the black fly, settled in swarms upon our hands and faces as we rode by. The higher ground was overgrown with a kind of cactus, which here becomes a tree, forming shady avenues. Its quadrangular fleshy branches of emerald green, sometimes forty feet high, support upon their summits large round bunches of a bright crimson berry: when the plantation is close, domes of extreme beauty appear scattered over the surface of the country. This "Hassadin" abounds in burning milk, and the Somal look downwards when passing under its branches: the elephant is said to love it, and in many places the trees were torn to pieces by hungry trunks. The nearest approaches to game were the last year´s earths; likely places, however, shady trees and green thorns near water, were by no means uncommon. When we reached the valley´s southern wall, Beuh informed us that we might ride all day, if we pleased, with the same result. At Zayla I had been informed that elephants are "thick as sand" in Harawwah: even the Gudabirsi, when at a distance, declared that they fed there like sheep, and, after our failure, swore that they killed thirty but last year. The animals were probably in the high Harirah Valley, and would be driven downwards by the cold at a later period: some future Gordon Cumming may therefore succeed where the Hajj Abdullah notably failed.

On the 15th December I persuaded the valiant Beuh, with his two brothers and his bluff cousin Fahi, to cross the valley with us, After recovering a mule which had strayed five miles back to the well, and composing sundry quarrels between Shehrazade, whose swains had detained her from camel-loading, and the Kalendar whose one eye flashed with indignation at her conduct, we set out in a southerly direction. An hour´s march brought us to an open space surrounded by thin thorn forest: in the centre is an ancient grave, about which are performed the equestrian games when the turban of the Ugaz has been bound under the Holy Tree. Shepherds issued from the bush to stare at us as we passed, and stretched forth the hand for "Bori:" the maidens tripped forwards exclaiming, "Come, girls, let us look at this prodigy!" and they never withheld an answer if civilly addressed. Many of them were grown up, and not a few were old maids, the result of the tribe´s isolation; for here, as in Somaliland generally, the union of cousins is abhorred. The ground of the valley is a stiff clay, sprinkled with pebbles of primitive formation: the hills are mere rocks, and the torrent banks with strata of small stones, showed a watermark varying from ten to fifteen feet in height: in these Fiumaras we saw frequent traces of the Edler-game, deer and hog. At 1 P.M. our camels and mules were watered at wells in a broad wady called Jannah-Gaban or the Little Garden; its course, I was told, lies northwards through the Harawwah Valley to the Odla and Waruf, two depressions in the Wayma country near Tajurrah. About half an hour afterwards we arrived at a deserted sheepfold distant six miles from our last station. After unloading we repaired to a neighbouring well, and found the water so hard that it raised lumps like nettle stings in the bather´s skin. The only remedy for the evil is an unguent of oil or butter, a precaution which should never be neglected by the African traveller. At first the sensation of grease annoys, after a few days it is forgotten, and at last the "pat of butter" is expected as pleasantly as the pipe or the cup of coffee. It prevents the skin from chaps and sores, obviates the evil effects of heat, cold, and wet, and neutralises the Proteus-like malaria poison. The Somal never fail to anoint themselves when they can afford ghee, and the Bedouin is at the summit of his bliss, when sitting in the blazing sun, or,—heat acts upon these people as upon serpents,—with his back opposite a roaring fire, he is being smeared, rubbed, and kneaded by a companion.

My guides, fearing lions and hyenas, would pass the night inside a foul sheepfold: I was not without difficulty persuaded to join them. At eight next morning we set out through an uninteresting thorn-bush towards one of those Tetes or isolated hills which form admirable bench-marks in the Somali country. "Koralay," a terra corresponding with our Saddle-back, exactly describes its shape: pommel and crupper, in the shape of two huge granite boulders, were all complete, and between them was a depression for a seat. As day advanced the temperature changed from 50° to a maximum of 121°. After marching about five miles, we halted in a broad watercourse called Gallajab, the "Plentiful Water": there we bathed, and dined on an excellent camel which had broken its leg by falling from a bank.

