CHAPTER XI

NOTES ON THE WILD FAUNA OF SOMÁLILAND

THE LION (_Felis leo_)

Native name, _Libah_

Lion-shooting involves long halts of several days among the Somáli karias, with crowds of natives continually standing round camp, the dust from the countless camels and sheep filling the air and covering the bushes. Under these circumstances it may well be understood that other game is scarce, and that sitting unoccupied in camp waiting for news of a lion is not always interesting. Frequently the news which is brought in of lions having visited karias two or three miles away, taking a sheep or a heifer, or a young camel, as the case may be, is very unreliable. Yet the hunter must be ready to start on the instant, and after a tramp lasting from five to ten hours, he will return as often as not to his tent tired out, the victim of a silly hoax concocted for the purpose of wheedling _bakshísh_ out of him.

Every few days one of these trips will probably end in a real find, and then grand excitement will be felt in creeping among the tunnels made by the dark _khansa_ bushes, looking for the crouching enemy, which may spring up from any distance and from any direction; and there is an additional danger in three or four men being huddled together with rifles on full cock in such jungle.

As I have been nearly always travelling incessantly and generally on duty, I have seldom had time to wait among the Somáli karias for news of lions, and when I have been on leave, and time has permitted, I have generally preferred to camp among the mountains and look for large koodoo, amid fine scenery and away from the noise and dust of inhabited country. This, to my mind, is by far the most fascinating sport to be had in Somáliland. I have, however, had many shots at lions when marching, and have brought home the trophies of four. To make a good bag of lions, it is necessary to devote a trip exclusively to lion-shooting, but to my mind the bright moments of intense excitement do not come often enough to compensate for the long monotonous days in camp.

Lions are still numerous in Somáliland, chiefly in unexplored parts of the Haud and Ogádén. It is probable that many of the Haud lions never drink except when they can find pools of rain-water. They may be encountered at all times of the year at distances up to fifty miles or more from the nearest water. The Midgáns go after them a good deal, and bring their skins to Berbera and Aden for sale, but they are seldom good skins, very often being riddled with spear holes inflicted wantonly after death. When a lion has committed so many depredations among the karias that the men living in them are roused to the point of banding together to kill him, Somális and Midgáns, according to their own account, go after him on horseback till they bring him to a standstill in the open. Then they bait him by galloping round at full speed and shouting. The lion turns this way and that, trying to face them as they whirl round; and getting confused with the shouting and dust, he falls a prey to the arrows of the Midgáns, who mount and ride away to a safe distance with the other Somális, and wait for his death. Sometimes one of the horsemen is knocked over: an angry lion, unless too done up to make good his charge, being easily able to catch a bad or a tired pony.

The movements of the native encampments seem chiefly to influence the changes of quarters of the lions, the latter following the karias as they move to fresh pastures. When a family, with its flocks and herds and its karias, moves, its attendant lions, if there should be any, accompany it, being sometimes man-eaters and more often cattle-eaters. Last June my own caravan, while returning to the coast from Ogádén, was followed during two days, over a distance of forty miles, by a pair of hungry lions. We discovered this by chance, when some scouts of mine happened to go back along the road.

A few years ago there used to be plenty of lions in Guban, in the reeds bordering the Issutugan river, and about Kabri-Bahr, and along the foot of Gólis Range. Now the best country for them is decidedly the Haud Plateau and Ogádén, where there are still a good many. Milmil is sometimes a good place; also the base of Bur Dab Mountain, and the Waredad Plain, where there are patches of _durr_ grass an acre or two in extent, with a few shady thorn-trees growing within them. They make their lair in the high grass under the shade of a tree, and as the grass patches are surrounded by bare red soil or sand, the pugs are easily found, and the brutes can be driven out into the open and shot. Lions living in the Haud, where it is elevated five thousand to six thousand feet, have better coats and manes than those found in Guban or in Ogádén, and the best skins I have seen have come from the elevated _ban_ or open prairie. All the animals of the elevated country have thicker coats than those of the corresponding varieties found in the low country, this being necessary, no doubt, as a protection against the cold.

THE ELEPHANT (_Elephas africanus_)

Native name, _Maródi_

The Somáli elephant has within the last five years been much persecuted by sportsmen, and I am afraid that if this destruction goes on, in the near future there will be none left in Northern Somáliland, for they have entirely left their old haunts. In 1884, when Egypt evacuated Somáliland, elephants were plentiful on Wagar and Gólis, coming down to the southern edge of the Maritime mountains. Driven in December by the cold from the high interior, they wandered down the sand-rivers, feeding on the _armo_ creepers and aloes.

Since Sir Richard Burton’s expedition thirty-nine years ago, few, if any, Europeans entered Somáliland until 1884, when two officers from Aden visited Gólis in search of elephants almost simultaneously with Mr. F. L. James’s expedition to the Webbe. From this time the disappearance of the elephant has been very rapid, and nearly all the herds have retired to the mountainous country in which the Tug Fáfan takes its rise; but a few herds still come down annually into the Gadabursi country. In 1884 elephants were shot at Dalaat and Digwein, places near Mandeira in the interior plain north of Gólis; and since that year I have never heard of them anywhere in this plain. In 1887 I had to ascend to Wagar before finding any, and since then they have retired from Wagar and Gólis altogether, and are never now by any chance, I believe, found east of Hargeisa, unless we except herds which wander eastward into the far interior of Ogádén from the western valleys of the Harar Highlands.

The cause of elephants having been driven away to such an extent is that sportsmen have not been satisfied with the death of a bull or two here and there, but have slaughtered large numbers of cows. In the first enthusiasm of elephant-shooting it is conceivable that a sportsman may shoot two or three cows as well as bulls, as I have done; but there is no reason, except the temptation afforded by very exciting sport, why large numbers of elephants of both sexes should be destroyed in Somáliland. They do no harm to the few plots of cultivation scattered at wide intervals, and very few Somális will eat their flesh. Though the elephants themselves are of the average size, this mountain ivory is probably as small as any to be found in Africa, sixty pounds being a very good pair of tusks, though greater weights have of course been recorded in exceptional cases.

I believe the question of the desirability of training and using the African elephants for transport is one which will become more important every year as Africa is opened up. Provided something could be done to stop the wholesale slaughter of elephants by English sportsmen, there is still a probability that the whole of our Somáli Protectorate would become restocked, for in the chaos of rugged gorges which descend abruptly from the Harar Highlands into Ogádén there are still plenty. I do not think that a moderate amount of elephant-shooting, properly regulated, does much harm, but the herds are certain to leave places where they have been hunted about without respite season after season, and where large numbers have been slaughtered.

In the Gólis Range there are many of the old elephant paths still existing, but the bones are very seldom found; and the Somális have a theory to account for this. In 1886 I went to Digwein, where an officer had shot a large bull elephant two years before, and I was shown the exact spot where it had been killed; and rummaging among the bushes we found the jaw-bones, with the heavy grinders still embedded in them. The Somális said this was all that was left of it, because the Esa Músa cattle and the koodoo antelopes had eaten all the soft parts of the bones.

THE BLACK RHINOCEROS (_Rhinoceros bicornis_)

Native name, _Wiyil_

For many years the black rhinoceros has been known to exist in the interior of Somáliland; and going farther in every year, I have constantly been expecting to come into its ground.

The first Somáli rhinoceroses were shot by my brother and myself in our Abyssinian border trip in August 1892, and since then only a few have been bagged by Europeans. They come far north of the range of the zebras, sometimes wandering as far towards the coast as the open grass plains of Toyo, a hundred miles south of Berbera, where they hide in the patches of _durr_ grass. They are common in the southern parts of the Haud; I never found any signs of them during many expeditions in the Habr Awal, Esa, and Gadabursi countries. They are most common in the valleys of the Tug Jerer and Tug Fáfan, and thence southward as far as the Webbe; and they are also plentiful beyond the Webbe in Gállaland. Rhinoceroses are said to exist to the south-east of Berbera, but in our trip to the Dolbahanta country we never saw any traces of them.

We found these to be the most stupid game animals we have encountered, and easily approached if the wind was right. They were not very prone to charge, and in their blind, headlong rush seemed to see nothing, so that by stepping to one side and standing perfectly still a man would probably be safe. The transparent and thorny nature of the _billeil_ bush, which is always their last sanctuary, renders a man rather helpless, and if seen and charged, and unable to find elbow-room owing to the walls of impenetrable thorns, he would probably be killed. Rhinoceros-shooting is very exciting, but it is chiefly the fearful nature of the jungle which makes it so. I have never seen more than three of these brutes together. The ground they usually prefer is a network of very stony, broken hills, covered with _galól_ or _billeil_ jungle, and having some river-bed not too many miles distant, where they can go at night to drink and bathe. They travel considerable distances to the river, and wander all night up and down the channel looking for a convenient pool, and making a maze of tracks in the soft sand. The Abbasgúl, Malingúr, and Rer Amáden tribes eat their flesh when hungry, and I found it very good, and once lived for a week on very little else.

We could usually cut from fifteen to thirty fighting shields from each rhinoceros, three-quarters of an inch thick and from fifteen to eighteen inches in diameter, worth about a dollar apiece at the coast. Everywhere in Central Ogádén the caravan tracks are furrowed in grooves a yard or more long and six inches deep, which look like the work of a plough. This is done by the rhinoceros as he walks along.

A good pair of bull’s horns measures nineteen inches for the front and five inches for the back one.

ANTELOPES[53]—THE ORYX (_Oryx beisa_)

Native name, _Beit_

The oryx is a very stoutly-built, bovine antelope, standing as high as a donkey, and inhabits open, stony ground, or barren hills, or open grass plains. It is fairly common and very widely distributed over the Somáli country, and it may be found in all kinds of country except the thick jungle with aloe undergrowth which is so much liked by the lesser koodoo, and the cedar forests on the higher ranges. The best oryx ground is in the Haud and in Ogádén.

The oryx feeds chiefly on grass, and is often found very far from water. It has keen sight, and probably protects itself more by this than by its sense of hearing or scent. Oryx are found in herds of from half a dozen to thirty or forty, chiefly composed of cows. The only antelopes which go in very large herds in Northern Somáliland are the hartebeest and Sœmmering’s gazelle. Bull oryx are found wandering singly all over the country, and possibly these make up in number for the preponderance of cows in the herds.

Sometimes two or three cows with growing calves will be found together, making up a small herd of half a dozen. It is nearly impossible to distinguish which are the bulls in a herd, and they are so few in proportion to the cows that it is best, if shooting for sport alone, not to fire at herd animals at all. The bull is slightly thicker in the neck and higher in the withers than the cow; and the horns, though an inch or two shorter in the bull, are more massive, especially about the base, and more symmetrical, whilst the cow’s horns are frequently bent and of unequal length. The oryx is often revengeful when wounded and brought to bay; twice I have seen a wounded one make a determined charge into a mob of Somális armed with spears.

The Midgáns, who are armed with bows and poisoned arrows, hunt the oryx with packs of savage yellow pariah dogs; the thick skin round the withers of a bull is made by them into a white _gáshan_ or fighting shield. The method of hunting, as carried out by the Midgáns in the Bulhár Plain, is as follows: Three or four of them, with about fifteen dogs, go out just before dawn, and walk along silently through the scattered thorn-trees till fresh tracks are found, and these are followed till the game is sighted. By throwing stones, whistling, and other signs which the dogs understand, they are shown the herd, and settle down to their work. The dogs run mute, the men following at a crouching trot, which in a Somáli is untiring; and this lasts until the dogs open in chorus, having brought the game to bay. The oryx make repeated charges at the dogs, which they often wound or kill. If the latter can avoid the sharp horns of the mother, they fasten on to a calf, and sometimes the whole herd will charge to the rescue. The Midgáns run up silently under cover of the bushes and let off a flight of poisoned arrows into the herd, which, seeing the human enemy, takes to flight. Frequently an animal wounded by a poisoned arrow takes a line of its own, and is in due time carefully followed up and found dead, or it may be pulled down in its weak state by the dogs.

It was many years ago, while wandering with my hunter, Ali Hirsi, in the Bulhár Plain, that I first saw the trophies of a bull oryx, and at once resolved that I would hunt nothing else till I had brought down a specimen of this beautiful antelope. As we were walking through a thick part of the bush we suddenly came upon a group of four Midgáns engaged in lighting a fire under a large _gudá_ thorn-tree. Resting against the trunk was the head of a freshly-killed oryx bull, with a grand pair of horns, starting in continuation with the forehead and sweeping back in a slight curve to a length of thirty-four inches. On the branches strips of oryx meat were hanging, and on the ground lay the rest of the carcase and the skin, which a man was cleaning with a knife, where it lay in a pool of frothy blood. Round the tree nine pariah dogs lay about; they were gnawing offal, and got up lazily, as I approached, to show their teeth and growl at me, till kicked into silence by one of the Midgáns. The group was a very striking one, and although I have since, while feeding my followers in the interior, shot large numbers of oryx, none have appeared to me so fine as this first one which I had not the good fortune to shoot. I haggled with the Midgáns for the head and got it for two dollars, and also engaged them with their dogs to come hunting with me on the first day on which I should be able to get away from Bulhár.

At midnight, a week later, I rode out on a camel, accompanied by Ali Hirsi, the four Midgáns, and nine dogs. We slept for a few hours at a Midgán karia out on the plain, and at dawn struck due south into the heart of the bush. As it became hot, after having seen nothing but Walleri and small gazelles all the morning, we sat down to rest, sending a boy, one of the Midgáns, up a thorn-tree to watch. The dogs lay round us panting, with their tongues hanging out, and all the men were soon asleep under the shade, except my Midgán sentry, who was softly intoning his Mahomedan prayers as he sat perched on the tree. Suddenly he stopped them with a jerk, slipped down the trunk of the tree, and came running to me snapping his fingers. We all got up, and the Midgáns, by whistling and throwing pebbles, put the dogs on to the broad path of a large herd of oryx. Off we went, and after running for five minutes as fast as our legs could carry us, the dogs being well out of sight, we heard a clamour in the distance; and crouching low as we ran, came into a glade where we found the herd bunched together round a thicket, keeping the dogs back, the oryx charging repeatedly and the dogs dodging nimbly, trying to cut out the young calves. Directly the oryx caught sight of us they scattered like a bursting shell. I ran hard to cut off some of them, jumping over low mimósas and stepping on large thorns, and the Midgáns sent a flight of poisoned arrows whizzing past me at the flying herd. The Midgáns, I knew, wanted meat, so I dropped a large cow with the .500 Express as she galloped past at forty yards, rolling her over in her tracks. The Midgáns rushing up, breathed a short prayer, slashed her throat open, and then stood clear from the quivering body, while all the dogs fastened on to a calf, which was soon lying beside the cow with its head cut off; and after half an hour spent in lighting a fire and roasting some oryx meat, we loaded up the rest and made for Bulhár.

I have had several trips with these Bulhár Midgáns in search of oryx. Their camping arrangements are very primitive, and many a time have I helped them to light a fire by rubbing two sticks together. Special wood had to be chosen, and it generally took us from ten to twenty minutes to get a light.

