EXPEDITION TO THE NOGAL VALLEY,
By Lieutenant E. J. E. Swayne.
Map. p. 560.
In January, 1891, my brother, Captain Swayne, R.E., and myself, were directed to make a reconnaissance into the Horn of Africa, with a view to obtaining a fuller knowledge of the main caravan trade routes into the interior, and also in order to determine roughly the tribal limits of the Habr Toljaala and Dulbahanta tribes of Somalia.
In making a preliminary sketch-map of our proposed route, we discovered, from native information, that we would be going into the country Speke once attempted to reach, and consequently we hoped to discover the Nogal Valley, about the existence of which he and other travellers had heard so much from the coast Somalis. Since Speke's expedition, an account of which is to be found in Sir Richard Burton's ' First Footsteps in East Africa,' no further efforts had been made to reach this district.
Wo reached Berbera towards the end of January, 1891, and at once began our preparations for a three months' journey, collecting men, camels, and food to form a caravan. It had been decided that the escort should be composed of Somalis only, and that no Indian troops should be employed, as the expedition would be required to penetrate to tribes not before visited by Europeans; tribes who were known to have a rooted dislike to natives of India, and who were said to be of uncertain temper.
Thirty Somalis were therefore engaged as camel-leaders. They were armed with long Snider rifles, roughly drilled, and taught to shoot. Two of these were selected to act as head-men, various duties being assigned to each, and the services of a caravan-leader were obtained, to be over all.
Care had been taken that some of the men engaged should be men belonging to the tribes we were likely to meet, and the Political Resident at Berbera lent us the services of two elders of tribes, to act as guides, and be generally responsible for the safe conduct of the caravan. One of these men was a Habr Toljaala, and the other an Arasama Dulbahanta. Both did everything they could to help us; and although there was at times a little jealous friction between them, we on the whole got on very well together, and parted great friends.
A Somali interpreter, speaking English and Hindustani, had been sent us from Aden; but being a town man, ho was very suspicious of the intentions of the inland tribes, and not unfrequently communicated his nervousness to the men. Most of our men knew something of Hindustani, and we generally conversed with them in this language, and presently picked up sufficient Somali to be able to get along fairly well with such people as we met on the way.
We discovered when too late that three of our men were Hajis—that is, men who have made pilgrimages to Mecca ; and these men, having each considerable influence, divided the camp into three rival factions. They had separate prayer-meetings, and constantly quarrelled with each other. It is a good thing to have one Haji in the camp, as he will lead the prayers, and if a good preacher, will attract at sunset all the tribesmen who happen to bo grazing their flocks in the neighbourhood, thus giving the expedition prestige. Sometimes two or three hundred men would be performing their devotions in a long double line in front of our tents, the preacher intoning the service standing well in front of the centre of the line.
Thirty desert camels were purchased at a cost of about £2 10s. a-piece, and also the necessary camel-mats and ropes.
These mats are made by the Somali women by chewing strips of the bark of a kind of acacia thorn-tree called Galol. The frayed-out strips of bark are woven into a mat, so as to leave long soft tags on one side of the surface. Two of these mats are placed one on top of the other over the hump of the camel, and are lashed firmly on with ropes made of aloe fibre or raw hide. Two long stakes are then lashed one on each side in the form of a V, the point of the V being tied together above the hump, and the ends of the stakes bound together beneath the belly of the camel. The load, carefully divided into two equal portions, is then lashed across the stakes on each side. In rainy weather, when the camels are unloaded, the stakes are planted in tho ground and tied together, and the mats thrown over them, thus making a round, brown water-tight hovel, called by the natives Gurgi. Certain camels were told off to carry water only.
For this purpose we bought a number of bans—grass-woven vessels— made water-tight by a coating of mutton fat. These vessels, which also are made by the women, are very elastic, and not so liable to bo broken as others. They will hold about two gallons of water each ; but the grease gives an unpleasant taste to the water, which, however, we were obliged to get used to, as we sometimes had to go for several days without finding a well.
Two months' supplies were laid in, such as rice, dates, clarified butter; also bales of American and Indian cloth, to be used as presents.
Amongst other instruments we carried a theodolite, carefully packed in a deal box, and swaddled in pieces of camel-matting. We thus carried it safely for about 2000 miles, during this and two subsequent expeditions.