Resuming our march at 5 P.M., we travelled over ascending ground which must be most fertile after rain: formerly it belonged to the Girhi, and the Gudabirsi boasted loudly of their conquest. After an hour´s march we reached the base of Koralay, upon whose lower slopes appeared a pair of the antelopes called Alakud33: they are tame, easily shot, and eagerly eaten by the Bedouins. Another hour of slow travelling brought us to a broad Fiumara with high banks of stiff clay thickly wooded and showing a water-mark eighteen feet above the sand. The guides named these wells Agjogsi, probably a generic term signifying that water is standing close by. Crossing the Fiumara we ascended a hill, and found upon the summit a large kraal alive with heads of kine. The inhabitants flocked out to stare at us and the women uttered cries of wonder. I advanced towards the prettiest, and fired my rifle by way of salute over her head. The people delighted, exclaimed, Mod! Mod!—"Honor to thee!"—and we replied with shouts of Kulliban—"May Heaven aid ye!" 34 At 5 P.M., after five miles´ march, the camels were unloaded in a deserted kraal whose high fence denoted danger of wild beasts. The cowherds bade us beware of lions: but a day before a girl had been dragged out of her hut, and Moslem burial could be given to only one of her legs. A Bedouin named Uddao, whom we hired as mule-keeper, was ordered to spend the night singing, and, as is customary with Somali watchmen, to address and answer himself dialogue-wise with a different voice, in order to persuade thieves that several men are on the alert. He was a spectacle of wildness as he sat before the blazing fire,— his joy by day, his companion and protector in the shades, the only step made by him in advance of his brethren the Cynocephali.

We were detained four days at Agjogsi by the nonappearance of the Gerad Adan: this delay gave me an opportunity of ascending to the summit of Koralay the Saddleback, which lay about a mile north of our encampment. As we threaded the rocks and hollows of the side we came upon dens strewed with cows´ bones, and proving by a fresh taint that the tenants had lately quitted them. In this country the lion is seldom seen unless surprised asleep in his lair of thicket: during my journey, although at times the roaring was heard all night, I saw but one. The people have a superstition that the king of beasts will not attack a single traveller, because such a person, they say, slew the mother of all the lions: except in darkness or during violent storms, which excite the fiercer carnivors, he is a timid animal, much less feared by the people than the angry and agile leopard. Unable to run with rapidity when pressed by hunger, he pursues a party of travellers stealthily as a cat, and, arrived within distance, springs, strikes down the hindermost, and carries him away to the bush.

From the summit of Koralay, we had a fair view of the surrounding country. At least forty kraals, many of them deserted, lay within the range of sight. On all sides except the north-west and south-east was a mass of sombre rock and granite hill: the course of the valleys between the several ranges was denoted by a lively green, and the plains scattered in patches over the landscape shone with dull yellow, the effect of clay and stubble, whilst a light mist encased the prospect in a circlet of blue and silver. Here the End of Time conceived the jocose idea of crowning me king of the country. With loud cries of Buh! Buh! Buh! he showered leaves of a gum tree and a little water from a prayer bottle over my head, and then with all solemnity bound on the turban.35 It is perhaps fortunate that this facetiousness was not witnessed: a crowd of Bedouins assembled below the hill, suspecting as usual some magical practices, and, had they known the truth, our journey might have ended abruptly. Descending, I found porcupines´ quills in abundance 36, and shot a rock pigeon called Elal-jog—the "Dweller at wells." At the foot a "Baune" or Hyrax Abyssinicus, resembling the Coney of Palestine37, was observed at its favourite pastime of sunning itself upon the rocks.