The skin on the withers of a bull oryx is much thicker than the rest of the skin, being about three-quarters of an inch thick. The average length of horns in a good bull is thirty-two inches, in a cow thirty-four inches. Young oryx, when caught and confined in an enclosure, will sometimes show their stubborn, wild nature by charging the bars, head down, and so killing themselves; a case of this kind once occurred in Berbera. The flesh of a calf oryx is, in my opinion, more delicious than that of any other antelope, and lions are particularly fond of it. These calves, when young, are very like those of English cattle in appearance, but smaller, with stumpy, straight horns a few inches long. They give out a peculiar half-bleat, half-bellow, when attacked by dogs or wounded. We fell in with young calves about the middle of August in two successive years. Oryx sometimes strike sideways with their horns as we use a stick. When very angry they lower them till nearly parallel with the ground, and make a dash forward for a few yards with surprising swiftness. Oryx are often seen in company with hartebeests and Plateau gazelles. Once I saw a small herd with some of these latter, and with the mixed herd were two ostriches.

THE KOODOO (_Strepsiceros Koodoo_)

Native name, _Gódir_ or _Goriáleh Gódir_ (male); _Adér-yu_ (female); _Adér-yu_ (collective name for herd animals of both sexes and all ages)

Koodoos are found in mountainous or very broken ground where there is plenty of bush and good grass and water. The best koodoo grounds in Somáliland are Gólis Range and the Gadabursi Hills. The large koodoos scarcely exist in the parts of Ogádén which I have visited. Either they never existed there, or, as my followers declared, they died of the great epidemic of cattle disease four or five years ago. Ogádén Somális constantly offer to show koodoo to a sportsman, but they appear to mean the lesser koodoo; and this they call _Gódir_, knowing apparently of only the one kind. The Ishák tribes, on the other hand, have names for both.

Sometimes a solitary old bull will make his midday lair close to water, in some quiet part of the hills. They are very retiring, and live in small families, two bulls and seven cows being the largest number I have noticed together. They prefer the steepest mountains, but wander about at night in search of grass in broken ground in the neighbouring plains. An old male with a heavy pair of horns seems to avoid thick jungle, where they may catch in the branches, and likes to spend the heat of the day under the shadow of some great rock on the mountain side, where he can get a good view around. His eyes, nose, and ears appear to be equally on the alert, and he is often very cunning. Although such a heavy animal, he is a good climber and is hard to stalk, but, once successfully approached, the steep nature of the ground generally yields him up an easy victim to the rifle. The alarm-note of the female koodoo is a loud, startling bark, which echoes far into the surrounding hills, and is similar to that of the Indian sambar hind.[54] The bark is accompanied by an impatient pawing of the ground with the hoofs.

The habits of the greater and lesser koodoo exactly correspond respectively to those of the sambar and spotted deer of Southern India. Great koodoos live in the mountains, and lesser koodoos on the bush-covered slopes at their base. Koodoos are generally timid, but care must be taken when coming suddenly on them, as I once saw an unwounded bull make a very determined charge from some thirty yards’ distance at a solitary man who had been sent to stop the mouth of a gorge. The man jumped to one side and threw his spear, grazing the flank of the beast, which then galloped out into the plain below and escaped. I had a good view of this, and there could be no doubt as to the intention of the beast.

The koodoo is the largest of all the Somáli antelopes, a large bull standing about 13 hands 1 inch, and although an active climber, he is not fast on level ground. A fairly good pair of horns in Somáliland will measure 3 feet from base to tip, and 50 inches round the spiral of each horn. The largest I have ever seen measured 56 inches round the spiral. The koodoo is rare except in the mountains, and is found on the highest ground of Northern Somáliland, inhabiting the top of Wagar Mountain and Gólis Range, which rise to about six thousand eight hundred feet. It has lately become scarce even in these parts. The head is a great prize, and a good pair of horns should be ample reward for a fortnight’s climbing in the hills.

THE LESSER KOODOO (_Strepsiceros imberbis_)

Native name, _Gódir_ or _Arreh Gódir_ (male); _Adér-yu_ (female); _Adér-yu_ (collective)

This is, to my mind, quite the most beautiful of all the Somáli antelopes, and the skin is more brilliantly marked and the body more gracefully shaped than that of the greater koodoo. The lesser koodoo is rather smaller than the oryx.

The lesser koodoo is found in thick jungles of the larger kind of thorn-tree, especially where there is an undergrowth of the _hig_ or slender pointed aloe, which is of a light green colour, and grows from four to six feet high. This antelope may also be found hiding in dense thickets of tamarisk in the river-beds. It is not found in the open grass plains, and I have never seen one in the cedar forests on the top of Gólis. Its favourite haunt used to be along the foot of this range, and I do not think its numbers have been much diminished of late years. By far the best lesser koodoo ground I have ever visited is the thick forest on the Webbe banks, near Imé and Karanleh. These Webbe specimens are different to the ones found under Gólis, as they are smaller, have shorter horns, are still more brilliantly marked, and have hoofs nearly twice as long. The hoofs of a Webbe lesser koodoo are, like those of a Webbe bushbuck, of extraordinary length.

The lesser koodoo likes to be near water, and living as it does among the densest thickets, its ears are wonderfully well developed. It has powerful hind-quarters, and is a strong leaper, the white bushy tail flashing over the aloe clumps as it takes them in great bounds. They are very cunning, and will stand quite still on the farther side of a thicket listening to the advancing trackers, then a slight rustle is heard as they gallop away. The best way to get a specimen is to follow the fresh tracks of a buck, the sportsman advancing in a direction parallel with that of the tracker, but some fifty yards to one flank and in advance; a snap shot may then be got as the koodoo bounds out of the farther side of a thicket, but you may be months in the country before getting a really good buck. They go in herds of about the same number as do the greater koodoos. Old bucks are nearly black, and the horns become smooth by rubbing against trees; and scars of all sorts remain on the neck, being the result of wild rushes through the jungle or fights with other bucks. The average length of a good buck’s horns is about 25 inches from base to tip. The longest I have shot or seen was between 27 and 28 inches in length in a straight line. The horns are very sharp, but I have never seen a lesser koodoo attempt to charge.

THE SOMÁLI HARTEBEEST (_Bubalis swaynei_)

Native name, _Síg_

The _Síg_ or hartebeest was described by Dr. Sclater as _Bubalis swaynei_; his description and notes (P. Z. S., Feb. 1892) were taken from specimens shot and sent home by me. I was not the first to shoot the _Síg_, but mine were the first specimens submitted to scientific investigation.

South of Gólis Range, and at a distance of about one hundred and twenty miles from the coast, are open plains from four to six thousand feet above sea-level, alternating with broken ground covered with thorn jungle. These patches of _ban_ or prairie are the only kind of country where the hartebeest is to be found. Not a bush is to be seen, and some of these plains are thirty or forty miles in extent.

I first saw the _Síg_ when coming on to ground which had not then been visited by Europeans, and found one of these plains covered with hartebeests, there being perhaps a dozen herds in sight at one time, each containing three or four hundred of these antelopes. Hundreds of bulls were scattered singly on the outskirts and in spaces between the herds, grazing, fighting, or lying down. The scene described was at a distance of over a hundred and twenty miles from Berbera.

The hartebeest bulls are very pugnacious, and two or three couples may be fighting round the same herd at once. Perhaps the easiest way to get a specimen is to send a couple of Midgáns round above the wind to drive them towards you, at the same time lying down in the grass. In this way a shot may be got within a hundred yards, but no one would care to shoot very many hartebeests, except for food. There is no chance of creeping up to hartebeests unless the huge ant-hills, often twenty-five feet high, are conveniently situated.

Often oryx and Sœmmering’s gazelles are seen in company with these great troops of hartebeests, but the oryx are much wilder. The hartebeests are rather tame, and they and the Sœmmering’s gazelles are always the last to move away. Hartebeests have great curiosity, and will frequently rush round a caravan, halting now and then within two hundred yards to gaze. This sight is an extraordinary one, all the antelopes having heavy and powerful fore-quarters, while the hind-quarters are poor and fall away; the coat is glossy like that of a well-groomed horse. In the midday haze of the plains they look something like troops of lions, as the powerful head and neck are of a different shade of chestnut to the rest of the body. The pace of the hartebeest is an ungraceful, lumbering canter, but it is probably the fleetest and most enduring of the Somáli antelopes. The largest herd I have seen must have contained a thousand individuals, packed closely together, and looking like a regiment of cavalry, the whole plain round being dotted with single bulls.

From their living so much in the open plains the hartebeests must subsist entirely on grass, for there is nothing else to eat; and they must be able to exist for several days without water. They are the favourite food of lions, and once, when out with my brother, I found a troop of three lions sitting out on the open plains, ten miles from the nearest bush; they had evidently been out all night among the herds, and on their becoming gorged, the rising sun had found them disinclined to move.

The hartebeest is about as large as a donkey. The horns vary greatly in shape and size; there are the short massive horns and the long pointed ones, and all the variations between. Some curve forward, with the points thrown back; others curve outwards in the same plane with the forehead, the points turning inward. I never heard of hartebeests in the whole of Guban or anywhere in the parts of Ogádén which I have visited; I have seen them on open plains in the Haud and Ogo, and nowhere else.

WATERBUCK (_Cobus ellipsiprymnus_)

Native name, _Balanka_, among the Adone (Webbe negroes); corrupted to _Balango_ by the Somális

I believe there are no waterbuck to be found in Somáliland except on the banks of the Webbe Shabéleh, and perhaps the Lower Nogal, near the east coast. There are none on the Tug Fáfan, at any of the points where I have crossed it. They are said to be numerous all along the Webbe Ganána (Juba), the course of which lies chiefly through Gállaland.

The first important collections of the waterbuck were, I think, made by Colonel Arthur Paget and myself on two independent but simultaneous expeditions to the Webbe last spring. I found these antelopes very plentiful all along both banks of the river, from Imé down to Burka in the Aulihán tribe, which was as far as I followed the stream. They lie up in the dense forest which clothes both banks of the river for some two hundred yards from the water’s edge; and they go out to feed in the open grass flats outside the belts of forest. They go in small herds of about fifteen individuals, though most of the herds I saw consisted of only four or five, with one old buck.

The habits of the Somáli waterbuck are, I believe, similar to those of the same species in other parts of Africa. They feed chiefly on grass, delight in a mud-bath, and take to the water readily; a wounded buck which I was following in thick forest tried to escape by swimming the Webbe, some ninety yards across, and we shot him as he galloped along the farther bank. The bucks on the Webbe vary much in colour, from brownish gray to nearly black. The white lunate marking over the tail is always present; some heads have the forehead bright rufous brown, and others are nearly black in this part. The flesh is eaten by the negroes of the Webbe, but not by Somális. The horns obtained on the Webbe are small compared to waterbuck horns from more southern Africa; out of some fifteen heads of old bucks collected by me at different times none reached twenty-five inches. The females are hornless. The waterbuck is about the size of a red-deer, and resembles the latter in the shape of the head, though the body stands on shorter and stouter legs.

BUSHBUCK (_Tragelaphus decula_)

Native name, _Dól_

The bushbuck is somewhat larger than a fallow deer, and is common in the dense forest on the Webbe banks; and it is the most wary and difficult to shoot of all the game animals I have ever encountered. I never heard of its existence till my second expedition to the Webbe last autumn. At Karanleh I obtained from the natives several skins and horns of _Dól_ which had been caught by means of disguised pits, with a stake in the bottom of each. These pits are made by the Adone, and are funnel-shaped, about eight feet deep and five in diameter at the top. They are dug in the densest jungle, in the paths most frequented by the bushbuck when going to and returning from the water. Some of these paths are long tunnels three feet high, bored through the masses of vegetation for fifty yards or more, and often I could only get to the river by creeping on all-fours through these tunnels; this may be exciting work when it is considered that many kinds of game, including the lion and rhinoceros, use them.

On my arrival at Karanleh I sent skilled negroes to repair all the pits within a mile or two of my camp, in the hope of getting a specimen. During a month spent on the Webbe banks I shot only one young buck, but I organised three or four drives, in one of which my men shot a buck with their Sniders. On this occasion the buck was in company with one female, which broke back through the line in spite of the firing, and in rather a curious manner, which I have before described. The only way of crossing the line was to jump over the head of one of my men who was standing erect, which she did, her hoofs striking the centre of his forehead and knocking him down. This is probably, as elsewhere in Africa, a plucky little antelope, and its hunting in the dense bush which it inhabits is not altogether free from danger.

The longest horns were a pair which I picked up, measuring about seventeen inches in length. The females are hornless. The young of both sexes are of a distinct reddish brown, getting darker as they grow older, and the natives say the old bucks become nearly black. The hair is generally curiously worn off along the spine. The natives have given me conflicting theories, but I cannot satisfactorily account for it. There are four or five transverse white stripes and white spots, sometimes as many as thirty, on each side, more numerous in the young animals. The necks are scantily covered with short hair, and in the two young bucks we killed were very slender. The flesh is good eating. I am not aware that the bushbuck exists anywhere in Somáliland but in the dense forest close to the banks of the Webbe.

CLARKE’S GAZELLE (_Ammodorcas clarkei_)

Native name, _Dibatag_ or _Diptag_

The _Dibatag_ was first shot by Mr. T. W. H. Clarke in 1891 during his exploring trip to the Dolbahanta and Marehán countries, far to the south-east of Berbera. Just a week after his specimens had been sent to England, I bought in Berbera two pairs of horns with the face skins attached, and sent them to Dr. Sclater, of the Zoological Society, believing them to belong to a new antelope; but by this time Mr. Clarke’s specimens had been examined by Mr. Rowland Ward and handed to Mr. Oldfield Thomas, who described this new species. See _Proceedings_, Zoological Society, March 1891.

The _Dibatag_ is common enough in some parts, but is very local in its distribution. Since Mr. Clarke first discovered it, a few have been met with and shot by sportsmen in the eastern parts of the Haud waterless plateau.

I have been singularly unfortunate with this antelope, never having been in the country where it is found till I went to the Nogal Valley some three years ago. At that time the _Jilal_, or dry season, was at its height, and all game was scarce and shy, so I never got a _Dibatag_ till June 1893, when on my return journey from Ogádén across the waterless plateau I made a détour of several days to the east on purpose to shoot one for my collection.

I searched for _Dibatag_ at Tur, a jungle due south of Toyo grass plains, the distance being some eighty miles from Berbera, and was lucky in getting one good buck and picking up two pairs of horns, although I saw a good many, but all were wild and shy. This is their extreme western limit, and they never by any chance, I believe, come so far south as the Gólis Range. Farther east, towards Bur’o, they are more plentiful and less shy.

_Dibatag_ are very difficult to see, their purplish gray colour matching with the high _durr_ grass in the glades where they are found. The glossy coat, shining, reflects the surrounding colours, making it sometimes almost invisible; and at the best of times its slender body is hard to make out. I have often mistaken female Waller’s gazelles for _Dibatag_, and once shot one of the former in mistake for the latter. The habits and gait are much the same, save that the _Dibatag_ trots off with head held up, and the long tail held erect over the back nearly meeting the head, while Waller’s gazelle trots away with its head down and its short tail screwed round. Like Waller’s gazelle, the _Dibatag_ goes singly or in pairs, or small families up to half a dozen.