Starting from Berbera in the middle of February, we crossed the stony plain called Guban in two days, and climbed up to the Sheikh plateau by a difficult pass. This part of the Golis Range is about 35 miles from the coast, and can in clear weather be easily seen from Berbera, as can also a bluff called Gan Libah, further west, and a mountain called Wagger, 30 miles to the east.
The tomb at Sheikh is situated on the highest point of the caravan road to the interior, and the Golis Bange rises on both sides to an elevation of about 6000 feet—grassy and well-wooded, with cedar trees and euphorbias, with a fair supply of water, the constant abode of various sub-tribes of the Habr Gerhajis and Esa Mnsa, who here find grass for their flocks and herds all the year round.
Seen from the coast, the range presents the appearance of a line'of blue rocky bluffs following the general direction of the coast-line, sometimes approaching nearer to the sea, and sometimes retiring further inland—the barrier between the hot stony maritime plain, called Guban, and the cooler and pleasanter upper plain, called Ogo, which slopes gently down to the interior, and merges into the Haud waterless plain.
About 4 miles to the west of Sheikh begins a line of towering cliffs called Fudwein, which is continued westward in a succession of bluffs to Gan Libah (the lion's hand), some 40 miles distant. Further westward the range gradually sinks, and melts into the maritime plain which rises to meet it, and is there called Ogo Guban—the word meaning a country between Guban and Ogo.
About 30 miles to the eastward of Sheikh is situated a well-wooded mountain called Wagger, divided up into a number of peaks, the highest of which is about 6800 feet above sea-level. Between theso peaks are fertile valleys, splendidly-wooded slopes and broad pastures, supporting herds of sleek cattle.
Over the Sheikh Pass lies the most direct road for caravans coming to Berbera from the Habr Gerhajis tribe; but owing to the difficulty and danger of bringing laden camels this way, many caravans prefer to go round 40 miles to the Miria Pass, a much easier though longer road. The Sheikh road was some years ago put in order by an English engineer officer, who blasted up some of the more difficult places; but since then the rain has washed down many boulders and broken away the road in not a few places, and the natives were now anxious that we should do something towards putting it in order again, as many baggage camels were now lost yearly, and water-hans, etc., destroyed.
The Sheikh plateau, on which stands the tomb from which it takes its name, consists of plain red soil, and is in one place cultivated by a
village of mullahs, or priests, who have lived here from time immemorial. Their camel-mat huts are pitched amongst some ancient ruins, surrounded by a high and thick thorn fence—a defence against lions and looters. The latter, however, generally leave mullahs alone, unless hard pressed for food.
Wherever cultivation is carried on in Somali-land, it is done by the mullahs, who alone enjoy comparative immunity from molestation at the hands of the marauding bands which constantly wander about the country. There are very few of these settlements in the land, and they are generally separated by a 100 miles or so of thorny acacia shrub. Near the tomb there is a largo ancient graveyard, containing some 5000 graves; and the place is reputed very holy, being one of the first strongholds of the Arab sheikhs who came over from Arabia and intermarried with the Galla women ; and having tlms founded a powerful tribe, drove the Gallas every year further into the interior. The work is still carried on by the various Somali tribes, which are descended from the early Arab settlers, who, they boast, were near relatives of the Prophet.
Having selected one of the bluffs of Fudwein from whence we should be able to take observations on Berbera, we left the heavy baggage in charge of the priests, and, climbing up by a roundabout way some 1500 feet or so, wo reached the summit, and camped at the edge of the cliffs, which here fall sheer 1000 feet down to a continuation of the Sheikh plateau, called Mirso—a high ledge running round the foot of the cliffs, much cut up by ravines and covered with thorn jungle. All around us were fine cedar trees and euphorbias ; the former, however, appeared to be too much twisted to be of much use as timber. A short distance back from the edge of the cliffs there wore long grassy glades, the soil being plain red alluvial, and the ground generally sloping gently down towards the interior. We were unable to take satisfactory observations for nearly a week, as it rained frequently and the sky was overcast; but at length we saw Berbera lighthouse, distant 35 miles, glimmering white through the theodolite telescope, and obtained azimuths and latitudes. Thus we fixed the first point in our chain of positions. An azimuth also was obtained on to a hill called Yirrowa, 45 miles distant in the interior.
Our method throughout of fixing positions was by means of azimuths and latitudes, both being determined by numerous stellar observations, the sextant being worked at the same time as the theodolite. The general direction for 150 miles was S.E.; and the country after leaving Golis being very open, and the atmosphere clear, and distant peaks well defined, we found no difficulty in carrying a chain of azimuths as far as we went; but on our direction changing to east, we were obliged to zigzag a little to fix points by triangulation, and were finally obliged to make a departure due south to the edge of the Haud Desert, in order to fix Bur Anod and Shile Madu, two mountains in the Nogal district.
