4U Lion: Tallex

[Grant]

The land south and east of Hargeisa soon becomes quite flat. There is no horizon and very little to use for landmarks. I never saw a road or a rut, rarely even a track where another vehicle had gone before. On this trip, even our local drivers got lost twice and had to backtrack.

In the North, volunteers traveled amost exclusively on the tops of loads on "trade trucks", good-sized Mercedes lorries that carried goods to the various towns. On this trip we had at least two such trucks, at least one of which was empty this trip, plus we were joined by several police officers in a Land Rover. Including drivers and quides and two geeljiire who had herds at Tallex that first night, I think there were a total of about 28 people in the group.

Tallex is where it is because of an underground stream. The water flows about fifteen feet down and small stretches of it can be followed in sections of the limestone cavern. I have always thought that a future archaeologist or paleozoologist will eventually make some exciting discoveries under some of the huge sections of fallen roof.

The "town" of Tallex consisted of eight or ten small stone structures all lined up in a single row. I don't think any of them were bigger than about ten by twelve feet. I assume they were all shops, but there was no one present while we were there.

A previous group of Volunteers had built a school on the far side of the stream, away from the fort. It was a single room, cement and stone with a tin roof. The blackboard was a concrete slab that had been poured flat and then incorporated in the front wall and painted. At that point it was still vacant and our girls used it as a bedroom.

If I remember correctly, there are nine structures associated with the fort. There are either four granaries and four tombs, or three granaries and three tombs. I think is is four of each. The way I remember it, two of the granaries were largely destroyed, one was damaged, and one was largely intact. The granaries and tombs are in two lines, facing each other, with a hundred feet or so betwen the two lines. The granaries are domes, with a diameter I am thinking was about ten feet. I am quessing they would each have held about 100 junies of grain.

The tombs are less easy to describe. I remember them as being about 12 or fifteen feet high. They are identical, they are decorative, and the workmanship, like everything at the fort, is exquisite, far, far surpassing anything in the town or the school. We were told that both wives and horses were buried there. We were told that the rocks for the construction were gathered by piling one or more on a camel skin that would then be pulled by a group of several men. The actual construction was said to have been done by Yemenis.

The fort itself is quite small, with internal measurements of less than 20 by 30 feet. There is an internal well, protected on one side by a solid stone staircase that leads to a small room (watch tower?) over the top of the well, the floor of which is at the height of the fort wall at about ten feet. This room had a door and large window on the inside, but a solid stone wall on the outside. Three walls of the fort remain entirely intact, but it was not clear to me how the fourth wall was originally closed.

A herd of about 40 horses and another herd of about 12 camels came in to water while we were in Tallex. I made a total ass of myself by jumping on one of the horses to proove my cowboy background and promptly got shoved off and to the ground by the owner. That evening the owner and one other local came over and got us involved in a "dance". Everyone would stand around in a circle and clap while two would gyrate in the middle. The two locals gave us what they thought was the American version of dirty dancing, which was filthy and coming from two men quite provocative, and simply would not believe the version we tried to show them was correct.

Food was a serious matter on this trip. We had the rice from Hargeisa, one cherry tomato a day from a small patch next to the well, and whatever the policemen could bring in. They would go hunting each day, and did keep us supplied with what I believe was Grant's gazelle. Their technique was to shoot to the rear quarters to wound, and then for someone to jump off the Land Rover with a knife to say the prayer and finish the animal off, so that the meat would be hallal. I don't ever remember being so appreciative of a tomato, eating worse rice or better meat.

There was one large accacia tree near the granaries and fort that was clearly used for shir. Near this, on the intact granary, we found a perfectly clean and clearly displayed human skull. It looked like that of an adult Somali male. It startled and surprised us, and I have never heard an explanation for it.

[NEED-ATTENTION]

[foolxume2005]

Do you know Lion is not Isaaq?

[optimist_1]

Grant Lion is a full blooded Hyena?

Have u seen any of them?