As is the case with Waller’s gazelle, the _Dibatag_ is enabled by its long neck and rather long upper lip to reach down branches of the mimósa bushes from a considerable height. The shape of head and way of feeding of both antelopes are giraffe-like, and I have seen both standing on the hind legs, fore-feet planted against the trunk of a tree, when feeding, an illustration of which is given. I have seen _Dibatag_ feeding both on thorn-bushes and on the _durr_ grass. Both Walleri and Clarke’s antelopes can live far from water. The country most suitable for _Dibatag_ is jungle of the _khansa_ or umbrella mimósa, alternating with glades of _durr_ grass, which grows about six feet high. The females are hornless. The _Dibatag_ is a very graceful antelope, standing higher than an Indian blackbuck, but weighing probably a good deal less.

WALLER’S GAZELLE (_Lithocranius walleri_)

Native name, _Gerenúk_

The _Gerenúk_ is the commonest and most widely distributed of the Somáli antelopes except the little _Sakáro_, which springs like a hare from every thicket.

The long neck of the _Gerenúk_, large giraffe-like eyes, and long muzzle, are peculiar to it and the _Dibatag_ (_Ammodorcas clarkei_). The _Gerenúk_ is more of a browser of bushes than a grass-feeder, and I have twice shot it in the act of standing on the hind legs, neck extended, and fore-feet against the trunk of a tree, reaching down the tender shoots, which could not be got in any other way. Thus not only the appearance, but the habits of the _Gerenúk_ are giraffe-like. The skull extends far back behind the ears like that of a camel.

It is found all over the Somáli country in small families, never in large herds, and generally in scattered bush, ravines, and rocky ground. I think it subsists almost entirely on bushes, as it is constantly found in places deserted by oryx and all other antelopes because there was no grass. Perhaps the Gadabursi country is the best ground, but the _Gerenúk_ is almost ubiquitous and need not be specially looked for. I have never seen it in the cedar forests which crown Gólis, nor in the treeless plains which occur in the Haud. It is not necessarily found near water,—in fact, generally on stony ground with a sprinkling of thorn jungle.

The gait of this antelope is peculiar, and when first seen a buck will generally be standing motionless, head well up, looking at the intruder and trusting to its invisibility. Then the head dives under the bushes, and the animal goes off at a long crouching trot, stopping now and again behind some bush to gaze. It seldom gallops, and its pace is never very fast. In the whole shape of the head and neck, with its extended muzzle and slender lower jaw, there is a marked resemblance between the _Gerenúk_ and the _Dibatag_. The texture of the coat is much alike in both. The horns of immature buck _Gerenúk_ have almost exactly the same shape as those of the _Dibatag_. The average length of Waller’s gazelle horns is about thirteen inches. The females are hornless; they sometimes lose or desert their young ones, as I have now and then come on fawns living alone in the jungle. The _Gerenúk_ stands a good deal higher than an Indian blackbuck, but would be about the same weight.

SŒMMERING’S GAZELLE (_Gazella sœmmeringi_)

Native name, _Aoul_

Five years ago, when I was staying in the quarters at Bulhár, the _Aoul_ could be seen from the bungalow grazing out on the plain. The Bulhár Maritime Plain used to be full of them, but they have been so persecuted by sportsmen that they have now retired to some distance. The bush in the Bulhár Plain is delightful for sport when not overrun by the Somáli flocks and herds. In the _Haga_, or summer, Bulhár is nearly empty. The walking under-foot is very thorny, owing to a practice in vogue with Somális of scattering thorny brushwood about the ground across certain paths, to prevent the straying of the animals. Some of the thorns are four inches long, and soon find out a hole in the boot.

The _Aoul_ weighs about the same as the _Gerenúk_, but has a shorter neck and a more clumsy-looking head, and is altogether a coarser animal. It is a grass-feeder, and lives in the open plains or in scattered bush, and never in thick jungle, and prefers tolerably flat ground. The white hind-quarters can be seen from a great distance, making a herd look like a flock of sheep in the haze of the plains. I have never seen them in the cedar forests on the top of Gólis, but in the hartebeest ground to the south they are common, and may often be seen in very large herds along with the hartebeests, and are very common all over the Haud and Ogádén and near the Webbe.

They are, I think, the most stupid and easy to shoot of all the Somáli antelopes, and their habits are identical with those of the Indian blackbuck, but they are not equal to it in beauty and grace of movement. _Aoul_ often make long and high jumps when going away, presumably to look over the backs of the others; they look something like specimens of the Cape springbuck which I have seen in England. I have never observed them spring vertically to a great height, as the Indian blackbuck does. They are inquisitive like the hartebeests, and will follow a caravan in the open; and if fired at, they make off across the front, stretching themselves out at racing speed, and drawing up in a troop now and then to gaze.

If much meat is required, it is easy in scattered bush for a man on foot to run into a large herd and shoot several. The bucks will often be seen fighting or chasing each other at full speed. Solitary bucks are sometimes found, and I once saw about fifteen young fawns gathered together a mile away from the adult herd. The largest herd I have ever seen in the Bulhár Plain contained about two hundred individuals, but I have seen over a thousand together in the open plains of the Haud.

_Aoul_ can live a long way from water. Near the coast they often come down close to the shore, possibly to lick the salt pebbles. A wounded buck does not hide, but will lie down in the most open spot he can find, and there will generally be a circle of jackals waiting round him. They can sometimes be easily shot at dusk, when they are apt to blunder close to a caravan. The horns vary in shape, and are often malformed or wanting in symmetry, being generally lyrate, the points turning inwards and forwards. The largest pair I have seen measured seventeen inches, following the curve; the average is about fourteen inches.

THE GUBAN OR LOWLAND GAZELLE (_Gazella pelzelni_).

THE OGO OR PLATEAU GAZELLE (_Gazella spekei_).

Native name for either variety, _Déro_

The Plateau gazelle, which has the ridges of loose skin over the nose well developed, inhabits the elevated country, commencing about thirty-five miles inland. It is found south of Gólis, in Ogo and in the Haud, as well as in Ogo-Gudan, the country near Hargeisa where Guban rises gradually into Ogo.

I have shot large numbers of gazelles for food at various times, and have always noticed that the Plateau variety has a much thicker and longer coat than the other. This is possibly the result of natural selection, as the high plains of Ogo and the Haud, where it lives, are subject to sweeping cold winds, and the nights are very cold indeed. The altitude of these plains inhabited by the Plateau gazelle is from three thousand to over six thousand feet, but doubtless they go much lower towards Ogádén. The great step of Gólis, with its prolongations east and west, which rises some forty miles inland and separates Guban, the low coast country, from Ogo, the high interior country, forms the natural line of demarcation between these two gazelles.

The short-coated, light-coloured Lowland gazelle, which resembles the former in size, is found below in Guban, to the north of Gólis. I have generally observed that the gazelles of the low country carried rather longer horns than those of the Plateau gazelle, which are shorter, thicker, more curved, and better annulated. The habits of both are alike. They go in moderate herds of from three up to about ten, and are fond of stony or sandy undulating ground and ravines, thinly dotted over with mimósas. Both varieties are fond of salt, and do not want water, and it is hard to understand what they can pick up to eat in the wretched ground frequented by them. They generally avoid thick bush, and have curiosity which amounts to impudence, but are wonderfully on the alert and hard to shoot, seeming to know perfectly well the range of a rifle, and presenting a small target.

THE KLIPSPRINGER (_Oreotragus saltator_)

Somáli name, _Alakud_

These small antelopes live in the most rugged mountains, poising themselves on large boulders and leaping from rock to rock. They are neither shy nor hard to shoot. Gólis and Assa Ranges, and the hills near Gebili, are the best ground in which to look for them. _Alakud_ go in twos and threes. The longest horns I saw in Somáliland were about three and a half inches in length. The females are hornless. The coat is very coarse, resembling that of no other Somáli antelope, the hairs being almost like quills, and so loosely planted in the skin that it is difficult to preserve a specimen. The hoofs are also peculiar, being nearly cylindrical, and cup-shaped underneath, no doubt in order, by cushioning the air, to break the fall and to give an extra firm hold on the rocks.

THE “DIK-DIK” ANTELOPES

_Sakáro Guyu_ (_Madoqua swaynei_) _Sakáro Gol Ass_ (_Madoqua phillipsi_) _Sakáro Gussuli_ (_Madoqua guentheri_)

General native name, _Sakáro_

These little antelopes weigh less than an English hare, and I think _Guyu_ must be among the smallest of the antelope tribe. In all three the horns are well corrugated at the base, sharply pointed, and from one inch to three inches long. The eyes are enormously large in proportion to the size of the head.

The _Gol Ass_ (_i.e._ “red belly”) is the ordinary “Dik-Dik,” which is shot all over Guban and Ogo and in parts of the Haud and Ogádén. The _Guyu_ differs from it in being very much smaller, and having the sides of the belly yellowish gray instead of reddish yellow. It appears to be found in the localities frequented by the _Gol Ass_. In fact both have been shot indiscriminately by sportsmen under the name “Dik-Dik,” which is the term used by Europeans, who often noticed the great variation in the size of adult specimens. My attention was first called to the two native names only at the end of my last expedition, which led to the discovery that they represented distinct varieties.

I came on _Gussuli_ for the first time about a day’s journey south of Seyyid Mahomed’s village in the Malingúr tribe, and found it to exist all over the Rer Amáden country. Its range coincides nearly with that of the rhinoceros, and it is found, like the latter animal, in parts of the Haud, where its ground overlaps with the range of the _Gol Ass._ The _Gussuli_ is if anything slightly larger than the _Gol Ass_, and of a dead gray colour, with a white belly. The female appears to be much larger than the male; and it is a pretty safe rule, when trying to shoot the buck of a pair, to aim at the smaller one.

The _Gol Ass_ and _Guyu_ have short muzzles, while that of the _Gussuli_ is very long, resembling the snout of a tapir. The two former antelopes are found in pairs, seldom more than three being seen together. They give a shrill alarm whistle, uttered two or three times in quick succession, and are often a nuisance, being apt to disturb more valuable game. The _Gussuli_ start up three or four at a time, and sometimes the undergrowth seems to be alive with them. These small antelopes are very easily knocked over with a shot gun and No. 4 shot. They give good sport in the evening, when they are liveliest, especially if followed silently and fired at with a rook rifle, for they give plenty of chances when they stand to look back. The female exposes herself most, and is consequently most often shot.

All _Sakáro_ prefer broken ground, where there is good cover of low scrub or aloes, and they are never seen in open grass plains. They lie close like hares, and when disturbed dart out with successive hops, at a great pace. I have often seen about eighty _Sakáro_ in the course of a day’s march. They nibble the young shoots of the low _khansa_ and other bushes; and like to be near water, going to drink at midday and just after nightfall.

Every traveller going to Somáliland has brought back specimens of the little _Sakáro_ antelope, called by Europeans indiscriminately the “Dik-Dik,” but I had noticed that the Somális recognised three kinds—the _Guyu_, _Gol Ass_, and _Gussuli_. After my second Webbe trip I collected specimens which, with those already collected by Mr. Lort Phillips and other sportsmen, enabled Mr. Oldfield Thomas to ascertain that all three were new; and they were then described by him (P. Z. S. April 1894), and called respectively _Madoqua swaynei_, _Madoqua phillipsi_, and _Madoqua guentheri_.

THE “BAIRA” ANTELOPE (_Oreotragus megalotis_)

Native name, _Baira_

The _Baira_ antelope, which my brother and I believed to be new, was described by Herr Menges (_Zool. Anz._ xvii. 1894), and called _Oreotragus megalotis_. Specimens had been submitted by me to Mr. Oldfield Thomas, and he had pronounced it to be new a few days before Herr Menges brought his specimens forward in Germany for the purposes of description.

I first heard of it near Ali-Maan, in the Gadabursi country, among very rugged hills, in the autumn of 1891, when my brother saw two of them, but failed to get a shot. He described them as reddish antelopes, rather larger than the klipspringer, with small straight horns, bounding away among the rocks in exactly the same manner as the klipspringer.

On my last trip the Somális assured me that I should find them on Wagar Mountain and on Negegr, which is its eastern continuation, lying about forty miles south-south-east of Berbera, and rising to between six and seven thousand feet. They said it was nearly as large as an ordinary Plateau gazelle, but reddish; also that it inhabited ground similar to the klipspringer, but was shy and difficult to shoot. This no doubt accounts for no Englishman having shot one, though my brother heard of them so far back as 1891. I could not shoot one, as I had no time to go again to Wagar myself. On leaving the coast on my last trip I sent men in to look for _Baira_, offering a reward for a good head and skin of a male and female, and gave instructions to my agents in Berbera and Aden to pay the reward and to send me the specimens. Lately I received the two skins and pairs of horns from Aden, and when I submitted them for scientific investigation in London, it transpired that the antelope was new and had just been described.

GRÉVY’S ZEBRA (_Equus grévyi_)

Somáli name, _Fer’o_

Grévy’s zebra was, I believe, described by the French from a zoological garden specimen, but first shot in Somáliland by Colonel Paget and myself on our simultaneous expeditions early in 1893. I found them at Durhi, in Central Ogádén, between the Tug Fáfan and the Webbe, and about three hundred miles inland from Berbera, and shot seven specimens, all of which were eaten by myself and my thirty followers; in fact, for many days we had no other food, although this was no hardship, for the meat is better than that of most of the antelopes, and is highly prized by the Rer Amáden and Malingúr tribes.

The zebra was very common in the territory of these two tribes. The country there is covered with scattered bush over its entire surface, and is stony and much broken up by ravines; the general elevation is about two thousand five hundred feet above sea-level. Those which I saw (probably not more than two hundred in all) were met with in small droves of about half a dozen, on low plateaux covered with scattered thorn bush and glades of _durr_ grass, the soil being powdery, and red in colour, with an occasional outcrop of rocks. In this sort of country they are very easy to stalk, and I should never have fired at them for sport alone. I saw none in the open flats of the Webbe Valley, and they never come nearly so far north as the open grass plains of the Haud, Durhi south of the Fáfan being, I think, their northern limit. The young have longer coats and the stripes are rather lighter brown, turning later on to a deep chocolate, which is nearly black in adult animals.

On one occasion, after firing at one of a drove of zebras, I was sorry to find, on going up to it, that it was a female, and that its foal was standing by the body, refusing to run away, though the rest had all gone. We crept up to within ten yards of it, and made an unsuccessful attempt to noose it with a rope weighted by bullets, but it made off after the first try. We must have been quite five minutes standing within ten yards of it in the thick bush, while preparing the noose.

Zebras are very inquisitive; when we were encamped for some days at Eil-Fúd, in the Rer Amáden country, the zebras used to come at night and bray and stamp round our camp, and were answered by my Abyssinian mule. The sounds made by the two animals are somewhat similar.

WILD ASS (_Equus nubianus somálicus_)

Native name, _Gumburi_

The wild ass is common in sterile parts of Guban, especially to the east of Berbera. In Ogádén its place is taken by the zebra. It is a fine animal and has striped legs. It can scarcely be considered as fair game to the sportsman.