After which, on our return journey, we had plain sailing again to a point near Karam, and then worked westward by means of latitudes and azimuths on Wagger Mountain, which had previously been fixed from Berbera and Fudwein. Heights were workod out by aneroid, barometer, and thermometer readings, checked by boiling-point thermometer. Arrangements were made for having simultaneous observations taken at the coast.
Up to the time that we reached the Dulbahanta country—that is, for about 150 miles—although we sometimes at night heard men shouting in the distance, I do not think we met more than 200 men, the country on our line of march being much dried up for want of water, as the Dair, or short rains, had failed, and the tribes had driven their flecks to better grazing-grounds in the mountains. Our men were at first much in fear of raiding parties, and there were constantly scares by day and by night; but as they became more confident of themselves, there was presently very little confusion, every man going quietly to his place, and remaining on the alert.
After crossing the Golis Range, we entered the Tug Dehr Valley, and leaving Burao on our right, marched to the wells of Ber, distant from Fudwein about 50 miles, our way lying through thick thorn jungle, everything being very dried up, and no wator to be obtained until we reached Ber. Generally, wherever we passed over a waterless country we were enabled to make longer marches, as no people were met with on the way, and so there was no inducement to stop, even had the limited supply of water carried in our hans allowed of it.
We did not go to Burao, where we might have got water, as it was slightly out of our way, and we did not wish to he delayed by the Burao people, the Habr Gerhajis, as they would expect presents; and we required all we had for the Dulbahanta and Hubr Toljaala people. On making a night bivouac about 5 miles from Burao, however, we were visited by a number of horsemen, who showed us the usual equestrian exercises, and demanded cloth. Besides these men, we met no others up to the time wo reached Dabr Dalol, some 40 miles S.E. of Ber, excepting stragglers returning from what they said were unsuccessful searches after stolen camels. Although we thought ourselves far from any tribes, yet it was just in this plain that our men most anticipated attack, partly because the country was entirely new to most of them, and partly because it is just in these desolate places that looting generally takes place. Also, we were gradually nearing Bur Dab, a blue hazy mass of hills, becoming more distinct and bolder as we advanced—the reputed rendezvous of a large band of robbers recruited from the Musa Abokr, Sad Yunis, and Mahmud Gerad, three very turbulent sub-tribes inhabiting the country 150 miles east of Bur Dab. As we neared this mountain we crossed the fresh tracks of a large body of horsemen deeply imprinted in the red powdery soil; and many were the discussions the sight of these hoof marks gave rise to amongst the men. At night men shouted to us from the thorny jungle that they would attack us. ******
The latter next day actually came into collision with a large party of robbers just after a Somali caravan, which happened to be passing at the time, had been looted, and some thousands of sheep captured. The robbers, who were composed of spearmen and slingers, attacked so boldly, that it was, unfortunately, found necessary to open fire on them to drive them off. The sheep that had been looted were abandoned by the flying robbers, and returned to the owners.
Our Aden men, born and bred in a town, some of whom had never been outside one, were terrible scaremongers, and often infected the rest, and were with difficulty prevented from firing on occasional men seen roaming about in the bushes near the camp; but with the exception of one or two hopeless ones, by the time we reached the Dulbahanta country they had lost their fears, and on a sudden alarm at night would get to their places and kneel there quietly, ready for orders. So much Bo, that often the only sign of uneasiness would be the sudden jumping to their feet of our camels, and on our going outside the tents, we would find the men kneeling in a circle round the camp with rifles ready, not a word being said.
On our return journey we visited Bur Dab, and examined the wells, and also went on over the tops of the bluffs ; but we found no robbers there, and subsequently, after our return to Berbera, we heard that the robbers had quitted on our approach, for seeing our tents, they thought we were the same party with whom they had come into collision, and so withdrew.
The rock, in some places more than 1000 feet above the plain, commands a view of the whole country 70 miles around, and men were said to be constantly on the outlook for passing caravans, and to raid at a distance of 50 miles. The looters were supposed also to send out spies to examine the ground in the vicinity of the wells of Ber and elsewhere, and to follow any fresh caravan-tracks they might there find, returningto inform the robbers.
