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Updated: May 27, 2025
Where, may we ask, can be that innate and universal monitor in the case of a people, the Somal for instance, who rob like Spartans, holding theft a virtue; who lie like Trojans, without a vestige of appreciation for truth; and who hold the treacherous and cowardly murder of a sleeping guest to be the height of human honour?
Dirr and Aydur, of whom nothing is certainly known but the name , are the progenitors of the northern Somal, the Eesa, Gudabirsi, Ishak, and Bursuk tribes.
Meanwhile, Lieut. Herne, who had closely followed me, fell back, using the butt-end of his discharged sixshooter upon the hard heads around him: in so doing he came upon a dozen men, who though they loudly vociferated, "Kill the Franks who are killing the Somal!" allowed him to pass uninjured.
The ulcer is a disease endemic in Southern Arabia; it is frequently fatal, especially to the poorer classes of operatives, when worn out by privation, hardship, and fatigue. The Abban is now the pest of Berberah. Before vessels have cast anchor, or indeed have rounded the Spit, a crowd of Somal, eager as hotel- touters, may be seen running along the strand.
The "Dihh" is the Arab "Wady", a fiumara or freshet. I saw these Dihhs only in the dry season; at times the torrent must be violent, cutting ten or twelve feet deep into the plain. The name is derived from Kuranyo, an ant: it means the "place of ants," and is so called from the abundance of a tree which attracts them. The Arabs call these pillars "Devils," the Somal "Sigo."
The call to evening prayer sounds as we enter: none of my companions pray , but all when asked reply in the phrase which an Englishman hates, "Inshallah Bukra" "if Allah please, to- morrow!" and they have the decency not to appear in public at the hours of devotion. The Somal, like most Africans, are of a somewhat irreverent turn of mind.
The Somal call it "Bal," the Arabs "Rish;" it is universally used here as the sign and symbol of victory. Generally the white feather only is stuck in the hair; the Eesa are not particular in using black when they can procure no other. All the clans wear it in the back hair, but each has its own rules; some make it a standard decoration, others discard it after the first few days.
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. The aspect of these Ghauts is picturesque.
I turned to cut him down: he cried out in alarm; the well-known voice caused an instant's hesitation: at that moment a spearman stepped forward, left his javelin in my mouth, and retired before he could be punished. Escaping as by a miracle, I sought some support: many of our Somal and servants lurking in the darkness offered to advance, but "tailed off" to a man as we approached the foe.
The Somal always "side-line" their horses and mules with stout stiff leathern thongs provided with loops and wooden buttons; we found them upon the whole safer than lariats or tethers. Arabs hate "El Sifr" or whistling, which they hold to be the chit- chat of the Jinns.
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