Leopards (_Shabél_) are very abundant in Somáliland, and are the great scourge of the shepherds. They spring into karias at night without the slightest fear, and nearly all the losses among sheep and goats are caused either by leopards or hyænas. On Gólis Range, round Mandeira, they are especially common, and it is not an unusual thing to hear them coughing by day from the shelter of some cave high up among the mountains. The sound is most like that of a saw being drawn to and fro through a plank, only much deeper, and can be heard at a great distance. Leopards are so stealthy that they are seldom seen by day. The best way to kill one is to wait about among the tribes near the foot of the mountains, and having found a karia that is particularly favoured by them, to construct a shelter and tie up a goat, preferably a half-grown one which will bleat; if the leopard charges the goat, it is best to wait till he is quietly lying over the victim drinking its blood, offering a certain shot. Another way is to find out the cave where the leopard lives, and to tie up a goat just before dusk and sit over it for half an hour.

Leopards are found in all kinds of ground, and not necessarily in hilly country. I have had them spring into my camp more than a dozen times, and once one which could not get over our high zeríba in any other way, ran along the branch of a tree under which our camp had been pitched, and dropped perpendicularly down among us, close to the goats; luckily he was driven off in time by the sentry. Many goats have been killed inside my camp by leopards.

Wart-hogs (_Phacochœrus æthiopicus_) called _Dófar_ by the Somális, are common, especially along the base of Gólis. Most of the ground which they inhabit is not suitable for hard riding, so when they have exceptionally fine tusks they are shot. The Somáli, being a good Mussulman, will neither touch a dead wart-hog nor the knife which has been used in cutting off the head; and if tempted by a fine pair of tusks to kill a wart-hog, the traveller must be ready to tackle this job himself. It is tough work skinning the head, and it is annoying to have to hang the tin box or bucket, in which the skull has been packed, daily on a camel, to say nothing of preserving the head and cleaning the skull. I have always done this work myself with as pleasant a face as possible, in spite of strong looks of disapproval from the natives; and the few curious wart-hog skulls which I have brought home well repaid me for my labour. It is worth knowing that a Midgán or a starving Somáli may sometimes be bribed to do this unclean work, provided no one is looking on and the matter is kept a secret.

Ostriches (_Goreiyu_) are occasionally seen in level plains all over the country, especially where the bush is not very thick. They are only numerous in the open prairies. They are terribly shy, and the best rifle to take in hand on seeing an ostrich is the Lee-Metford. As a rule they are seen running along at a great pace at a distance of between eight hundred yards and a mile away, having seen the human beings first. Or they stand perfectly still, with their bodies under cover and their small heads looking over the top of a bush if there is one to be found. In all our journeys my brother and I only succeeded in shooting one cock ostrich each.

In 1891, on the plain south of the Miríya Pass, my brother and I witnessed an instance of the manner in which Midgáns hunt the ostrich. We saw an ostrich and its half-grown chick walking over the bare plain, followed by an unladen camel, behind which were stalking the Midgáns. They said that they had been after the birds since the morning of the day before, and having already killed the female, hoped to get the male bird then or on the following day, and if successful they would catch and rear up the young one. Ostriches are said to be often shot by following them on horseback, the riders being placed in relays along the probable line of flight. They are kept moving by day to prevent their feeding, for they cannot see to move or feed by night, so that in a few days they become weak and are thus easily ridden down. Midgáns often keep a few of them tame, no doubt mostly caught when very young, but I have never seen ostrich farming on a large scale in Somáliland.

The spotted hyæna (_Warába_) is very common, and the striped hyæna (_Didar_) rather rare. There is a wild dog called _Yei_, which the natives say hunts in packs, but I have never seen one. Spotted hyænas prowl round the zeríba of the traveller every night, looking for scraps of meat. I have had goats carried off by them when tethered to the zeríba. Among the karias they sometimes carry off children and kill women, and men found asleep by them alone in the bush are often attacked, the face being nearly always seized and a large piece torn away. So voracious is the hyæna that it often pulls off the tail of a camel or the udder of a cow.

Crocodiles (_Jaház_) swarm in the Webbe Shabéleh river. There are a few schools of hippopotami (_Jér_) one of which had its usual abode near Sen Morettu, but I failed to find it, only coming upon the fresh tracks.

There are giraffes (_Giri_ or _Halgiri_) in the Aulihán country, three days from Burka on the Webbe, but I gave them up for the chance of going to the Arussi Gállas.[55] This differs from the South African giraffe in its markings. The South African form is more spotted; the Somáli form has lighter markings, and the patches of colour are divided into more hexagonal and sexagonal shapes, as pointed out in a letter to the _Field_ by Mr. Rowland Ward in February 1894, who there gave a description of the first one shot in Somáliland by Major C. E. W. Wood.

While on the Webbe I was informed that four buffalo (_Jámus_), all bulls, had strayed from the Geriré Gálla country through eighty miles of bush, and had taken up their abode in the forest on the Webbe banks at Sen Morettu, four years before my visit to that spot. My informant, a Gilimiss Somáli, told me that his father had killed two of them two years before with poisoned arrows, and that two remained. I found their fresh tracks, the first I had ever seen, and tried very hard for a whole day to get a sight of them. We put them up eight times at a few yards’ distance in the fearfully dense forest without once seeing them, and when we organised a drive next day they broke through the line of beaters and got away, making for the distant Gálla hills. These are the only buffalo I ever heard of in Somáliland. They are said by the Gállas to be plentiful on the Webbe Wéb, a tributary of the Juba, four days distant from Karanleh.

Baboons (_Dáyer_) are occasionally seen in the rocks round the river-beds, especially in different parts of Guban. My first meeting with these animals was an interesting experience. It was when on my first surveying expedition, and while encamped at Aleyaláleh on the Issutugan river, with an escort of Indian cavalry and mounted police, that I first saw baboons. At this spot the river cuts deeply into a plateau, forming a gully two or three hundred feet deep. A troop of some two hundred baboons came down towards evening from the cliffs, on their way to drink at the stream. Several of the old males were nearly as large as retriever dogs, and had handsome gray manes, which at dusk gave them the appearance of lions. There were several females carrying young ones on their backs, and as the long strings of baboons climbed along the narrow ledges, they kept up a hoarse barking which sounded very like language, and could be heard from a great distance echoing among the hills. They are savage brutes, and take up positions as if to dispute the passage of any one climbing the cliffs; and I have no doubt, with his long teeth and great strength, one of the old males could kill an unarmed man if so disposed.

I had given the troopers some spare cartridges to amuse themselves with, by taking shots at marks, and the native officer, who had been strolling about below the cliffs, fired a shot at an old male baboon and brought him down. I was in camp, and on hearing a hot fire going on, ran out, thinking we were attacked by raiders. It transpired that an Arab camelman had been sent up to the base of the cliffs to get the body of the baboon, and had been attacked by the whole troop from above, having to beat a hasty retreat under cover of the fire from several Sniders, and on my joining the men, another male fell to my Express, tumbling perpendicularly nearly fifty feet down the cliffs. When at last we secured the carcases, I was struck by their wonderfully human-like appearance, and I have never again brought myself to shoot a monkey. I have seen baboons scores of times since, and have never molested them, and as they soon get over their shyness and fear of man, I have been able to watch their habits closely.

Besides these maned baboons, we found in the belt of forest on the Webbe banks a maneless baboon and a small tree monkey. In parts of this forest the monkeys and baboons simply swarm. They spring about everywhere above and around the traveller, and the stench is nearly unbearable.

Among game birds the most noticeable are three varieties of the bustard tribe (_Salalmadli_), three varieties of guinea-fowl (_Digirin_), partridges, sand grouse, and a wild goose in Ogádén. Birds of prey are very conspicuous, there being at least two kinds of vultures (_Gur-Gur_) and a small black and white eagle, kites, ravens, and the great black and white carrion storks, which stand about four feet high and have very large orange-coloured beaks.

Jackals (_Dowáo_), with black and silver backs, are very common; also foxes, a small variety of hare (_Bokheila_), a badger very like the English kind, two kinds of squirrel, gray and brown (_Dabergáli_), and the curious little rock-rabbits (_Bauna_). There is a mouse-coloured animal of the ferret kind (_Shók-Shók_), which lives under the roots of trees and hunts in packs. Snakes are numerous, three kinds most often met with being an adder (_abeso_), a variegated rock snake (_abguri_), and a black snake called _muss_, all of which are said to be very deadly. There is also a lizard nearly four feet long. Among the insects may be mentioned mosquitoes (_Kan-ád_)—they are only troublesome, however, on the Webbe and in the Esa and Gadabursi countries; two kinds of gadfly; a large spider (_Hangeyu_), which produces a web almost exactly like golden silk, which can be found in any old zeríba in the Haud; scorpions, and two kinds of centipede (_Hangagári_).

APPENDIX I

ON FITTING OUT SOMÁLI EXPEDITIONS

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

EXAMPLE I.—Calculation of six weeks’ trip to Guban and Ogo—Composition of caravan, and expenses.

EXAMPLE II.—Eight weeks’ trip to the Haud and the more accessible parts of Ogádén.

EXAMPLE III.—Sixteen weeks’ trip to distant Ogádén and the Webbe—General notes on trips to the Webbe and Gállaland—Notes on caravan defence—Notes on preliminary steps, and how to engage and pay off a caravan.

For an English sportsman, Somáliland is probably the best hunting-ground in Africa. The climate is healthy, and not too hot in the higher districts; the English are universally popular, and the natives appreciate sport. The caravan, when once properly provisioned at the coast, renders one entirely independent in a country practically without villages or supplies. The game is shy and not too easy to get, which is an advantage from a sporting point of view. There is room for many simultaneous expeditions if they are only pushed into unexplored ground, and a great variety of game is found within a limited area. Above all, there is easy access to the Somáli coast from civilised parts.

I have been asked so often to give information to intending travellers to Somáliland that, for the guidance of those who contemplate visiting that country, I venture to publish the following suggestions.

It is, of course, not to be expected that every traveller can share the same views on subjects connected with the fitting out of an expedition; but by way of illustration I shall calculate a few examples of the caravans which I would myself organise for certain definite objects. Whether the intending traveller agree with me or not, he will at least gain an insight into some of the more necessary details connected with the needs and precautions attendant upon the fitting out and conducting of caravans into the interior of Somáliland.

To begin with, if there are two or more Europeans in an expedition, in my opinion each should have his own caravan complete. There are several reasons for this. Where there are two or three Europeans with a combined caravan of mixed servants, it is difficult to ensure that equal loyalty shall be extended by the Somális to each member of the party. Interests clash, and the result has, according to all I have heard, too often been a spoilt trip. In my journeys with my brother the value of distinctly organised caravans was recognised at once, and we held to this system throughout, the result being that even our servants and camelmen pulled well together, and we had no caravan difficulties.

It is convenient in safe country, when an increase of sport can be obtained thereby, for the different Europeans to separate. Thus A hears of a lion two days’ march away; B goes three days’ march in the opposite direction to search a valley believed to contain elephants; C forms a camp in the hills twenty miles away for a week’s koodoo shooting. In unsafe country, or where there is sport for all at one spot, the camps may be reunited, the dinners clubbed together, the tents pitched side by side, and the camels joined into one herd. But the distinct organisation of each caravan should be preserved, under the command of its own white leader, assisted by his Somáli headman. In this way only, with the maximum of supervision, aided by a feeling of _esprit de corps_ between the different caravans, can the maximum of work be got out of Somális.

I am against taking servants from India. They require a great deal of water, and are at enmity with their surroundings in a country where there are practically no villages nor bazaars, and where they are almost “put to Coventry” by the natives. Somális think them effeminate, saying they may be men in the town, but that they become women in the bush, especially in the waterless Haud! In our Dolbahanta journey the women ran after my Madras cook, who was dressed in flowing white with a large turban, and asked him whose wife he was! Sometimes when my brother was out of camp, the Somáli members of the expedition used to throw stones at his Punjabi “bearer,” and although a fine fellow in his own country, among the strange surroundings he used to break down, and with many tears ask to be sent to the coast. One day, when aggravated beyond all endurance by the Somális, he shouldered his bundle of brass cooking-pots and started, without food or water, to walk across a hundred miles of pathless Haud. Luckily he was tracked up and brought back into camp. It is not necessary to take Indians; for Somális, though often rather rough as servants in a civilised household, pick up their duties quickly, and are good enough for the jungle.

In fitting out a caravan, the chief factors governing the calculation are:—

(1) What is the minimum number of armed men that should be taken into the district to be visited.

(2) Whether or not the district is waterless.

(3) The duration of the trip.

As regards the first consideration, I will mention different districts, and state what escort I should take into each, assuming political conditions to be as favourable as they were in 1893. Local disturbances of course arise, but on the whole the country is becoming safer every year for Europeans. My estimate may soon be out of date; and the political authorities in Aden, who are in touch with events in Somáliland, must be consulted as to the strength of the escort. Permission must be obtained from the same authorities to enter Northern Somáliland at all.

At ordinary times I would ride about alone, though of course armed, within the area contained by lines joining Berbera, Wagar, Hargeisa, and Elmas Mountain; and in this area the natives may often be seen unarmed. As a matter of fact a sportsman would always have a few Somális in attendance, either armed with his spare sporting rifles or with their own spears. An European who went unarmed about the country would excite the universal derision of the natives, for it is their own fashion to go armed.

Outside this area, in the explored parts of the British Protectorate, I think from eight to fifteen rifles should be distributed among the followers; and on the Abyssinian border, or in the Gadabursi and Dolbahanta countries, fifteen to twenty rifles. In distant Ogádén, on the Webbe Shabéleh, and on the western Gálla border, I recommend from twenty to thirty rifles, and the same in the unexplored country along the coast east of Karam. For the nearer Gálla tribes south of the Webbe, and for the Aulihán Somális, I should take from thirty to fifty rifles. For a distant exploration into the far interior of Gállaland, likely to be inhabited by hostile natives, were I going on such an expedition, I would not take less than from fifty to one hundred and fifty rifles. These estimates are necessarily very rough, for so much depends on the number of camels to be protected and the number of white men; and in the last case I have given my opinion on evidence obtained from the Somális, and not with any personal experience of the Gálla country itself. The strongest escort I have had at any time in my Somáli trips has been about thirty rifles.

The object of these escorts in all but the last case is to guard against a possible raid by some robber band. Once, to my knowledge, in the Jibril Abokr country, an English sportsman’s camp was, during his absence, sacked by some of these rascals. At night, too, the caravan of an European might easily be mistaken for that of Somáli traders, and in case of an attack it would be awkward, not to say undignified, for the caravan to be incapable of defence. It is very unlikely that the authorities at Aden would allow any traveller to go into the interior without his having made some provision of this sort.

Hostility from any Somáli tribes, as a whole, has not entered into my calculations, because only a large escort, such as I have advised for distant Gálla explorations, could stay in the country in the face of a combined movement of the natives. Even with a large escort the country would soon be rendered uninhabitable by tampering with wells and other expedients which Somális thoroughly understand, and the traveller would be forced to retreat, or advance so rapidly to a more friendly tribe that enemies would have no time to collect. It is with the consent of the natives that we travel, because the English are popular, and no hostility need be feared except the very unlikely chance of an attack by robbers, made probably by mistake. No robbers armed only with spears would, as a general rule, knowingly attack the well-armed caravan of an European. There have, however, been one or two exceptions. The country is only really dangerous to a native traveller, and that it is so the daily police records at Berbera will show.