Bur Dab generally divides the Habr Toljaala from the Dulbahanta country, and all caravans to Berbera must pass either on one side or the other; thus the looters, sometimes three hundred in number, obtain much booty, and only vacate the place when caravans have been frightened off the regular routes, and taken to the long and tedious Haud Desert journey, where they must carry a ten days' supply of water, none being obtainable on the way.
Having thus completely paralysed all trade, the looters return totheir several tribes until such time as a return of confidence on the part of traders holds out a prospect of further booty.
They are generally all young men, who, having got tired of the? inactivity of homo life, band themselves together, and come to Bur Dab for two or three months in the year, and there live on the camels, sheep, and goats which they are lucky enough to capture from passing caravans, every now and then organising a distant raid on some hostile tribe. They return to their families when rain has fallen, and the young grass gives prospect of fat sheep for food, and a life of ease after the hardships of a period of outlawry.
So much for the robbers. Raiding is always carried on between tribes at feud with each other; but trading caravans are, as a rule, respected, except by these Bur Dab robbers, and the Jibril Abokr on the west. Hostile tribes, carefully avoiding each other, and on the alert after a recent raid, gradually become careless, and leave their camels and flocks in charge of women and children, whilst the men sleep and dawdle; then the more enterprising tribe collects its horsemen, and they, taking a supply of dried meat on the saddle-bows, ride off in the night, surprise the enemy's flocks, and, killing such men as are in the way, drive off the animals before the hostile tribesmen have had time to assemble.
If pursued, the captured sheep and goats are left to fall into the hands of their rightful owners; but the camels are driven on at great speed into the mountains, and then all chance of recovery is gone.
Looting horses will often go for two or three days without water, and we hear of five thousand camels being captured in this way at one swoop—a valuable prize, worth, say, £12,000, to be divided amongst the lucky spoilers. When the raid has been arranged by horsemen combined with men on foot, the share of the horsemen is always twice as large as that of the others.
Feuds between tribes vary in intensity according to the number of men that have been killed, and the manner in which it has been done. It is a point of honour with a tribe not to be satisfied until an equal number of the enemy has been killed ; and the feud is carried on from generation to generation, after the Corsican method, until the tally is correct.
Thus, if a single man of the enemy is met with at a desert well, his life is not to be despised, and he is mobbed and murdered, and the score reduced by one. Tribes, however, get very tired of this sort of thing, and a price of seventy camels per man has been fixed upon as blood-money; and if both sides are willing, the fend is settled by the side having the greater number of slain receiving seventy camels for each man who is killed in excess of the enemy's dead. Since the British have occupied the coast, the tribes have been encouraged to accept our arbitration in these matters ; and many settlements have been made, sometimes, however, to be broken over some dispute in connection with the quality of camels paid as blood-money—some being too old, others too young, etc. We have now a settled price of 700 rupees to represent the fine of seventy camels. Good camels would actually be worth, more than three times that amount, but in cases of blood-money a nominal value only is paid.
When a private murder is committed, the murderer must either be handed over to the family of the murdered man, or else the tribe must fight for him, and arrange payment of blood-money. If the murderer is a "good man " (that is, if he has murdered many others, and looted many camels), the tiibe refuses to give him up, and fights for him; if he is not a " good man," he is handed over, and methodically led out to have his throat cut.
The Dulbahanta, like other large tribes, are split up into many subtribes, and these again into smaller sections and families. They generally occupy the Nogal Valley, which we entered after leaving a place called Kirrid. Nogal is the name given to the whole district comprising the Ain, Tug Dehr, and other valleys. In the centre of this district Bur Dab, Bur Anod, and Shilo Madn are masses of rock forming islands in the broad Nogal Valley. The hills are generally composed of traprock ; but gypsum is found in the valleys; and all the wells are sunk in this, the water being very foul, partly owing to the sulphuretted hydrogen latent in the water, and partly owing to the surface scum which drains into the wells after the departure of the flocks and herds which have been watering there during the season when grass has been abundant in the neighbourhood. We suffered much from bad water, as some of the wells we drank at had not been used for a long time, and were consequently very foul. The water in the wells becomes fairly sweet after flocks have been drinking from them for some days, as the bad water becomes exhausted, and a fresh supply filters in. Most of the wells have been quarried out of the rock by the race of men said to be Gallas, who inhabited the country prior to the Somali invasion, the latter disdaining to dig any wells except with his hands in soft sand. The subtribes have each their own separate pastures and watering-places, and will not drink at each other's wells unless on terms of intimate friendship. With such thousands of camels, goats, sheep, and ponies, the watering has to be done very methodically, different hours for this being allotted to different families. The men descend into the wells, say, 20 feet down, and water is passed up from man to man in skin buckets, and poured into skins arranged in the form of basins with sticks, and propped up by stones. The herds are then driven up to drink, and driven off again to give place to others. All the time the men engaged in the wells are singing songs, and others sing and whistle encouragement to the camels. The white gypsum rock in the vicinity of the wells is ground into dust by the continual passage of beasts, and is glaring, and very trying to the eyes. At sunset all the beasts are driven off, and collected by families inside thick thorn fences; fires are lighted, sheep killed, and songs and dances kept up until a late hour. The position of each sub-tribe is maiked by thirty or forty brown zerebas, inside which camel-mats, rigged up on sticks, afford shelter to the women and children.