On the evening of the 20th December the mounted messenger returned, after a six hours´ hard ride, bringing back unopened the letter addressed by me to the Gerad, and a private message from their sister to the sons of White Ali, advising them not to advance. Ensued terrible palavers. It appeared that the Gerad was upon the point of mounting horse, when his subjects swore him to remain and settle a dispute with the Amir of Harar. Our Abbans, however, withdrew their hired camels, positively refuse to accompany us, and Beuh privily informed the End of Time that I had acquired through the land the evil reputation of killing everything, from an elephant to a bird in the air. One of the younger brethren, indeed, declared that we were forerunners of good, and that if the Gerad harmed a hair of our heads, he would slaughter every Girhi under the sun. We had, however, learned properly to appreciate such vaunts, and the End of Time drily answered that their sayings were honey but their doings myrrh. Being a low-caste and a shameless tribe, they did not reply to our reproaches. At last, a manoeuvre was successful: Beuh and his brethren, who squatted like sulky children in different places, were dismissed with thanks,—we proposed placing ourselves under the safeguard of Gerad Hirsi, the Berteri chief. This would have thrown the protection-price, originally intended for their brother-in-law, into the hands of a rival, and had the effect of altering their resolve. Presently we were visited by two Widad or hedge-priests, Ao Samattar and Ao Nur38, both half-witted fellows, but active and kindhearted. The former wore a dirty turban, the latter a Zebid cap, a wicker-work calotte, composed of the palm leaf´s mid-rib: they carried dressed goatskins, as prayer carpets, over their right shoulders dangled huge wooden ink bottles with Lauh or wooden tablets for writing talismans39, and from the left hung a greasy bag, containing a tattered copy of the Koran and a small MS. of prayers. They read tolerably, but did not understand Arabic, and I presented them with cheap Bombay lithographs of the Holy Book.

The number of these idlers increased as we approached Harar, the Alma Mater of Somali land:—the people seldom listen to their advice, but on this occasion Ao Samattar succeeded in persuading the valiant Beuh that the danger was visionary. Soon afterwards rode up to our kraal three cavaliers, who proved to be sons of Adam, the future Ugaz of the Gudabirsi tribe: this chief had fully recognized the benefits of reopening to commerce a highway closed by their petty feuds, and sent to say that, in consequence of his esteem for the Hajj Sharmarkay, if the sons of White Ali feared to escort us, he in person would do the deed. Thereupon Beuh became a "Gesi" or hero, as the End of Time ironically called him: he sent back his brethren with their horses and camels, and valorously prepared to act as our escort. I tauntingly asked him what he now thought of the danger. For all reply he repeated the words, with which the Bedouins—who, like the Arabs, have a holy horror of towns—had been dinning daily into my ears, "They will spoil that white skin of thine at Harar!"

At 3 P.M., on the 21st December, we started in a westerly direction through a gap in the hills, and presently turned to the south-west, over rapidly rising ground, thickly inhabited, and covered with flocks and herds. About 5 P.M., after marching two miles, we raised our wigwam outside a populous kraal, a sheep was provided by the hospitality of Ao Samattar, and we sat deep into the night enjoying a genial blaze.

Early the next morning we had hoped to advance: water, however, was wanting, and a small caravan was slowly gathering;—these details delayed us till 4 P.M. Our line lay westward, over rising ground, towards a conspicuous conical hill called Konti. Nothing could be worse for camels than the rough ridges at the foot of the mountain, full of thickets, cut by deep Fiumaras, and abounding in dangerous watercourses: the burdens slipped now backwards then forwards, sometimes the load was almost dragged off by thorns, and at last we were obliged to leave one animal to follow slowly in the rear. After creeping on two miles, we bivouacked in a deserted cow-kraal,—sub dio, as it was warm under the hills. That evening our party was increased by a Gudabirsi maiden in search of a husband: she was surlily received by Shehrazade and Deenarzade, but we insisted upon her being fed, and superintended the operation. Her style of eating was peculiar; she licked up the rice from the hollow of her hand. Next morning she was carried away in our absence, greatly against her will, by some kinsmen who had followed her.

And now, bidding adieu to the Gudabirsi, I will briefly sketch the tribe.