EXAMPLE I

We will first suppose that a single European proposes to spend six weeks travelling, purely for sport, in the explored parts of the British Protectorate, political conditions being favourable. We will assume that he does not wish to extend his wanderings far into the Haud waterless plateau. The above trip would be suitable for a sportsman from Aden having very limited leave, as those from London or Bombay would probably go farther and try unexplored ground.

The minimum number of personal servants will be as follows:—

One body servant to look after the tent and bedding, and lay out the meals. He should also be able to interpret.

One cook.

Two hunters (called, in Hindustáni, _shikáris_) to track, collect news of game, carry spare rifles, clean them, and skin and prepare specimens.

One personal camelman to lead, saddle, unsaddle, and tend the Somáli camel which will be ridden, at a walking pace, by the European traveller; this camel would be led by the camelman. Somáli camels do not trot. I have found this method of progression, though slow, irksome, and rather uncomfortable, to be very practical. Whenever game is sighted it is possible to jump off for a shot, or to fire from the camel’s back. Spare rifles, ammunition, blankets, and food can be carried, which would be impossible where a pony is ridden. A pony requires water in the Haud, whereas a Somáli camel does not. In long expeditions, where expensive arrangements are made on a large scale, it may answer to take a good Arab trotting camel from Aden. These camels, though excellent in every way, require daily grain, and water at least every second day; while Somáli camels, though incapable of trotting, have the advantage of picking up their own food by the wayside, and can, at a pinch, march without water for nearly a fortnight. If it is, however, decided to take ponies, they can be obtained nearly anywhere in Somáliland.

For this led camel mats will not do. An Arab pad saddle must be bought in Aden, and as it is sometimes difficult to procure, it might with advantage be ordered beforehand.

The following articles may be carried on the led camel which is ridden by the European:—

A pair of saddle-bags.

Haversacks containing food and spare ammunition.

Small hand camera.

A couple of spare sporting rifles.

Two or three blankets.

Large water-bottle.

Prismatic compass (if used).

It is the duty of the attendant, whom I have called the personal camelman, to see that these things are correctly packed on the camel at the beginning of a march, and safely housed in the tent on camp being pitched.

Thus, as above shown, we have five personal servants. The remaining servants will be camelmen for the baggage camels, and temporary servants who may be engaged for short periods in the interior, such as guides.

Some of the camelmen should know something of the line of proposed travel, and be able to act as guides if local guides fail.

Over all, whether personal servants or camelmen, should be placed a headman or caravan commander, who will also be interpreter and confidential adviser to his European master. He should know whichever of the three languages—Arabic, Hindustáni, or English—his master wishes to make the medium between himself and the natives. His business is to superintend the loading of the camels, select the site for the halting-place, and superintend the pitching of the new camp; to interview chiefs and natives who visit the camp, to have military command of the caravan in the absence of his master, to arrange for the relief of sentries at night, and choose the place for the zeríba and the watch-fires.

Assisted by one of the camelmen, who will have extra pay for the purpose, he should weigh out the daily rations, and be responsible for all native food, and for any game meat handed over to him by the hunters. In fact he is responsible to his master for everything that goes on in the caravan.

On this man the success of the expedition, of course, chiefly depends. Having once chosen my headman, I allow him to suit himself as regards engaging camelmen, insisting that they shall not all belong to one tribe. I always choose my personal servants myself.

In order to calculate roughly the number of baggage camels and camelmen required, it will be necessary to first estimate the number of camel-loads that would have to be carried if the rations and spare ammunition of the camelmen were left out. That is, we must first ascertain the number of camel-loads which would be a constant quantity in the calculation.

Whatever the number of baggage camels and camelmen may be, the European, the headman, and the five personal servants are a constant quantity. Three natives engaged locally in the interior may be added to this number, so without counting the baggage camelmen we have one European and nine Somális to provide rations for.

Thus we have the following camel-loads, namely,—

(_a_) 42 days’ rations for 1 European.

(_b_) 42 days’ rations for 9 Somális (with percentage for guests).

(_c_) Baggage of the European.

(_d_) Sporting ammunition, spare ammunition for 9 Somális, and extras.

We will add up these items. Let A be the resulting number of camel-loads.

By a simple calculation we can now tell how many baggage camels and camelmen we shall want.

The custom is for one camelman to look after two camels.

A camelman’s rations (with percentage for guests) for 42 days will be—

Rice 49 lbs. Dates 26 ” Ghee 8 ” His spare ammunition, say 6 ” --------- Total 89 lbs.,

or a third of a camel-load.

Thus, as one camelman looks after two camels, the weight due to his rations and ammunition will put one-sixth of a camel-load upon each of them; and so to carry five of the loads A we shall want six camels. Hence divide the number A by five and multiply by six, and we shall have the number of camels we must purchase for the caravan, and the number of camelmen we must engage to look after them will be half this.

I consider 275 lbs. a fair load of European baggage for a Somáli camel, not counting the weight of the camel-mats. All compact weights, such as dates, are difficult to carry, and 260 lbs. is a full load; while loads distributed over plenty of surface, such as rice _loghs_ or water in several _háns_, are easily carried, and so in such cases the loads may go up to 340 lbs.

If we allow 1½ camel-loads for 42 days’ rations for one European, and 2½ for his baggage (including tent, cooking-pots, spare rifles and ammunition, and so forth), 1 camel for cloth and extras, and 3 for Somáli rations, then A stands for 8, and our caravan will require by our rough calculation ten baggage camels and five camelmen.

One of these camelmen will be given a slight increase of pay, and be made _makadam_ in charge of the camels and camelmen, under the headman of the caravan.

The duties of the camelmen will be to load and unload the camels, lead them when on the march, keep guard over them when grazing, and water them when necessary.

In addition to the special duties of camelmen, servants, and hunters, every Somáli member of the expedition, including the headman, should take his share of the following duties which are necessary for the common comfort, namely,—

To carry a rifle or spear and aid in defence if necessary.

Sentry duties in camp.

Collecting firewood for the watch-fires.

Water-supply for camp use.

Forming the zeríba round the camp.

If every Somáli, without exception, is made to take his share in these duties there will be no jealousy or trouble connected with them. The European, to whom the climate is strange, should be the only man exempt from such duty; but when away from camp, with only two or three attendants, I was accustomed to take my share.

There being such a small force, it will pay to arm the eleven men with good weapons, such as Martini or Snider carbines, or Remingtons. I have also generally given or lent my men the following equipment, namely, one “kháki” drill coat, with pockets; one cartridge belt and pouch to contain an oiled rag, one brown blanket, and one cheap butcher’s knife in leather sheath. This equipment is not absolutely necessary, but it is desirable if the escort is to be smart and efficient. The cartridge belt would be made to contain thirty cartridges, of which a few would be loaded with buckshot for sentry-duty at night. It is necessary to be careful that men who may accompany their master when shooting have no white about their clothing, as it drives away game.

The headman, five personal servants, and five camelmen, eleven in all, will be the permanent party engaged beforehand, who will serve throughout the trip and return with the caravan to the coast. In addition, enough food should be carried for the following temporary servants, to be engaged locally in the interior and dismissed again as required, namely,—

Two guides, one being for the white man, to accompany him and the two hunters when out shooting; the other, who may with advantage be an influential _Akil_,[56] to guide the camel caravan.

One small boy, to look after milk goats, sheep, or donkeys, which it may be necessary to buy in the interior and drive along with the caravan. Donkeys are useful as baits for lions.

We shall require to buy twelve camels, ten being for baggage, one being for the European to ride, one being a spare camel without mats or load. About 10 per cent is a good proportion of spare camels. They are not absolutely necessary, but desirable.

We will now accurately calculate what will be the loads, and whether the ten baggage camels will be able to carry them.

The loads will come under the following heads:—

(_a_) Rations, 42 days, for 14 Somális (with percentage for guests).

(_b_) Rations, 42 days, for one European.

(_c_) Private baggage, tent, and instruments of European.

(_d_) Spare ammunition for escort, and spare sporting ammunition.

(_e_) Cloth for payments in the interior, a large cooking-pot for the men, and miscellaneous extras.

Although it is advisable to allow for a day’s water being carried on any Somáli expedition, we will neglect water-supply in the present calculation. It is fully gone into in Example II.

The rations for a caravan follower are 1 lb. rice, ½ lb. dates, and 2 oz. ghee (clarified butter) per man per diem.

The dates are sold at Aden and Berbera, compressed into a solid mass. They are very good eating even for an European, when they are fairly fresh, and they keep in good condition for a few months.

The ghee is required for mixing with the daily allowance of boiled rice. In the early days of our Protectorate the ghee ration was fixed for Government followers at 1 oz., but as nearly all the complaints and caravan troubles were traced to insufficiency of ghee, my brother and I always gave 2 oz. in our later expeditions, and then everything went smoothly. We found that the extra ounce made all the difference between a set of intriguing rascals and a cheerful, contented caravan.

It will be found in practice that the ghee disappears most quickly, being the most popular part of the ration; the dates come next, and the rice last. Dates often come in very handy when a native has to be sent on a two or three days’ errand through the bush. Half a dozen pounds of dates tied up in the free end of his tobe, with a well here and there and the shelter of a bush, will be all the board and lodging he will require for nearly a week’s outing.

It has been my custom to take into the interior a spring-balance or steelyard reading to about 90 lbs., and every fortnight to check the consumption of rice, dates, and ghee in bulk. A gallon measure and a pair of small scales should not be forgotten.

Daily at the camps several natives will appear at about meal-time as self-constituted guests. To such it should be explained politely, but firmly, that there is water in the well and grass upon the plain, but no food in camp for loafers. No work, no food, should be the rule. A present of a pinch of tobacco will then turn the applicant into a friend for life.

It is desirable to set aside a proportion, however, for necessary guests, and after calculating the rations for the members of the expedition I usually add the following:—

Rice, ⅙ Dates, ¼ Ghee, ½

The rice ration for 14 Somális for 42 days will be 588 lbs.; add ⅙ for guests, and we have 686 lbs. Rice is sold in bags containing each about 170 lbs.; and before starting on a trip each bag should, for convenience of loading, be broken up into three long sausage-shaped bags, called _loghs_. Two bags of rice, or six _loghs_, make a camel-load.

Thus we have, rice, 2 camel-loads. The dates ration for 14 Somális for 42 days will be 294 lbs.; add ¼ for guests, and we have 368 lbs.

Dates are sold by the _gosra_, weighing about 130 lbs., enclosed in a rough reed basket or bag. For convenience of transport this is divided into two parts, and two _gosras_, or four half _gosras_, go upon one camel.

Thus we have, dates, 1½ camel-loads.

The ghee ration for 14 Somalis for 42 days will be 1176 oz.; add for guests, and we have 1764 oz., or 110 lbs. The ghee is sold by the _gumba_, a goatskin bag closed at the mouth by a framework of sticks and a lump of clay. Each _gumba_ contains 25 lbs. ghee or less. We will suppose the 110 lbs. ghee is carried in five _gumbas_, weighing with their contents 145 lbs. Thus we have, ghee, ½ camel-load.

It tends to cheerfulness if a small supply of native coffee, tobacco, and salt be carried for the men. The tobacco is chewed, and the coffee is drunk before early marches on cold mornings. These extras weigh very little.

Next we have to calculate for the stores of one European for 42 days. I recommend that several wooden boxes be made, measuring about 1 foot 6 inches by 2 feet 3 inches, and 1 foot 3 inches deep, capable of being padlocked, with the cover on hinges, and two rope handles for convenience of handling. All the liquids which have to be kept in bottles may go in one box, and all the tinned and other stores in another, the pair containing a fortnight’s supply, and each loading up to about 65 lbs.

The liquids will be something like the following (a fortnight’s supply):—

Whisky 2 bottles Carbolic oil (for sores of men or perhaps camels) 1 bottle Carbolic acid, strong 1 small bottle Cocoanut oil for lamps a supply Turpentine for preparing skins about 6 bottles Oil for cleaning rifles a supply Two or three bottles of tart fruits. A bottle of pickles.

Other articles, which could be stored in bottles, would suggest themselves—

The stores will be something like the following (for one fortnight):—

Tea Coffee Cocoa Sardines Candles Matches Tinned potato Soap Pepper[57] Mustard[57] Salt[57] Potted meats Biscuits Rice Jams Swiss milk Sugar[57] Tinned butter Tinned soups Oatmeal Flour[57] Powdered alum[57] (for preparing skins) Tinned fruits

Of Swiss milk very little need be taken, as milk goats can be bought and driven along with the caravan.

Soups are most useful, and I usually take about ten tins for a fortnight.

Fresh potatoes can be bought in Aden, and will last for the first three weeks of the trip. They would go in a separate sack. Onions may be taken in the same way.

Biscuits and small tins of potted meats, provided salt kinds such as anchovy and bloaters are omitted, are useful to carry in the pocket when out for a day’s hunting. The salt kinds are of course objectionable, as they induce thirst. I seldom carried any large tins of meat. Dried game meat can always be saved, to be used in case of emergency.

I only used lamp oil for two bull’s-eye lanterns which I kept for theodolite work. They make good night referring points if fixed half a mile away. I had candle lanterns for camp use, and spring candlesticks with glass globes for the tent.

Four of these boxes, containing stores or liquors, will go on one camel.

Thus we have, European rations and stores for 42 days, 1½ camel-loads. For private baggage, tent, instruments, cooking-pots, and bedding, allow 2 camel-loads. For cloth, large cooking-pot for the men, bags of spare ammunition for sporting rifles, and extras, we will allow 1 camel-load. The men will carry thirty rounds each in their cartridge belts or pouches, and for such a short trip it will not be necessary to have more than fifty rounds per man carried in one box. A little buckshot and blank ammunition would also be carried, the latter being useful for drill and firing salutes.

Sporting ammunition should be carried in haversacks or magazines distributed about the loads, each rifle having its own bag of ammunition; and a little should be carried in a couple of haversacks on the riding camel, ready to hand. The sporting cartridges for the day’s use would be carried in the pockets of the sportsman and his two hunters. If one large box of spare sporting ammunition and one box of Snider ball ammunition be also carried, we must allow—spare ammunition, ½ camel-load.

The camel-loads for the ten baggage camels will be as follows:—

Camel-loads. (_a_) Native rations 4 (_b_) European rations 1½ (_c_) Private European baggage 3 (_d_) Ammunition ½ (_e_) Cloth and other extras 1 ---- Total 10 ====

The expenses of such a trip may be conveniently grouped as follows:—

(_1_) Purchase of tent, rifles, and kit of all sorts in London or Bombay.

(_2_) Passages to and from Aden.

(_3_) Hotel expenses in Aden.

(_4_) Purchase of necessaries at Aden.

(_5_) Passages from Aden to the Somáli coast and back.

(_6_) Purchase and sale of necessaries at the coast.

(_7_) Purchase and sale of camels at the coast.

(_8_) Petty expenses in the interior.

(_9_) Pay of men of the caravan.

Only in the case of the last four items—that is, the sums which will be actually spent in Somáliland itself—can I give estimates; but it is just in these items the local knowledge is so valuable.