The Dulbahantas had never before been visited by Europeans, and were very suspicious of our intentions. We were therefore obliged to remain at some distance from the wells until they had finished watering, as they suspected us of designs of poisoning the water. Tribute was often domanded under the name of " presents," and it is difficult, with so many sub-tribes, to carry sufficient cloth to satisfy them. Our only plan was to find out which was the most powerful, and -depend on them for choking off the others. Thus we got on fairly well with most of them, though they all expected more, and tried the effect of demonstrations to impress us; but there were only one or two men of any note of whom we had any reason to complain.
At Badwein, in the centre of that part of the Nogal Valley which is occupied by the Arasama sub-tribe, we discovered extensive ruins of an ancient city, and close by a large tank quarried out of the gypsum rock. The deserted ruins covered an area of about 40,000 square yards, choked up with cactus and aloes, the haunt of leopards and hyasnas. Most of the houses have been reduced to mounds of stone and rubble, covered with straggling mimosa bushes, but here and there the walls of houses were better preserved. We rode into one house, whose walls stood some 10 feet high, and found it divided into many partitions, the building being in the form of a parallelogram, with sides 200 feet long and 100 feet wide. Curious niches hero and there would seem to have been used as fire-places.
Seeing these things, we listened with respect to the Somali legend of a civilised people who had long passed away before the onset of the savages whose guests we now were. The Somalis said this civilised people cultivated all the lands around, and occupied large cities, that they could read and write, and that when their (the Somalis') fathers came to the country, many buildings bore traces of writing which had long since been worn away by the work of time. They called the people " Harli," and said they were there prior to the Gallas. The latter had dug the rocky wells at Kirrid which we saw on first entering the country, and had cut a rude Christian cross in the face of the cave—■ the only ancient sign existing of a rude form of Christianity in the land. We tried to decipher what was said to be writing on the pillar of a doorway ; but it waB impossible to make out any lotters, as the surface of the gypsum stones, of which all the houses were built, had become much decomposed by the action of rain, and looked spongy, like pumice-stone. We rode with our party of Dulbahantas in amongst the ruins, out of one house into another, and, standing on high heaps of debris, let our eyes range over a landscape dotted with crumbling grey walls imbedded in clumps of aloes and cactus. As we picked our way among the fallenblocks, we disturbed a herd of deer feeding inside the remains of an old building, and everywhere guinea-fowl, of the species called vulturine, scuttled out of our path. We wished much to dig amongst the ruins for ancient pottery, etc., but wero prevented from doing so by the suspicion and prejudice of our hosts, who consider any tampering with these places as sacrilegious. There were many old graves, some of which seemed to be built in the form of a cross; they were plastered over with a mortar composed of pounded gypsum and water. The Dulbahantas now make their graves in the same manner, only Moslem in design; always in the vicinity of water, as certain rites, for which water is necessary, have to be carried out. In some cases dead men are carried, strapped on camels, long distances in order to be buried near water. We much wished to remain some days and explore tbis dead city, but various sub-tribes of Dulbahantas were very uneasy and suspicious of our intentions, so we thought it advisable not to prolong our stay. They could not understand why we roamed about in desolate places instead of accepting the hospitality of their wandering camps, where the whole place was infested with camel-ticks ; and having seen us working the theodolite, they credited us with designs of presently bringing an army to take the country. They dissuaded us as well as they could from proceeding to tho out-of-the-way peaks we had fixed upon as points of observation, and placed many obstacles in the way, assuring us we should be attacked by savage tribes, and that we were going into a country utterly waterless, that our camels would be devoured by lions, etc. Seeing, however, that we went all the same, and discovered water in spite of them, they gave up the attempt, and we were better friends after.