The Gudabirsi, or Gudabursi, derive themselves from Dir and Aydur, thus claiming affinity with the Eesa: others declare their tribe to be an offshoot from the Bahgoba clan of the Habr Awal, originally settled near Jebel Almis, and Bulhar, on the sea-shore. The Somal unhesitatingly stigmatize them as a bastard and ignoble race: a noted genealogist once informed me, that they were little better than Midgans or serviles. Their ancestors´ mother, it is said, could not name the father of her child: some proposed to slay it, others advocated its preservation, saying, "Perhaps we shall increase by it!" Hence the name of the tribe. 40

The Gudabirsi are such inveterate liars that I could fix for them no number between 3000 and 10,000. They own the rough and rolling ground diversified with thorny hill and grassy vale, above the first or seaward range of mountains; and they have extended their lands by conquest towards Harar, being now bounded in that direction by the Marar Prairie. As usual, they are subdivided into a multitude of clans.41

In appearance the Gudabirsi are decidedly superior to their limitrophes the Eesa. I have seen handsome faces amongst the men as well as the women. Some approach closely to the Caucasian type: one old man, with olive-coloured skin, bald brow, and white hair curling round his temples, and occiput, exactly resembled an Anglo-Indian veteran. Generally, however, the prognathous mouth betrays an African origin, and chewing tobacco mixed with ashes stains the teeth, blackens the gums, and mottles the lips. The complexion is the Abyssinian cafe au lait, contrasting strongly with the sooty skins of the coast; and the hair, plentifully anointed with rancid butter, hangs from the head in lank corkscrews the colour of a Russian pointer´s coat. The figure is rather squat, but broad and well set.

The Gudabirsi are as turbulent and unmanageable, though not so bloodthirsty, as the Eesa. Their late chief, Ugaz Roblay of the Bait Samattar sept, left children who could not hold their own: the turban was at once claimed by a rival branch, the Rer Abdillah, and a civil war ensued. The lovers of legitimacy will rejoice to hear that when I left the country, Galla, son of the former Prince Rainy, was likely to come to his own again.

The stranger´s life is comparatively safe amongst this tribe: as long as he feeds and fees them, he may even walk about unarmed. They are, however, liars even amongst the Somal, Bobadils amongst boasters, inveterate thieves, and importunate beggars. The smooth-spoken fellows seldom betray emotion except when cloth or tobacco is concerned; "dissimulation is as natural to them as breathing," and I have called one of their chiefs "dog" without exciting his indignation.

The commerce of these wild regions is at present in a depressed state: were the road safe, traffic with the coast would be considerable. The profit on hides, for instance, at Aden, would be at least cent. per cent.: the way, however, is dangerous, and detention is frequent, consequently the gain will not remunerate for risk and loss of time. No operation can be undertaken in a hurry, consequently demand cannot readily be supplied. What Laing applies to Western, may be repeated of Eastern Africa: "the endeavour to accelerate an undertaking is almost certain to occasion its failure." Nowhere is patience more wanted, in order to perform perfect work. The wealth of the Gudabirsi consists principally in cattle, peltries, hides, gums, and ghee. The asses are dun-coloured, small, and weak; the camels large, loose, and lazy; the cows are pretty animals, with small humps, long horns, resembling the Damara cattle, and in the grazing season with plump, well-rounded limbs; there is also a bigger breed, not unlike that of Tuscany. The standard is the Tobe of coarse canvass; worth about three shillings at Aden, here it doubles in value. The price of a good camel varies from six to eight cloths; one Tobe buys a two-year-old heifer, three, a cow between three and four years old. A ewe costs half a cloth: the goat, although the flesh is according to the Somal nutritive, whilst "mutton is disease," is a little cheaper than the sheep. Hides and peltries are usually collected at and exported from Harar; on the coast they are rubbed over with salt, and in this state carried to Aden. Cows´ skins fetch a quarter of a dollar, or about one shilling in cloth, and two dollars are the extreme price for the Kurjah or score of goats´ skins. The people of the interior have a rude way of tanning42; they macerate the hide, dress, and stain it of a deep calf-skin colour with the bark of a tree called Jirmah, and lastly the leather is softened with the hand. The principal gum is the Adad, or Acacia Arabica: foreign merchants purchase it for about half a dollar per Farasilah of twenty pounds: cow´s and sheep´s butter may fetch a dollar´s worth of cloth for the measure of thirty-two pounds. This great article of commerce is good and pure in the country, whereas at Berberah, the Habr Awal adulterate it, previous to exportation, with melted sheep´s tails.

