United States or Bhutan ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
After the monsoon this plain is covered with rich grass. At other seasons it affords but a scanty supply of an "aqueous matter" resembling bilgewater. The land belongs to the Mummasan clan of the Eesa: how these "Kurrah-jog" or "sun-dwellers," as the Bedouins are called by the burgher Somal, can exist here in summer, is a mystery.
The system of Runda or forbidden meats; but every traveller has found this practice in South as in East Africa, and I noticed it among the Somal who, even when starving, will not touch fish nor fowl.
Pencils were intended for marking fair surfaces might one not be used on this occasion for the cleaning of a sullied surface, that of a besmirched honour? One insulter of the Somal race had died by the stab of a piece of broken bottle. Might not another die by the stab of a lead-pencil? Doubtful. Very risky.
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.
The unarmed cultivators thronged from the frequent settlements to stare, and my Somal, being no longer in their own country, laid aside for guns their ridiculous spears. On the way passing Ao Samattar's village, the worthy fellow made us halt whilst he went to fetch a large bowl of sour milk.
Dysentery is cured by rice and sour milk, patients also drink clarified cows' butter; and in bad cases the stomach is cauterized, fire and disease, according to the Somal, never coexisting. Haemorroids, when dry, are reduced by a stick used as a bougie and allowed to remain in loco all night. Sometimes the part affected is cupped with a horn and knife, or a leech performs excision.
Scarcely had we returned home, when the clouds, which had been gathering since noon, began to discharge heavy showers, and a few loud thunder-claps to reverberate amongst the hills. We passed that evening surrounded by the Somal, who charged us with letters and many messages to Berberah. Our intention was to mount early on Friday morning.
The Somal divide their year into four seasons: 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. Dair, the beginning of the cold season, opens the sea to shipping.
After descending about 2000 feet from the crest of the mountains to the southern fall, Lieutenant Speke entered upon the platform which forms the country of the Eastern Somal. He is persuaded that the watershed of this extensive tract is from N.W. to S.E., contrary to the opinion of Lieutenant Cruttenden, who, from information derived from the Somal, determined the slope to be due south.
The ancient religion of the Afar coast was Sabaeism, probably derived from the Berbers or shepherds, according to Bruce the first faith of the East, and the only religion of Eastern Africa. The Somal still retain a tradition that the "Furs," or ancient Guebres, once ruled the land.
Word Of The Day