We were obliged to make a departure south from El Dab, as Muyo, the place we intended to go to, and which was said to be on the ToljaalaDulbahanta frontier, lay nearly due east of us, and so its position could not be determined by means of azimuths and latitudes. This departure south carried us to a stony range of hills bounding the great Haud Desert, and our observations wero made on a high bluff called Galfai —the place of the Gal las—where many large cairns spoke of the former occupation of these people.
On our return from this place we examined the tank at Badwein, and found it to be an oblong hole quarried out of gypsum rock, about 120 yards long and 80 yards wide, with perpendicular rocky sides. The water, which was 40 feet from tho surface, presented the appearance of a lake of ink, very foul and unpleasant. Ponies and sheep, however, are driven down to drink at a place where one of the sides has fallen in. Thick evergreen bushes flourished in all the crevices, and vulturine guinea-fowl came in long lines in Indian file to drink. We shot some of these birds, and found them very palatable; but the Somali's would on no account touch them, as they never eat birds of any kind. They are very fastidious also as to eating game, only certain kinds of deer being considered good, and these must have their throats cut in the orthodox Mussulman way, high up under the jaw. We preferred to sever the head from the body low down the neck, in order to make better specimens for setting up; and many of our specimens were spoilt by the men rushing in to the wounded game before we could come up.
At Muyo we were at the eastern end of the Bur Dab Range, having the Tug Dehr Valley, now 20 miles wide, on the north, and the Ain and Shilloli Valleys on the south. The whole district is called Nogal. Bur Anod, the hill which we had heard so much about, was within easy Teach of us, and very distinct, whilst Shile Madu was easily seen a little further east, and the positions were fixed in our maps. Near Muyo there are a few rocky wells—a bone of contention to the surrounding tribes, situated as they are in debatable land between the Arasama Gerad and the Mahmud Gerad, two Dulbahanta tribes, who have been for a long time past fighting out a blood feud. Raiding parties from both sides water their ponies here, and we actually met a party of Arasama horsemen, who had just come back 70 miles from an unsuccessful attack on the Habr Toljaala tribe. We now and then on our march saw knots of horsemen on the brows of the hills, and in some cases they would charge up to us to try to throw the caravan into confusion; but on seeing us undisturbed, they would pull up when a short distance off, and parley, and demand cloth. Muyo was the furthest point of our journey, and we turned back thence on our return journey by another route to Karam, having penetrated well into the Nogal district. We marched back to Badwein, and thence through thousands of camels of the Arasama and Barkad Gerad to El Dab, where we made some parting presents, and then struck off to the northward, accompanied by a large native caravan, which wished to take advantage of our protection past the northern end of Bur Dab. Our way for a day's march lay amongst stony hills and up a thorny valley, until we reached the summit of a low range whioh separates the Habr Toljaala from the Dulbahanta country, and is here called Laba Gardai (two views). We then descended on the other side to the Tug Dehr Valley, and, turning to the left, marched to the wells of Arreged, situated in a cleft between two bluffs of Bur Dab, and said to be the headquarters of the robbers. We had thus in coming and going made a complete circuit of Bur Dab. Although we were disturbed at night by spies, we were not attacked, and completed our observations without hindrance. We ascended a high bluff of Bur Dab about 1000 feet above camp, and found that the hill was composed of trap-rock, the inside falling away to a basin tunnelled in all directions by caves, said to be inhabited by robbers whenever they come here. The regular stratification of the rocks and the general formation did not seem to warrant the assumption that this basin is the crater of a volcano, as stated by some travellers to the Italian Geographical Society. The
natives told us that no Europeans had ever been there before. It is possible that the word Bur Dab, meaning a rocky hill, was mistaken for Bur Dab, meaning a hill of fire, or a volcano.
The native caravan we had been escorting left us at Arreged, and went on to Berbera, via the Miria Pass, to Huguf. The merchandise consisted of gum arabic, myrrh, frankincense, hides, and ostrich feathers, also a number of fat-tailed sheep; and after disposing of these at Berbera, the natives intended bringing back cloth, dates, and rice. Most of the thorn trees in the Dulbahanta country produce guin arabic, and clear transparent knobs could be seen sticking on the naked branches. The inside of these knobs is fluid, and sweet to the taste, and the Somalis eat great quantities; but only when near water, as they require to drink much at the time.