The principal wants of the country which we have traversed are coarse cotton cloth, Surat tobacco, beads, and indigo-dyed stuffs for women´s coifs. The people would also be grateful for any improvement in their breed of horses, and when at Aden I thought of taking with me some old Arab stallions as presents to chiefs. Fortunately the project fell to the ground: a strange horse of unusual size or beauty, in these regions, would be stolen at the end of the first march.

Notes

1 Every hill and peak, ravine and valley, will be known by some striking epithet: as Borad, the White Hill; Libahlay, the Lions´ Mountain; and so forth.

2 The Arabs call it Kakatua, and consider it a species of parrot. The name Cacatoes, is given by the Cape Boers, according to Delegorgue, to the Coliphymus Concolor. The Gobiyan resembles in shape and flight our magpie, it has a crest and a brown coat with patches of white, and a noisy note like a frog. It is very cunning and seldom affords a second shot.

3 The berries of the Armo are eaten by children, and its leaves, which never dry up, by the people in times of famine; they must be boiled or the acrid juice would excoriate the mouth.

4 Siyaro is the Somali corruption of the Arabic Ziyarat, which, synonymous with Mazar, means a place of pious visitation.

5 The Somal call the insect Abor, and its hill Dundumo.

6 The corrupted Portuguese word used by African travellers; in the Western regions it is called Kelder, and the Arabs term it "Kalam."

7 Three species of the Dar or Aloe grow everywhere in the higher regions of the Somali country. The first is called Dar Main, the inside of its peeled leaf is chewed when water cannot be procured. The Dar Murodi or Elephant´s aloe is larger and useless: the Dar Digwen or Long-eared resembles that of Socotra.

8 The Hig is called "Salab" by the Arabs, who use its long tough fibre for ropes. Patches of this plant situated on moist ground at the foot of hills, are favourite places with sand antelope, spur-fowl and other game.

9 The Darnel or pod has a sweetish taste, not unlike that of a withered pea; pounded and mixed with milk or ghee, it is relished by the Bedouins when vegetable food is scarce.

10 Dobo in the Somali tongue signifies mud or clay.

11 The Loajira (from "Loh," a cow) is a neatherd; the "Geljira" is the man who drives camels.

12 For these we paid twenty-four oubits of canvass, and two of blue cotton; equivalent to about three shillings.

13 The natives call them Jana; they are about three-fourths of an inch long, and armed with stings that prick like thorns and burn violently for a few minutes.

14 Near Berberah, where the descents are more rapid, such panoramas are common.

15 This is the celebrated Waba, which produces the Somali Wabayo, a poison applied to darts and arrows. It is a round stiff evergreen, not unlike a bay, seldom taller than twenty feet, affecting hill sides and torrent banks, growing in clumps that look black by the side of the Acacias; thornless, with a laurel-coloured leaf, which cattle will not touch, unless forced by famine, pretty bunches of pinkish white flowers, and edible berries black and ripening to red. The bark is thin, the wood yellow, compact, exceedingly tough and hard, the root somewhat like liquorice; the latter is prepared by trituration and other processes, and the produce is a poison in substance and colour resembling pitch.

Travellers have erroneously supposed the arrow poison of Eastern Africa to be the sap of a Euphorbium. The following "observations accompanying a substance procured near Aden, and used by the Somalis to poison their arrows," by F. S. Arnott, Esq., M.D., will be read with interest.