The currency used at Aden and the Somáli coast ports is silver, usually rupees, or dollars (worth 2⅛ rupees); and the rupee is constant as regards purchasing power. The value of a rupee in English money can be found daily in the newspapers. When I was last at Aden a sovereign was worth about 16 rupees.

PURCHASE OF TENT, RIFLES, AND OTHER KIT

I recommend a double fly 80 lb. “Cabul” tent. Somális, who take shelter from rain under camel-mats, do not require a tent. I consider that in a comparatively dry country like Somáliland camp furniture is superfluous. My tent arrangements are very simple. Between the two tent poles five of the wooden store-boxes are placed side by side. One set of soft camel-mats (the Somáli substitute for a packsaddle) is spread over the boxes, and my blankets and pillow go over all. When marching fast I never pitch the tent at all, and in this case all the boxes are piled to windward, to form a rampart about five feet high. Camel-mats are thrown over for a roof, and the bed is spread out on the ground beneath. The mats may be thrown off when it is not raining, as in fine weather I prefer to have nothing to shut out the sky. This arrangement gives less trouble to the men, who may be tired after a long march, than pitching the tent; and it is much easier to load up for the early morning march. By day, when marching fast, I halt for three hours about noon, without pitching the tent, if two good trees are to be found.

When the tent is pitched the bed is arranged on the store-boxes, taking care that those which contain “expense stores” are not so used, as it is annoying if the cook is constantly disturbing the bedding to open boxes. Against one pole rests a jar of water, which is constantly kept cool by the wind blowing upon the porous earthenware. This jar is carried on the camels in a framework of sticks. It can be bought in Berbera for half a rupee, and the butler can be rewarded with two rupees if it is brought back to the coast unbroken. The iron tent-pegs[58] should similarly be handed to the same official, and, say, two annas given for every peg which finds its way back to the coast. The Somális, though not naturally petty thieves, cannot resist iron tent-pegs; they are easily secreted, and disposed of to jungle natives, who make spears with the iron. All cutlery if not looked after is apt to disappear in the same way. At the back of my tent I usually stood a large bucket of water and waterproof sheet, or an india-rubber bath. Table and chairs I seldom took. In case of meeting Europeans, a very fine substitute for a dining-table and chairs can be arranged by the help of the store-boxes, draped with different coloured blankets.

The first thing after the tent has been pitched, two _auss_, or smooth grass camel-mats, are laid down as a substitute for floorcloth. To the right of the bed, on the ground, are laid all small articles which may be required at a moment’s notice, including the favourite rifle and cartridge belt. At night this rifle is kept loaded, and a strip of white paper is gummed along the central rib from the back-sight to the muzzle. When a leopard jumps into the middle of the camp, or there is a “war-scare,” one or other of which incidents occurs on an average once a week in Somáliland, it is convenient not to have to waste valuable seconds in fumbling for these things in the dark. On the ground, to the left of the bed, are arranged haversacks, small camera, spare rifles, medicine bag, instruments, a pair of saddle-bags, and other such articles; and to the right of the pillow is placed one store-box, and on it a candle lantern, matches, and the favourite book, which is an absolute necessity for camp life. For the spare clothing, books, spare instruments, stationery, and other articles, I recommend strong tin uniform cases, or steel trunks, instead of leather trunks, because they can be left out in the rain without damage. Leather trunks are soon pulled out of shape by the loading ropes, and are liable to be utterly ruined by white ants in a single night. The tin cases may be painted white with ship’s paint; when painted black they absorb the sun’s rays and bake everything inside. Photograph plates and other very perishable articles should be carefully packed to avoid damage from excessive heat, the sun’s rays being so powerful; for instance, at noon in Guban a rifle barrel, if left lying exposed, very soon becomes too hot to touch.

The sporting battery which I should take were I now fitting out an expedition, would be—

One double .577 Express rifle (with 250 cartridges for six weeks).

One double 8-bore Paradox ball gun (with 150 ball cartridges and a few buckshot).

One double 12-bore Paradox ball gun (with 100 ball, 200 shot).

One single Lee-Metford .303 rifle (with 300 rounds).

The cartridges would be filled and soldered up in tin in convenient quantities by the gunmaker who sold the rifles. I have never taken the trouble to load rifle cartridges; a good maker will load them well, and if soldered up they will keep for years. I believe most of the letting off and wounding of game is due more to the inability to get close enough than to defects in rifle or cartridges. For the open plains, when the game is shy, the Lee-Metford will be very useful. The grass is often so short that shots may be taken on the back position. Every shot knocks up a puff of dust, enabling one to correct one’s aim. In the case of an antelope the neck should be aimed at, so that the animal will be missed or killed; and a very deadly shot is obtained when the animal is standing head on, so as to present the length of the body to a raking bullet. If the distance be very great, the animal will, if unwounded, stand for several shots. In this way, managed with science, long shots are not unsportsmanlike, and I must confess to a feeling of pleasure when an almost black bull hartebeest, whose horns have been admired at leisure through the telescope, and who has been standing four hundred yards away thinking himself out of range, drops stone dead as if struck by lightning after a few unsuccessful shots. To fire at random into a herd, unless meat is urgently required, of course is utterly indefensible.

In buying rifles there is a great choice of good makers. Personally I have nearly always gone to Messrs. Holland and Holland for my rifles and ammunition, and have been perfectly satisfied with the way in which I have been treated. Their eight-bore Paradox ball gun I consider the best weapon in the market for heavy game such as elephant or rhino. I had a four-bore rifle with fourteen drs. and hard spherical ball, but found that the conical steel-core projectile of the eight-bore gave greater shock and penetration.

Snider carbines are useful weapons for the escort, and it may be noted that the ammunition makes excellent practice at short ranges when fired out of a .577 Express. This can be done if the chamber happens to be of the right shape, and the knowledge has been useful to me more than once, although whether such a proceeding is good for the rifle is questionable. A revolver or pistol is a useful weapon to carry, especially if one wanders about in the bush alone. I recommend, if a double _shikár_ pistol be taken, that one of about .577 or twelve-bore be chosen, with one trigger for both barrels on the Lancaster principle. When after lion or leopard, and not well backed up by the gunbearer, a situation may arise where such a pistol would be handy. In a home charge the rifle would be knocked out of the hands, but the pistol, being on the belt, would always be ready. I have known two cases of a native trying to beat off a lion with his bare hands. One man was successful and the other lost his life. I feel sure that in the latter case a good pistol would have made all the difference. It is worth remembering that when buying a Lee-Metford rifle of military pattern, the bayonet should be supplied with it, as it is a perfect _shikár_ knife for the belt.

In disturbed country, where an attack by robbers may be apprehended, the eight-bore Paradox gun loaded with S.S.G. slugs would be a good night weapon to rely upon. I therefore recommend that a few cartridges be so loaded for this and the twelve-bore. Among the .577 Express bullets should be about 10 per cent of hardened solid bullets. They may be very useful in finishing off heavy game.

When after thick-skinned game, such as elephant or rhino, I think the Lee-Metford would be a useful rifle, provided a quiet head shot could be obtained with the animal standing still, both barrels of the double eight-bore being kept in reserve for use if it should get into motion. Although I have always believed in large-bore rifles, I think there is a great future in store for the very small bores of the Lee-Metford class, having a long bullet and plenty of powder. Although the section is so small, the great remaining velocity of the Lee-Metford bullet causes a considerable shock to the animal, especially if the latter has been standing end on, and the bullet has raked forward for some distance. I consider the Lee-Metford about the best rifle for oryx-shooting in uninhabited country, and have in my latter trips had great success with it. I used the ordinary military cartridge.

With each of the sporting rifles there should be a good strong magazine bag, which can be slung over any of the laden camels. Half the spare ammunition would be carried in this way, while the rest of the spare ammunition for all the sporting battery would be packed in one box, weighing about 50 lbs. Several leather or canvas haversacks should be made to carry food and small articles.

For the Snider carbines I recommend that for a six weeks’ trip thirty rounds per man be carried in the belts, with a few rounds of buckshot for the use of sentries; besides this belt ammunition, about fifty rounds per man would be in a box, and some blank ammunition for skirmishing drill and complimentary displays. If it is proposed to give the men much ball practice while in the interior, more ball ammunition should of course be taken. I strongly recommend an hour of target practice once a week, in some deep river-bed with precipitous banks, if the men are to be of any use as an escort. A pair of compasses, a bundle of thin lathes, a dozen screws and a screwdriver, half a quire of cartridge paper, packet of drawing pins, and some ink pellets, are all that is required to be taken to make very good targets. When the men have been well grounded in ball practice it will be interesting to pile up stones to the height of a man and bring them down with a crashing volley at a hundred yards. The men take a lively interest in the shooting and drill, and a list should be kept of good, bad, or indifferent shots, so that the fact may be endorsed on their written characters when they are dismissed at the coast.

Some form of hand camera is invaluable, I suggest that no large camera be used, nor chemicals, but that small photographs be taken with the hand camera and developed and enlarged on return to England.

When ordering clothes it should be remembered that Somáliland can be extremely hot and also very cold. I recommend that thin “kháki” drill be the usual costume, and that a good thick ulster be taken for cold night-marches or for sitting up over a “kill.” A few pairs of red rubber or cotton-soled shoes are useful for stalking koodoo and other game inhabiting stony ground. Above all, a really good sun hat is a necessity.

Information regarding the cost of passages to and from Aden can be obtained at any shipping offices, so I will merely remark that it takes about three weeks to get to Aden from London by sea, or about thirteen days if advantage be taken of the overland train to Brindisi. But in the latter case only a small hand-bag could be taken, baggage having previously been sent round by sea. There is generally great trouble about the shipping of loaded cartridges, and they should be sent on ahead.

When staying at an hotel in Aden I usually went to the Hotel de L’Europe, in the Crescent, Steamer Point. The accommodation at all the hotels in Aden is very primitive. So far as I can remember, board and lodging in Aden would come to between 7 and 14 rupees per diem.

At Aden the following articles, if considered necessary, may be purchased or made to order:—

Coats for the men, of “kháki” or drab-coloured drill (3 rupees), cartridge belts to contain thirty rounds (1 rupee), also pouches (½ rupee), brown blankets for followers (3 rupees). Six wooden boxes to contain stores or liquors, as before described, can be made in the bazaar for between 1 and 2 rupees each, or they may be obtained in London with a fortnight’s supplies in each box. If a camel-pad is required it can be got in Aden for 10 rupees.[59]

The two Parsi firms with which I have had most dealings are Messrs. Pallonjee Dinshaw and Messrs. Cowasjee Dinshaw Bros., both of the Crescent, Aden. The latter is probably the larger firm, and does a great deal of business with the shipping passing through Aden. But when I have not had time to get what I wanted from one I have tried the other. Cowasjee is in correspondence with Mr. Mahomed Hindi, a Hindustáni merchant permanently living in Berbera; and Pallonjee is also accustomed to do business with the Somáli coast.

All information concerning passages to and from the Somáli coast can be obtained by applying to either of the two Parsi firms named. Two coasting steamers visit the coast ports of Berbera, Bulhár, and Zeila once a week each. The usual charge was 20 rupees for one European and his baggage, and 5 rupees for each native.

Under the heading of purchase and sale of necessaries at the coast will come the following:—

Purchase before Sale on leaving coast. return.

Rupees. Rupees. 11 sets of _hério_, or camel-mats 35 12 11 leather loading ropes 11 3 9 native axes 5 2 6 _hangol_, or wooden crooks 2 1 4 knives for cutting camel-rope 2 .. Several bundles of common loading rope 10 2 20 iron tent-pegs 5 .. Cloth for payment in interior 150 .. Cash for payment on journey (in small silver) 100 .. Rations for Somális:— Rice, 4 bags 36 .. Dates, 3 _gosra_ 22 .. Ghee, 5 gumba 50 .. Extras 10 .. --- --- Total 438 20 === ===

Thus we have 418 rupees expenditure after deducting the proceeds of the selling-off auction, so that 450 rupees should well cover expenses under this head; the _hério_ are the sets of camel-mats which are the Somáli substitute for a packsaddle. Three _auss_, or grass mats, and one _kibit_, or soft bark mat, make a complete set.

The axes are for cutting brushwood for the zeríba, and some of them may be made specially heavy for cutting out ivory. Good axes from England might be useful for this purpose.

The _hangol_ are crooked sticks used for pulling about thorny brushwood.

The cloth required might be made up of:—

3 _Khaili_, or coloured tobes at 7 rupees 21 rupees 8 _Bafta_ tobes ” 2⅛ rupees 17 ” 56 _Merikáni_ tobes ” 2 rupees 112 ” ----------- 150 rupees ===========

The purchase of twelve camels will cost about 480 rupees, and their sale at the end of the trip (allowing for one death) will produce about 330 rupees.

The petty expenses in the interior have been provided for by 150 rupees worth of cloth and 100 rupees in cash, already included under the heading of expenses in Berbera. A common native engaged for a day’s work will usually get 8 annas or the equivalent in cloth. Presents for game bagged may be given according to taste, from 30 rupees for a good bull elephant to 20 rupees for a lion, or 4 rupees for a bull oryx. The present for one animal should be distributed among those who aided in bringing it to bag, however slight their services; in fact, for a good trophy it has been my custom to reward slightly every member of my caravan. A sheep costs from 3 to 4 rupees; a heifer about 15 rupees; a camel, 20 to 40 rupees (either for the butcher or transport); a pony, 60 rupees and upwards; a goat for the butcher, 1½ to 2 rupees; a milk goat, 5 to 8 rupees; a donkey, 12 rupees. The latter animal is a long way the best for tying up at night as a bait for lions, as the lion likes no flesh better, and the loud bray attracts any that may be near. A white goat, which is young enough to bleat, is the best bait for a leopard.

The pay for the men of the caravan for six weeks will be approximately as follows:[60]—

Rate per month. Rupees. Rupees. 35 1 caravan leader or headman 52½ 25 1 butler 37½ 25 1 cook 37½ 30 1 hunter 45 20 1 assistant hunter 30 17 1 groom, or personal camelman 25½ 15 4 baggage camelmen 90 18 1 _makadam_, or head camelman 27 15 2 guides (engaged temporarily) 45 12 1 sheep-boy (engaged temporarily) 18

Shooting presents may be paid for from the cash and cloth taken to the interior.

At the close of the trip a parting present will be expected by each man. Add 15 per cent 62

Add pay of headman, butler, and cook, for a week before and a week after the trip, to help in organising and breaking up the expedition 43 ---- Total 513 ====

Thus, the money spent in Somáliland itself for a six weeks’ trip should be in round numbers as follows:—

Rupees. Purchase and sale of necessaries at coast, and expenses on trip 450 Purchase and sale of camels 330 Pay of men of the caravan 520 ---- Total 1300 ====

Of this expenditure, part will occur when starting and part when breaking up the caravan at the close of the trip. The whole of this money should be placed in the charge of a native merchant or banker at Berbera, and any Somáli follower may then be paid off either at the coast or in the interior by an order for the necessary sum, written on a scrap of paper.