Bur Dab itself is chiefly noted for its myrrh. Caravans do not generally go to Berbera from the interior, except at a certain season, when rain has fallen near the coast, and the maritime plain, at other times almost devoid of vegetation, is covered with tufts of short grass, and the mimosa bushes are in leaf. Then the tribes in the vicinity camp about the town itself, and caravans come in from the interior. The goods are stacked in a stone enclosure under the control of Customs officers, and the camels are driven out into the plain to graze.
The tribes immediately around Berbera demand tribute from other tribes sending caravans through them, and the tribute has been fixed at so much a head per camel, and is, under the present arrangement, paid into the British Customs, to be subsequently divided amongst the elders of the coast tribes. There are two roads chiefly used by caravans from the Dulbahanta country to Berbera ; one is via the Sheikh Pass, and one is via the Miria Pass, the latter being by far the better, and although much longer, it is, as a rule, preferred to the shorter but more precipitous Sheikh road, where camels often come to grief. Also, the road via the Miria Pass only passes through the Habr Toljaala country—a fairly peaceable people; whereas the Sheikh road passes through the Habr Yunis and Esa Musa, the former being frequently at war with their neighbours or amongst themselves. Both those roads are commanded by Bur Dab, as caravans must either pass to the south by Kirrid, or to the north by Arreged; and the more inland trade is effectually stopped when this mountain is occupied by a large number of robbers. The latter are recruited from several sub-tribes, the Musa Abokr, Sad Yunis, and Mahmud Gerad, who all occupy lands to the east of the Miria road, stretching up to the sea, and so are enabled to cut in on the lines of march of caravans. The Habr Toljaala are a powerful tribe, and make it a point of honour that caravans shall have safe passage through their country, and they receive a part of the dues for this purpose. When this tribe is down in the maritime plain, however, the looters come up to Bur Dab and raid all around. In the summer, when the Habr Toljaala come up to the cooler and more grassy country about Bur Dab, the Mahmud Gerad, etc., raid all along the maritime plain, and have been known to loot all the camels off the plain immediately around Berbera, and carry them off to the mountains before they could be pursued.
The Habr Toljaala say they have much more trouble keeping the roads safe than the Esa Musa, who live immediately around Berbera, where the British occupation keeps looters at a distance, and so they now demand a larger portion of the dues.
A camel corps has now been raised at Berbera, composed of Somalis, equipped with Snider rifles, and properly drilled by the Political Besident. The camels of this corps were imported from Arabia, and were supposed to require jowary for food ; and consequently, in order to supply this want, a stimulus was given to the cultivation of jowary at the Dubar wells, where are tho gardens of Berbera, distant 7J miles. Water is brought in pipes from Dubar to Berbera, where it is collected in tanks, the whole being the work of the Egyptians before our occupation. The Arab camels are in the rainy season daily driven out into the plain to browse on the low mimosa bushes; and although new to this kind of food, they have soon become used to it, and thrive so well that there is now no danger of the supply of fodder ever running short, sufficient jowary being easily raised to supply the camels' food during tho dry season. Jowary is grown in the interior wherever mullahs, or priests, have settlements, they only being fairly secure from molestation.
On a subsequent expedition we visited the largest of these settlements, the only inland village in Somali-land before reaching Faf, on the Webbe. It is called Hargaisa, and is surrounded by extensive jowary crops. The soil here is generally plain red alluvial, topped with a fine layer of sand, the same exactly, and not a bit better, that we had seen stretching for more than 100 miles down the course of the Tug Dehr and other valleys. Bain is continually falling at all seasons on the elevated Golis Eange, which shuts out the stony maritime plain from the elevated interior; but as we retire from the hills we only have rain at certain seasons. One season is called Dair (the short rains), the other being called Gu (the big rains). It was the season of the Dair rains when we started from Berbera ; but they failed, and the country we passed through was much dried up, the soil being powdered and driven in clouds by the wind as it was knocked up by the camels' feet.