"In February 1853, Dr. Arnott had forwarded to him a watery extract prepared from the root of a tree, described as ´Wabie,´ a toxicodendron from the Somali country on the Habr Gerhajis range of the Goolies mountains. The tree grows to the height of twenty feet. The poison is obtained by boiling the root in water, until it attains the consistency of an inspissated juice. When cool the barb of the arrow is anointed with the juice, which, is regarded as a virulent poison, and it renders a wound tainted therewith incurable. Dr. Arnott was informed that death usually took place within an hour; that the hairs and nails dropped off after death, and it was believed that the application of heat assisted its poisonous qualities. He could not, however ascertain the quantity made use of by the Somalis, and doubted if the point of an arrow would convey a sufficient quantity to produce such immediate effects. He had tested its powers in some other experiments, besides the ones detailed, and although it failed in several instances, yet he was led to the conclusion that it was a very powerful narcotic irritant poison. He had not, however, observed the local effect said to be produced upon the point of insertion."

"The following trials were described:

"1. A little was inserted into the inside of the ear of a sickly sheep, and death occurred in two hours.

"2. A little was inserted into, the inside of the ear of a healthy sheep, and death occurred in two hours, preceded by convulsions.

"3. Five grains were given to a dog; vomiting took place after an hour, and death in three or four hours.

"4. One grain was swallowed by a fowl, but no effect produced.

"5. Three grains were given to a sheep, but without producing any effect.

"6. A small quantity was inserted into the ear and shoulder of a dog, but no effect was produced.

"7. Upon the same dog two days after, the same quantity was inserted into the thigh; death occurred in less than two hours.

"8. Seven grains were given to a sheep without any effect whatever.

"9. To a dog five grains were administered, but it was rejected by vomiting; this was again repeated on the following day, with the same result. On the same day four grains were inserted into a wound upon the same dog; it produced violent effects in ten, and death in thirty-five, minutes.

"10. To a sheep two grains in solution were given without any effect being produced. The post-mortem appearances observed were, absence of all traces of inflammation, collapse of the lungs, and distension of the cavities of the heart."

Further experiments of the Somali arrow poison by B. Haines, M. B., assistant surgeon (from Transactions of the Medical and Physical Society of Bombay. No. 2. new series 1853-1854.)

"Having while at Ahmednuggur received from the secretary a small quantity of Somali arrow poison, alluded to by Mr. Vaughan in his notes on articles of the Materia Medica, and published in the last volume of the Society´s Transactions, and called ´Wabie,´ the following experiments were made with it:

"September 17th. 1. A small healthy rabbit was taken, and the skin over the hip being divided, a piece of the poisonous extract about the size of a corn of wheat was inserted into the cellular tissue beneath: thirty minutes afterwards, seems disinclined to move, breathing quicker, passed * *: one hour, again passed * * * followed by * * *; has eaten a little: one hour and a half, appears quite to have recovered from his uneasiness, and has become as lively as before. (This rabbit was made use of three days afterwards for the third experiment.)

"2. A full-grown rabbit. Some of the poison being dissolved in water a portion of the solution corresponding to about fifteen grains was injected into an opening in the peritoneum, so large a quantity being used, in consequence of the apparent absence of effect in the former case: five minutes, he appears to be in pain, squeaking occasionally; slight convulsive retractions of the head and neck begin to take place, passed a small quantity of * *: ten minutes, the spasms are becoming more frequent, but are neither violent nor prolonged, respiration scarcely perceptible; he now fell on his side: twelve minutes, several severe general convulsions came on, and at the end of another minute he was quite dead, the pulsation being for the last minute quite imperceptible. The chest was instantly opened, but there was no movement of the heart whatever.

"September 20th. 3. The rabbit used for the first experiment was taken and an attempt was made to inject a little filtered solution into the jugular rein, which failed from the large size of the nozzle of the syringe; a good deal of blood was lost. A portion of the solution corresponding to about two grains and a half of the poison was then injected into a small opening made in the pleura. Nine minutes afterwards: symptoms precisely resembling those in number two began to appear. Fourteen minutes: convulsions more violent; fell on his side. Sixteen minutes, died.