EXAMPLE II

We will assume that one European is going to travel for two months, purely for sport, in the Haud and the most accessible parts of Ogádén. The distance across the Haud by the usual road from Hargeisa to Milmil is covered in five and a half days, going two marches a day, and for all journeys going far into the Haud, or crossing to Ogádén, arrangements should be made for carrying at least seven days’ water. To the east of Milmil the Haud becomes much wider. From the experience of eight journeys across the Haud, I have found that a gallon per man per diem for all purposes is the proper allowance for a Somáli who is on ordinary rations, a gallon and a half for a native of India, and two gallons for an European. Half of the water is used by the Somáli for boiling with his rice, the other half for drinking; and it is a thing worth knowing that if his ration is of camel meat instead of rice, he will be perfectly satisfied with half a gallon per diem for all purposes. For the purposes of our calculation, however, we will allow a gallon per diem, because an eating camel is not always to be had, and a full day’s halt is necessary to enable the men to cut up and sun-dry the meat, causing vexatious delay. The Somáli, although he bathes at every pool where water is to be had, does not try to wash in the Haud. It is comforting, however, for an European or native of India to keep up the appearance of cleanliness so far as a damp sponge and a little water in a saucer will permit.

Somáli camels require no water for any march under ten days, and can do longer at a pinch. If water is plentiful they would be watered every five days or so. Donkeys, sheep, and goats should have a few pints every second day, and Somáli ponies should have about two gallons per diem, or four gallons every second day, though at a pinch they can go, according to the natives, from three to four days without water. Of course with an ordinary caravan this cruelty is unnecessary.

On one trip I took an Arab pony from India for three and a half months. He did excellently, and was faster and up to more weight than Somáli ponies. But he, of course, required grain and a much larger allowance of water than a Somáli pony. I think we carried for him five gallons per diem. If an Arab riding camel be imported from Aden, it must be remembered that it is ordinarily accustomed to drink at least once a day, and in the Haud must be given four gallons every second day.

As regards transport of water, a full load for a camel is two 12-gallon casks; a gallon of water weighs 10 lbs., and there is the weight of the casks to take into account.

In order to calculate the number of baggage camels and camelmen required, we shall have to add up the number of camel-loads coming under the following headings:—

Camel-loads. Rations for 9 natives for 56 days (with percentage added) 4½ Rations, 56 days, 1 European 2 Private baggage of European 3 Spare ammunition for European and for 9 of the escort 1 Cloth and extras 1 Water for 1 European and 9 natives for 7 days (assuming no animals but Somáli camels are taken across the Haud) 3½ --- Total 15 ===

The rations for 56 days for one camelman (with percentage added) will be 66 lbs. rice, 38 lbs. dates, 10 lbs. ghee; add his spare ammunition 5 lbs., and water for 7 days 70 lbs., and we get a total of 189 lbs., or about ⁸/₁₁ of a camel-load.

By a calculation similar to that employed in Example I., we shall find that the number of camels required will be 24, and the number of baggage camelmen, 12.

The composition of our caravan will therefore be as follows:—

1 European. 1 headman. 5 personal servants.

(3 temporary jungle servants engaged from day to day will be allowed for in the pay, ration, and water estimate, though they will not start with the caravan.)

12 camelmen.

24 baggage camels; 1 Somáli camel to ride; 2 spare camels. Total, 27 camels.

This is what the preliminary calculation has given us; and when the loads have all been accurately worked out in detail it will probably be found that the 24 baggage camels can carry them.

In calculating the ammunition I am assuming that every permanent member of the caravan can shoot and will be provided with a rifle. It is a good rule to go by, although not always absolutely necessary, provided suitable escorts for different districts are taken.

To those whom I know to be unused to firearms I issue no ball ammunition till they have had several lessons in skirmishing drill with blank ammunition, and a certain amount of target practice. The laws of blood-feuds are too serious to be disregarded, and therefore a Somáli has a wholesome fear of letting off his rifle by accident. I have found that when once they have been properly taught they can be trusted with ball ammunition.

EXAMPLE III

A trip of four months to distant parts of Ogádén, and to the Webbe Shabéleh river. In this case we will add a pony or mule and two fast Arab camels, luxuries which it may be worth while taking on a long trip.[61] Unlike the Somáli ones, the Arab camels each require about 7 lbs. _jowári_ grain per diem. It can be bought in Aden or Berbera, and costs rather less than rice. There will in this case be six personal servants instead of five, as the two Arab camels will require one man, and the pony will require a groom (_syce_ in Hindustáni). I have also slightly increased the European baggage on account of ammunition and trade goods.

As a basis for our rough calculation we shall have:—

Camel-loads. Rations, 10 natives, 12 days 10 Rations 1 European 2 Private European baggage 4 Spare ammunition for 10 natives and 1 European 1½ Cloth and trade goods and extras 2 Water for 1 European and 10 natives; and for 2 Arab camels, 1 pony, 1 donkey, 2 milk goats (19 gallons, 7 days) 5½ 4 months’ grain for 2 Arab camels 4 --- 29 ===

A man’s rations for 112 days (with percentage added) will be:—

130 lbs. rice 70 ” dates 20 ” ghee add ammunition 10 ” water 7 days 70 ” ---- 300 lbs. ====

Say 1⅟₁₁ camel-loads.

By another calculation similar to those previously employed, we shall find that we would want 64 camels and 32 baggage camelmen.

Thus we have our caravan composed as follows:—

1 European. 1 headman. 1 personal camelman. 1 _syce_. 1 cook. 1 butler. 2 hunters. 32 baggage camelmen. 3 temporary jungle servants. -- Total 42 Somális, 1 European.

2 Arab trotting camels. 1 pony for European. 64 baggage camels. 6 spare camels.

In my last trip to the Webbe, occupying three months, I had 55 camels and 30 men. The trip cost me about £300 altogether.

The expenses can be calculated on the lines of Example I. There will, however, be certain modifications.

Somális have a prejudice against going to the Webbe. They have great fear of fever and mosquitoes; and they have a great dread of Gállaland. They will, therefore, expect higher pay to go to these countries. On my last trip my ordinary camelmen, who would take 15 rupees per month for trips in Guban, Ogo, Haud, and Ogádén, would take nothing less than 18 rupees throughout the journey if we reached the Webbe, and 20 rupees if we reached the Gálla tribes. Circumstances have combined to place all Somáli wages at a very high figure. The pay of an Indian body servant is in India about 10 rupees per month, but if taken to Aden, the same man requires double pay, or 20 rupees per month. The Somáli, who is trained to domestic service in Aden, naturally says he will not take less than the Indian who does the same work. The Somáli at Berbera requires the same wages which he has been accustomed to get at Aden, and similar causes, together with intense laziness, independence, and avarice combined, tend to raise the price of labour in Somáliland.

If Somális are really starving, they have only to make their way somehow to the karias of their own tribe, and they will be kept in board and lodging, for up country every fighting man is worth his keep.

The Arab trotting camels, which I have recommended, could be bought in Aden, including light coolie saddles (without stirrups), for about 170 rupees each. Great care should be taken in choosing these animals, an Arab expert who can be trusted being employed. The attendant for these camels should be a Somáli accustomed to them. There are many Somális who have served in the Berbera camel police who have this qualification, but an ordinary Somáli knows nothing about them. Besides _jowári_ and water at regular intervals, about a quart of sweet or other suitable oil per month should be carried for each trotting camel. It is a peculiarity of these camels that a large maggot is often found filling up the nostril, and when it becomes so large as to impede breathing the nostril is drenched with oil, and the maggot, sometimes half an inch thick and over an inch long, tumbles out.

In a long trip, such as is given in Example III., a rapid survey of the route would probably be made. I recommend the following instruments:—

Boiling-point thermometer and aneroid barometer. Common thermometer. Note-books. 6-inch transit theodolite. Prismatic compass and stand. First-class astronomical watch. Two common watches.

I found the theodolite infinitely more handy than the sextant, and think the traverse, often at the rate of twenty-five miles a day, too rapid for comfortable plain table work. The tribesmen, too, would probably object to the imposing plain table and strained square of paper. The theodolite is also an imposing instrument, but it would be most used for star observations at night, when natives would be away from camp. Of the smaller instruments, duplicates should be taken. Instructions on surveying are to be found in the Royal Geographical Society’s publication, _Hints to Travellers_, and practical lessons in this and other special subjects are given under the auspices of the same Society.

When arranging for an expedition in which water has to be carried, 12-gallon casks should be taken out to Aden, or bought beforehand in Aden by letter. It will be advantageous to be able to padlock them, and for the bunghole to be large enough for a man’s arm to be passed in when cleaning the cask. I recommend common casks, for I have taken different shapes of specially-designed water-vessels suited (in theory) for camel transport; but Somális, who are good judges, say camels do well with a pair of large common casks. It is worth remembering that wooden or plaited bark water _háns_, carrying on an average seven gallons, are always to be had at Berbera (costing about 4 rupees). They go four to six on a camel, and being light, twenty-eight gallons can easily be carried in one load. But owing to incessant leakage, and to breaking, through the falling of camels and knocking against trees, there is a very great loss of water. On the other hand, if the casks are good, one is sure of the twenty-four gallon load, and the supply can be accurately controlled. Casks should be filled with water over-night and allowed to stand by the well side before a long waterless journey, so that the wood of the casks may have time to swell. Casks which have lost no water by morning may be trusted, and those which have leaked should be filled again and marked, so that they may be the first to be drawn upon on the march.

In one of my long trips I took forty-four water _háns_, but they caused so much vexation through leakage and so much expense for repairs, that I resolved never to use them again when I could get casks. They are, however, always to be had at Berbera, if casks have been forgotten. In buying _háns_ it should be noted that drinking water for Europeans should be carried in wooden _háns_, as they taint the water much less than the bark ones. I recommend, for water-bottles, common quart whisky-bottles, which can be slipped into a leather case provided with a sling, so that it can be carried by one of the hunters. It is very convenient to have in addition half a dozen flat water-bottles made to contain a gallon each, of tin covered with thick leather; one of these could be carried on the camel which is ridden. These would, of course, most easily be made in a civilised country.

On the Webbe Shabéleh a little _jowári_ grain can generally be purchased at the villages, though the natives, I believe, only grow it for home consumption and not for export. I would never count on getting either _jowári_ or ghee in the interior, as every purchase of this kind means a vexatious delay, and exorbitant prices are demanded. Milk is obtainable in abundance at every karia; and, as a special favour, if it is asked for, the natives will produce fresh butter as good as that sold in England when not tainted by the wooden cup of the natives. It soon becomes sour, and it should not be counted on as a supply. I always keep two milk goats to supply milk for my own use. Somáli cow’s milk is generally allowed to get sour and much tainted by the bark vessels. Good milk may be got by sending a clean bucket for it, and having the cow milked into it.

Besides the tobes mentioned in the estimates for Example I., the following are useful minor presents in Somáliland:—

Looking-glasses.

Beads. (These should be chosen by a Somáli and bought in Aden or Berbera.)

Clasp knives.

Red shawls. (These are very much in request, and are picked to pieces and made into tassels for saddlery ornaments. They can be bought in Aden for ¼ rupee each.)

Korans or Mahomedan Bibles, which cost from 1 rupee to 3 rupees in Aden, are good presents for mullahs.

_Tusbas_, or praying chaplets, of ebony or sandalwood, ½ rupee to 1 rupee, procurable in Aden.

Files for sharpening spears.

Coloured handkerchiefs.

Red blankets or coloured plaids. (These and common brown blankets make good presents for important natives, and are always useful to have about the tent.)

In choosing presents it must be remembered that Somális, being very sensible people, will not be burdened in their nomad life with unnecessary articles, and will not be satisfied with glittering but useless things which might pass among negroes. Each present must be really good and useful. A Somáli will examine a gift blanket very critically.

Presents and trade articles for Gállaland can be got in Aden, and should be chosen by a Somáli or Gálla expert, who knows something of the districts to be visited. _Wiláyati_ (European) cotton cloth, something similar to _Merikáni_ (American), but narrower and half the price, is there the most useful kind.

If it is intended to cross the Webbe, a rope (say 2 to 3 inches in circumference and 60 fathoms long) should be taken to be stretched across the river. At Karanleh the river is some 90 yards wide, except in flood time. When this rope has been stretched across the river, the native rafts can be attached to it by running loops made of bruised creeper, and the rafts pulled to and fro hand over hand. The rope enables a caravan to cross in one day, whereas without it the passage might occupy seven days. Such a rope is easily obtainable in Aden, and weighs 40 to 60 lbs.

On very important and distant expeditions it may be worth while to take a folding boat, in order to be independent of the avaricious river negroes, who will strike for higher wages if they think you depend on their help.

When fitting out an expedition which may in the course of the journey have to change to mule or human transport, as would occur at Harar or in parts of Gállaland, it may be worth considering whether the loads should not be capable of subdivision. Thus the boxes I have recommended for holding European stores, if not very full and made a little lower, would weigh about 55 lbs. Four of these would conveniently go on a camel, two on a mule, one on a man.

I have said that “no work, no pay” should be the rule for jungle tribesmen, but in the wilder parts of Somáliland it has hitherto been the custom for passing caravans to make small presents to the heads of clans for the privilege of going through the country. This payment is something similar to the Masai _hongo_. The usual etiquette is for a dozen horsemen or so to arrive from a distance and perform equestrian games (_dibáltig_); afterwards the performers and one or two elders are given presents, and then the caravan is free to go on its way. In the territory of tribes which I know I make the present very small, say one red shawl and half a tobe to each horseman, and I give a display with blank cartridge with the men formed up in skirmishing order, as a return compliment, which is always highly appreciated.

In expeditions to Ogádén and Gállaland I recommend that Sheikh Mattar of Hargeisa, if met with on the way, be asked to write Arabic letters of introduction to Mahomedan sheikhs and mullahs. He is widely known, and has often helped me in this way. He has also assisted me by taking care of loads which I have had, on occasions, to leave temporarily at Hargeisa.

Sometimes it may be worth while to hire extra camels (at 1 rupee per diem for a camel and ½ rupee for a man) for the first few days of a journey. In my calculation I make no allowance for trophies, because of course as a trip goes on the food-loads lighten.

As regards arrangements for the security of a caravan, I consider that unless the escort is well in hand and thoroughly up to its duties it will be worse than useless when an emergency arises. I do not believe in engaging a certain proportion of the men for the special purpose of forming the escort. If so engaged they will refuse to do all other work, and will give themselves airs over the camelmen and servants. I have tried the system, and found it lead to jealousy and the shirking of duties.

In most of my expeditions I have engaged my men as headman, camelmen, servants, and guides, having first explained that every Somáli of the caravan will take his share in the common defence. When I have been making up my caravans I have first calculated the number of servants I require, and have engaged them myself satisfying myself on the spot that each either understands the use of a rifle or is capable of soon learning it. The headman has been present, so that if he has any personal objection to any of the men he may state it. I have then told the headman to bring up for engagement the number of camelmen I require, allowing him to choose his own friends; and if I find that any of these are unfit to be trusted with firearms I discard them, and tell the headman to bring others in their place. To each man I explain the special duties he is engaged for, and the duties which he will share with all the members of the caravan, and ask if he is satisfied. When the men have all been engaged at the coast I appoint a time of parade and a convenient spot on the shore, and each man fires two or three rounds of ball ammunition at a mark, under my superintendence. The ball ammunition should be brought to the spot in a bag, not served out to the men. In fact I seldom serve out any ball ammunition till the caravan has made about two marches from the coast. If it is a large amount it may be taken out for this distance on a hired camel.