The highest mountain we ascended in the Golis is called Wagger, and is about 6800 feet high, and inhabited by the Mahamed Esa, a subclan of tho Esa Musa, not on very friendly terms with the Habr Toljaala owing to a dispute anent road dues. On this mountain many fat cattlo wandered knee-deep in grassy glades, and there were flowers everywhere, and birds sang in all the trees. The trees, chiefly cedar and euphorbia, in some cases grew to a height of 100 feet, and I measured one cedar which, was over 21 feet in circumference at the base. There are also some high hasadan trees, a species of euphorbia, from which exudes a white fiery fluid, producing, when manufactured, a kind of gutta-percha. Elephants had tunnelled paths through the thick forest right up to the summit of the highest peak, called Tawawur, and following one of these paths, we easily ascended the mountain, and presently emerged out of the gloom of the interlaced trees on to the summit, where lay a large split boulder. Kudu could be heard crashing through the underwood, and from a valley down below came the voice of a panther. A cloud presently enveloped us, and after waiting some hours to try to obtain observations on Berbera, we were obliged to return to camp in a grassy glade between the two main peaks of Wagger, called respectively Bakawa and Tawawur. A thunderstorm burst on us during the night, with torrents of rain ; but a sunny morning followed, and again ascending to the top of tho mountain, we were enabled to take the necessary angles. On this mountain, as on Fudwein, water is fairly abundant, and during the winter months the temperature is all that could bo desired. In April the temperature in the shade on Wagger varied from 63° Fahr. at night to 75° in the middle of the day. Wagger is about 45 miles from Berbera, and is reached by an easy road passing through the Daga Mahalable gap in the maritime hills.
There were many karias of the Hahamed Esa scattered over tho mountain, and numbers of chubby childien were playing about amongst the calves. The whole population live entirely on milk, sheep, and an occasional cow. The men were very civil, and assured us that they were not troubled by raiders, who usually swept past the foot of the mountain, not caring to trust their ponies on the broken ground of tho mountains. Most of the looting is done by horsemen, and consequently the tribes which keep most ponies are generally the greatest raiders, as man on foot are unable to drive off the booty sufficiently quickly.
Before closing this paper, I would like to say something about the Hand. This is a broad waterless plain beginning at the Abyssinian frontier, near a peak called Moga Medir, and running eastward, gradually widening until it reaches the south of the Dulbahanta country, where it is over 200 miles broad. During this journey we skirted its northern limits near Galfai, and during two subsequent journeys we reached points on its northern boundary further westward at Toyo and Moga Medir. The western portion of the Haud, called Bun, west of Toyo, is a grassy plain without a bush on it, separating the Jibril Abokr and Gudabursi Somalis from the tribes under Abyssinian domination—the Bertore, Giri, and others. The plain, which consists of red alluvial soil, is here about 30 or 40 miles wide, soon increasing in width, however, as it is continued eastward, so that between Hargaisaand Milmilit is over 100 miles broad. Further to the east tho ground loses its prairie character and becomes rolling, and covered with broad-crowned mimosa
Irushes. The Haud, although uninhabited at other times of the year, during the rains is the pasture-ground of nearly every tribe, both on the northern and southern side of it, nearly every tribe having a right of -way into it, and returning after the rains to their own side of the Haud. Thus the Haud effectually separates the northern Somalia, the Habr Awal, Habr Gerhajis, Habr Toljaala, and Dulbahanta from the Ogadeyn and Berthore tribes, lying on the south of the Haud. Most of tho Ogadeyn tribes trade with Obia and the south coast of the Horn, belonging to the Italians, but a few of the tribes nearest the Haud send caravans across to Berbera. When we were at Muyo we received an invitation from tho Mahamed Gerad Dulbahantas to come and see them. They said they would kill camels and sheep for us and feast us, and professed much, friendship. We were not able to go, however, as we had come to tho «nd of our provisions and presents, and had to return to Berbora. Had we gone we should have struck a point of the Haud further east than Galfai. We were told that after rain tho grass grew so high and became «o tangled that the only way for men to get from one part to another was by following the lanes made by the camels as they wandered about feeding.
The Haud is a noted haunt of lions; we saw several on the western side, and heard many tales of their ravages in the Dulbahanta country. The lions are, by the natives, supposed to require no water, but to suck the dew from the grass in the early morning, and they told us that often •on cutting open lions which had been killed, grass was found inside them. We actually shot two lions at least 30 miles from water, and I sat for two nights near the only water-hole for 30 miles around, and although we once or twice heard lions, they did not come to drink. The Haud swarms with game, especially springbok, hartebeest, and ostriches. Thousands of antelopes may be seen feeding knee-deep in grass, looking in the distance like long brown strips, and it is easy to shoot as many as arc required. The Bun, on the west side of the Haud, seems just suited to ostrich farming.
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, i just asked you what sub clan omar wacays falls under.