"4. A portion of the poison, as much as could be applied, was smeared over the square iron head of an arrow, and allowed to dry. The arrow was then shot into the buttock of a goat with sufficient force to carry the head out of sight; twenty minutes afterwards, no effect whatever having followed, the arrow was extracted. The poison had become softened and was wiped completely off two of the sides, and partly off the two other sides. The animal appeared to suffer very little pain from the wound; he was kept for a fortnight, and then died, but not apparently from any cause connected with the wound. In fact he was previously diseased. Unfortunately the seat of the wound was not then examined, but a few days previously it appeared to have healed of itself. In the rabbit of the former experiment, three days after the insertion of the poison in the wound, the latter was closed with a dry coagulum and presented no marks of inflammation around it.

"5. Two good-sized village dogs being secured, to each after several hours´ fasting, were given about five grains enveloped in meat. The smaller one chewed it a long time, and frothed much at the mouth. He appeared to swallow very little of it, but the larger one ate the whole up without difficulty. After more than two hours no effect whatever being perceptible in either animal, they were shot to get rid of them. These experiments, though not altogether complete, certainly establish the fact that it is a poison of no very great activity. The quantity made use of in the second experiment was too great to allow a fair deduction to be made as to its properties. When a fourth to a sixth of the quantity was employed in the third experiment the same effects followed, but with rather less rapidity; death resulting in the one case in ten, in the other in sixteen minutes, although the death in the latter case was perhaps hastened by the loss of blood. The symptoms more resemble those produced by nux vomica than by any other agent. No apparent drowsiness, spasms, slight at first, beginning in the neck, increasing in intensity, extending over the whole body, and finally stopping respiration and with it the action of the heart. Experiments first and fourth show that a moderate quantity, such as may be introduced on the point of an arrow, produced no sensible effect either on a goat or a rabbit, and it could scarcely be supposed that it would have more on a man than on the latter animal; and the fifth experiment proves that a full dose taken into the stomach produces no result within a reasonable time.

"The extract appeared to have been very carelessly prepared. It contained much earthy matter, and even small stones, and a large proportion of what seemed to be oxidized extractive matter also was left undisturbed when it was treated with water: probably it was not a good specimen. It seems, however, to keep well, and shows no disposition to become mouldy."

16 The Somal divide their year into four seasons:

1. Gugi (monsoon, from "Gug," rain) begins in April, is violent for forty-four days and subsides in August. Many roads may be traversed at this season, which are death in times of drought; the country becomes "Barwako "(in Arabic Rakha, a place of plenty,) forage and water abound, the air is temperate, and the light showers enliven the traveller.

2. Haga is the hot season after the monsoon, and corresponding with our autumn: the country suffers from the Fora, a violent dusty Simum, which is allayed by a fall of rain called Karan.

3. Dair, the beginning of the cold season, opens the sea to shipping. The rain which then falls is called Dairti or Hais: it comes with a west-south-west wind from the hills of Harar.

4. Jilal is the dry season from December to April. The country then becomes Abar (in Arabic Jahr,) a place of famine: the Nomads migrate to the low plains, where pasture is procurable. Some reckon as a fifth season Kalil, or the heats between Jilal and the monsoon.

17 According to Bruce this tree flourishes everywhere on the low hot plains between, the Red Sea and the Abyssinian hills. The Gallas revere it and plant it over sacerdotal graves. It suggests the Fetiss trees of Western Africa, and the Hiero-Sykaminon of Egypt.

18 There are two species of this bird, both called by the Somal, "Daudaulay" from their tapping.

19 The limbs are perfumed with the "Hedi," and "Karanli," products of the Ugadayn or southern country.

20 This great oath suggests the litholatry of the Arabs, derived from the Abyssinian and Galla Sabaeans; it is regarded by the Eesa and Gudabirsi Bedouins as even more binding than the popular religious adjurations. When a suspected person denies his guilt, the judge places a stone before him, saying "Tabo!" (feel!); the liar will seldom dare to touch it. Sometimes a Somali will take up a stone and say "Dagaha," (it is a stone,) he may then generally be believed.

21 Kariyah is the Arabic word.

22 In the northern country the water-proofing matter is, according to travellers, the juice of the Quolquol, a species of Euphorbium.

23 The flies are always most troublesome where cows have been; kraals of goats and camels are comparatively free from the nuisance.

