Postby RIIGHAYE » Fri Mar 21, 2008 2:02 am
King Durr (Dir tribe)--from whom the above tribes descended from. Both Hawiye and Iidoor.
In pages 228-38, the author summarizes GRAVES' Reconnaisance of Cape Guardafui.
"He Felt that all men of colour are alike, whether they come from Somaliland or Augusta, Georgia. His object in writing the appendix was probably to prove to his New England chief that the latter took the negro races too seriously and attributed to them sins which were no theirs. But, be all this as it may, the Annapolis man pointed out to the West Pointer that the Somalis are divided into four great tribes. The names they bear are : the Mijjertains, the Oursangallis, (Warsangeli), the Ishacks and the Isaacs. The Mijjertains are the most numerous and the most savage.....................The Mijjertain Somalis claim descent from a ferocious and fanatical Arab named Darot, who was expelled from his own country aboud A.D 700. He married Dubara, daughter of Dogolla and sister of King Durr. She was a pure-blooded negress. The great grandson of this union was Harti, who became chief of the tribe. He had a son named Mijjertain, who gave his name to the race. Harti also had a nephew called Oursangalli, who did not get along with Mijjertain, broke away from the parent stock and became the head of the Oursangallis. The other tribal names were acquired more or less the same."
These are the tribes he only mentions in the book. The reconnaissance transpired after a secret treaty between England and the Khedive in 1877 assigning the Khedive several territories including all of the Horn. They attempted to bring Cape Gardafui under the Egyptian rule, but due to financial problems coupled with the Mahdist revolt, the plan was aborted.