24 Some years ago a French lady landed at Berberah: her white face, according to the End of Time, made every man hate his wife and every wife hate herself. I know not who the fair dame was: her charms and black silk dress, however, have made a lasting impression upon the Somali heart; from the coast to Harar she is still remembered with rapture.

25 The Abyssinian Brindo of omophagean fame is not eaten by the Somal, who always boil, broil, or sun-dry their flesh. They have, however, no idea of keeping it, whereas the more civilised citizens of Harar hang their meat till tender.

26 Whilst other animals have indigenous names, the horse throughout the Somali country retains the Arab appellation "Faras." This proves that the Somal, like their progenitors the Gallas, originally had no cavalry. The Gudabirsi tribe has but lately mounted itself by making purchases of the Habr Gerhajis and the Habr Awal herds.

27 The milch cow is here worth two Tobes, or about six shillings.

28 Particularly amongst the windward tribes visited by Lieut. Cruttenden, from whom I borrow this description.

29 This beautiful bird, with a black and crimson plume, and wings lined with silver, soars high and seldom descends except at night: its shyness prevented my shooting a specimen. The Abodi devours small deer and birds: the female lays a single egg in a large loose nest on the summit of a tall tree, and she abandons her home when the hand of man has violated it. The Somal have many superstitions connected with this hawk: if it touch a child the latter dies, unless protected by the talismanic virtues of the "Hajar Abodi," a stone found in the bird´s body. As it frequently swoops upon children carrying meat, the belief has doubtlessly frequently fulfilled itself.

30 The Bushman creeps close to the beast and wounds it in the leg or stomach with a diminutive dart covered with a couch of black poison: if a drop of blood appear, death results from the almost unfelt wound.

31 So the Veddahs of Ceylon are said to have destroyed the elephant by shooting a tiny arrow into the sole of the foot. The Kafirs attack it in bodies armed with sharp and broad-head "Omkondo" or assegais: at last, one finds the opportunity of cutting deep into the hind back sinew, and so disables the animal.

32 The traveller Delegorgue asserts that the Boers induce the young elephant to accompany them, by rubbing upon its trunk the hand wetted with the perspiration of the huntsman´s brow, and that the calf, deceived by the similarity of smell, believes that it is with its dam. The fact is, that the orphan elephant, like the bison, follows man because it fears to be left alone.

33 An antelope, about five hands high with small horns, which inhabits the high ranges of the mountains, generally in couples, resembles the musk deer, and is by no means shy, seldom flying till close pressed; when running it hops awkwardly upon the toes and never goes far.

34 These are solemn words used in the equestrian games of the Somal.

35 Sometimes milk is poured over the head, as gold and silver in the Nuzzeranah of India. These ceremonies are usually performed by low-caste men; the free-born object to act in them.

36 The Somal call it Hiddik or Anukub; the quills are used as head scratchers, and are exported to Aden for sale.

37 I It appears to be the Ashkoko of the Amharas, identified by Bruce with the Saphan of the Hebrews. This coney lives in chinks and holes of rocks: it was never seen by me on the plains. The Arabs eat it, the Somal generally do not.

38 The prefix appears to be a kind of title appropriated by saints and divines.

39 These charms are washed off and drunk by the people: an economical proceeding where paper is scarce.

40 "Birsan" in Somali, meaning to increase.

41 The Ayyal Yunis, the principal clan, contains four septs viz.:

1. Jibril Yunis..

2. Nur Yunis..

3. Ali Yunis

4. Adan Yunis

The other chief clans are

1. Mikahil Dera.

2. Rer Ugaz.

3. Jibrain.

4. Rer Mohammed Asa.

5. Musa Fin.

6. Rer Abokr.

7. Basannah.

8. Bahabr Hasan.

9. Abdillah Mikahil.

10. Hasan Mikahil.

11. Eyah Mikahil

12. Hasan Waraba.

42 The best prayer-skins are made at Ogadayn; there they cost about half-a-dollar each.

Note

Picture: Representation of idyllic scenery from the Awdal kingdom when the Abyssinian barbarism and the English colonialism had not hit the Horn of Africa region