After these first few shots at a mark I hold two or three parades, serving out ten rounds of blank ammunition per man at each, and practise the men in skirmishing.

The rough drill which I have always used is as follows:—

The men form up in line about half a pace apart, with carbines held perpendicularly in the right hand and close to the side (the carbine “shoulder”).

On the word “Advance” all run forward steadily, keeping a fairly good line.

On the word “Halt” they drop to a sitting position (squatting naturally, as natives do, on both heels).

“Ready”—the men load with blank cartridge.

“Present”—the aim is taken.

“Fire”—the trigger is pressed.

“Advance”—the men run forward again, taking care to take out any unexploded cartridge or to open the breech.

“Halt”—they sit as before, and wait for the word “Ready” or “Advance.”

It might be advisable, if actually attacked when on the march, to retire upon the camels the better to protect them; so the men should be practised in retiring steadily and sitting down facing the enemy to fire, on the words “Retire” and “Halt.” The Somáli should in all these practices be told the supposed direction of the enemy, and also that whenever he is given the word “Halt” he is to squat down facing the enemy. I always carry a good whistle; and when the men are advancing, retiring, or halted ready for firing volleys, I sound an alarm on the whistle, and train the men to run to me and form a rough double circle round me, outer circle squatting on their heels, inner circle standing. We then fire volleys, the idea being that the enemy is trying to overwhelm the escort by a rush to close quarters.

On the word “Advance” the men run out in a rough line facing the enemy. It is wonderful how quickly Somalis get to understand the few English words of command which are necessary, and how well they grasp the idea in each movement. This is because they are brought up from childhood among raids and skirmishes.

The headman, if he is any good, will soon learn to command the men at drill, and he should be often practised in this. The men take the greatest delight in these drills, especially if plenty of blank cartridge is given them, and when it is desirable to gain the firm friendship of a tribe and at the same time to impress the tribesmen with the efficiency of the escort, there is nothing like giving a display of this kind.

During the first few days’ march from the coast, when in uninhabited country, I accustom the men to run out quickly to defend the line of camels. Moving out to the front, flank, or rear, I blow the alarm whistle, and the men run out and sit down in line, facing the supposed enemy. A few of the worst shots should be told off permanently, their duty being to stay among the camels and guard and look after them, so that the bulk of the men will be free to attack the enemy. This duty of holding camels in an emergency is not popular, and this will be an incentive to the men to try and shine at the target practices.

The natural habit of Somális when marching with a caravan is for the two or three camelmen who are required to lead the strings of camels to be with them, while the bulk of the men either lead the way or lag behind with the last camel. The camel _makadam_ should be among these, and whenever a camel falls or shifts its load it is Somáli etiquette for every man near to run up to its assistance. It is not generally necessary, therefore, except in very disturbed country, to tell off a rear-guard, and I do not believe in constantly worrying tired men with theories when things are practically going on well.

In very disturbed country it is advisable to make only one long march in the morning, and to devote the afternoon to fortifying the camp with a good zeríba. While it is still daylight every man should be shown his place in case of a night alarm, and at dusk, having first given notice to the men, the alarm whistle should be blown, and they should jump to their places and then be dispersed. When night falls it is the duty of the headman to see the watch-fires lit and to post the sentry or sentries required. The fires should be outside the zeríba, and screened by it, or by a bush, from the eyes of the sentry. If the glare of the fire is in his face he will not be able to see out into the darkness.

The relief of sentries, and all arrangements connected with them, are best left to the headman. I found that Somális, once posted, as a rule make very faithful and reliable sentries. The usual challenge is, “_War kumá?_” (Who’s there?)

By day it is not usually necessary to keep a sentry, but there are two occasions when Somális are particularly off their guard. First, at about 8 P.M., if they are grouped together eating camel meat and shouting to one another, so that nothing else can be heard; secondly, between 1 and 2 P.M., when they are generally all asleep, scattered under the shade of different trees outside the camp. If I had the conduct of an attack on Somális, I would choose one of these occasions for effecting a surprise.

The zeríba can be arranged in many ways, the principle being that it should be low enough to fire over and wide enough to prevent a rush. The zeríba of the Somáli nomads, which is often twelve feet high, shuts out all view of the outside ground, and is only a trap for men armed with rifles. From four to five feet high and twelve feet wide is a good zeríba. The great difficulty is where to place the camels, and Somális are prejudiced in favour of a circular zeríba with the camels occupying the centre, which would not, I should say, be the European way. When the camels are out grazing, or a few are sent with empty casks to a distant well, enough men with firearms should be with them to defend them, if necessary, and one man should be placed in command.

It often occurs in bush country that men lose themselves, and guiding shots are required, especially at night. The men should have blank ammunition for this purpose, and should be fined for every ball cartridge wasted in this way or fired indiscriminately at game. Firing at game by men of the caravan, except under special circumstances, should be strictly prohibited, as it causes danger to any natives or live stock that may be about in the bush, and may land the traveller in a troublesome blood-feud. Men who are paid off and sent to the coast towards the end of a trip, or who are sent down in charge of camels, should, if they are trustworthy, be allowed to take their rifles with them, and they should be given cheques for their back pay, arrangements having been made so that the cheques will not be honoured till the rifles have been safely given up. It is not fair to expect a man to go through the territory of strange tribes without his rifle, or, at any rate, a spear and something to show that he is the servant of an Englishman.

If I were organising a Somáli expedition I would begin by writing to the authorities at Aden mentioning where I wished to go, and asking whether political conditions were favourable, whether I would be allowed to enter the country through British ports,[62] and what escort I should be required to provide myself with. I would, at the same time, write to one of the Aden firms which I have named for information regarding the times of sailing of coasting steamers. The securing of a headman, on whom so much depends, may be seen to at the same time; the most reliable quarter to go to for information on this point would probably be friends who have already been a trip and can nominate a man. The name of a reliable headman, who is available, having been obtained, he should be ordered to meet the intending traveller at Aden on a named date.

Meanwhile all such articles as coats, cartridge belts, store-boxes, or Arab camel-saddle, which, if wanted at all, have to be made to order, may be prepared by the Parsi firms. On arrival at Aden the traveller, having already prepared a list of the number of men, camels, and caravan kit he will require, can procure them with the help of the headman. It may be advisable, if time is limited, for the headman to be sent to Berbera (I am assuming Berbera as the starting-point) to buy camels, camel-mats, axes, and other caravan kit, and have them ready by the time his master comes out to Aden, the funds being provided for the headman through the Aden firm acting as banker.

The simplest course, and one I have generally adopted, has been to go over to Berbera, stay in camp there four or five days, and to purchase camels and necessaries myself, with the assistance of the headman. If, however, more than forty camels are wanted, this may involve a delay of perhaps ten days.

When returning from the interior I have found it saves a good deal of worry to stay a few days in camp in the hills, and there pay off the bulk of the caravan with cheques on the Berbera agent. The men’s characters would be at the same time given them, and they would be told firmly that they need expect to get nothing more by coming up in Berbera. The bulk of the animals and kit would be sent down with the men, to be handed to the agent for sale by auction. Only a few necessary camels and men need be kept at the shooting camp, and during the two or three days’ halt the trophies can be prepared in bundles ready for transport by steamer, small delicate specimens going in the empty store-boxes; at the same time search-parties might be out looking for koodoo. During the _Karíf_ wind it is pleasant in the hills, while at Berbera there are constant sand-storms, and so for half the day nothing can be done.

Both for a week before and after the expedition it is advisable to keep the headman, body servant, and cook to assist in the arrangements at Aden and Berbera. Berbera has been named as the most convenient port, but a start may also be made from Bulhár or Zeila; and the camels, if a very large number be required, may perhaps with advantage be collected simultaneously from all three places.

APPENDIX II

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY

WITH NOTES ON PRONUNCIATION AND MEANING OF NATIVE NAMES

The Somáli country occupies the triangle known as the “Horn of Africa,” whose eastern angle is Cape Guardafui. The coast line, beginning at Gubbet Khrab, in the north-west, runs eastward for about six hundred miles to Cape Guardafui, thence southward for eleven hundred miles to Kismáyu, near the mouth of the Juba River (Webbe Ganána).

Starting with the north Somáli coast at our port of Berbera, the first natural feature we come to is the sea-beach of sand and coralline limestone, backed by the hot, semi-desert Maritime Plain, from two to twenty miles broad, its breadth varying with the distance of the Maritime Ranges from the coast. The plain, gradually sloping upwards from the sea, rises to about three or four hundred feet at the base of the Maritime mountains, and these rise about a thousand feet higher. Beyond the Maritime mountains stony, jungle-covered, interior plains rise to the high Gólis Range, the true plateau of the interior of Africa, which is in places nearly six thousand nine hundred feet above sea-level. The country from the coast line to the foot of Gólis, some thirty-five miles inland, is called Guban. Gólis Range, with its prolongations east and west, forms the seaward face of the high interior country, which is called Ogo.

On the north Somáli coast there are harbours at Berbera and Zeila, an uninhabited creek at Khor Kulangárit, near Zeila, and the open roadstead of Bulhár, partially protected by a surf-beaten spit of sand, which runs for a few hundred yards parallel to the beach, over which at high tide small dhows can pass, but steamers have to anchor outside.

Berbera is built in two parts, three-quarters of a mile distant from one another. To the east is the native town, composed of a few Arab rubble buildings, a fort, and a large number of permanent Somáli huts of matting and poles (called _agal_). These huts are divided by streets, the different blocks of building space being allotted to the respective Somáli tribes, clans, and families. Three-quarters of a mile to the west is the new or official town, originally built by the Egyptians, the houses being of rubble masonry, in one story, with flat roofs. There is a good pier.

Berbera harbour, which is an excellent one, and the best to be found either on the north or east Somáli coast, is formed by a sand spit, similar to that at Bulhár, but rising above high-water mark. It starts from the native town and runs west for two miles till well beyond the official town. Inside this spit large steamers are well protected. On the shore, nearly three miles west of the new town, is a good lighthouse, built by the Egyptians before the British Government took over the north Somáli coast from them. Clearing the point of the sand spit it marks the entrance to the harbour. The water-supply is obtained from a spring near the old Egyptian fort of Dubár, eight miles inland under the Maritime Ranges, the water being brought over the Maritime Plain in pipes.

The plain immediately round Berbera is covered with white pebbles and devoid of bushes; a mile or two inland it becomes sandy and covered with a flat-topped mimósa, which is called _khansa_, growing here to a height of about three feet. There are also scattered thorn bushes about twelve feet high. The plain round Berbera has been greatly denuded of bush for firewood since 1885. I have watched this denudation gradually going on year after year, and have attributed it to the increased traffic since the British have been at Berbera, and to the fact that the town is now well populated all the year round, giving the bush no chance of recovering after the trade season is over. In the Maritime Ranges there are gaps, through which can be seen the towering blue line of Gólis. At a distance of about twenty miles east and west of Berbera the Maritime Ranges come down to within a mile or two of the sea, receding again at Bulhár to form a semicircle of hills with a radius of fourteen miles; then towards Zeila the Maritime Plain widens to thirty or forty miles.

This town is one hundred and seventy miles north-west of Berbera by the coast caravan track, and consists of one compact town of mat huts, with about fifty substantial Arab buildings. There is, strictly speaking, no harbour, but vessels lying off the place are protected by small islands to the north and west. The site of Zeila is low, and at high spring-tides it is almost an island. Water for the use of the town is carried in goatskins from Tukusha, three miles to the west.

For a mile or two inland the Zeila Maritime Plain is a desert of smooth sand, then there is a strip of low evergreen bush, and behind this a great open grass plain or _ban_, intersected by many dry river-beds, fringed with tamarisks and acacias. Travelling across this plain in 1890, my brother described it in his Journal as follows: “Except one or two low hills there is nothing to break the broad sheet of dull yellow, merging into blue haze on the horizon, here and there divided into light and dark patches by the shadows of the drifting clouds.”

This prairie rises to Eilo and Bur-ád Ranges to the south, thirty-five or forty miles inland, and stretches away to the north-west along the foot of the Tajurra Mountains nearly to the French settlement of Obok. Between Obok and Zeila is another settlement created by the French, called Jibúti, which within the last three or four years has risen into notice. The site is a promontory of coral rock, and there is a good harbour and a pier. The French are working hard to develop the place, in order if possible to make it compete with Zeila as a trade port.

At Bulhár, forty-two miles west of Berbera by the coast track, the Ayyal Yunis sub-tribe of the Habr Awal settle during the trading season, from November to April. At this time both Berbera and Bulhár are surrounded by the karias, or temporary kraals of the halted trading caravans, and these karias stretch far out into the Maritime Plain; but from May to October the town is nearly empty, a detachment of police being kept there as a guard. The Bulhár Plain is a vast expanse of bush, surrounded by blue mountains, and viewed from the sea, with the long line of white beach in the foreground, is very striking. Two very notable landmarks well known to sailors are Elmas Mountain, thirteen miles west of Bulhár, and Laba Gumbur Mado (the “two black hills”), twenty-five miles east of Berbera. Elmas rises to about 1500 feet, and is a cluster of bold peaks.

The Maritime mountains are composed principally of limestone, and some of them are nearly as barren-looking as the volcano at Aden. Here and there they are cut through by river-beds like the _wádi_ of Arabia, water percolating slowly, hidden at various depths below a glaring expanse of dry powdery sand. Sometimes it is so near the surface that the sand is moist, and water can be got by scraping out a hole with the hands, though generally it is obtained by digging the _lás_, or shallow pit, through the surface sand.

However inviting these smooth stretches of sand may appear, a camp should never be pitched in the main channel. On a dozen different occasions, after heavy rain in the hills, I have seen a yellow flood, two to four feet deep and fifty yards wide, rush foaming down the dry channel of the Issutugan with great speed, rolling down in front of it a mass of branches, débris, and large boulders, and undermining the high perpendicular banks, pieces of which would drop into the river with a loud splash. At such a time the whole of the river-bed in front of the freshet has been absolutely dry, untouched by water perhaps for months. These freshets dwindle to a trickling stream in about six hours, and may cease to flow in two days. The water does not always reach the sea, as the dry loose sand of the Maritime Plain drinks it up. After one of these floods has run itself away a thin layer of mud remains deposited, which dries, cracks, and curls up into small flakes, to be swept away in a few days by the wind, leaving the surface of the sand again exposed.

At Bulhár, when there has been particularly heavy rain in the hills, the Issutugan comes sweeping down over twenty miles of river-bed and plain, and reaching the coast makes a clear cut through the high bank behind the sea-beach. When the river dries the sea-bank is again in the course of time silted up by the surf to its original height. At ordinary times the water of the Issutugan, which is a typical _tug_ or Somáli sand-river, loses itself in the sand at So-Midgán, twenty-three miles inland from Bulhár, and sinking deep down below the Maritime Plain, collects behind the sea-bank, where it can be reached by digging.

Vast numbers of shallow pits, which render riding rather dangerous at night, are seen at intervals along the coast between Bulhár and Zeila. They contain water which is brackish, but drinkable. After being used for some time the well deepens, striking through the layer of fresh water into the underlying sea-water, and a new pit has to be dug. Where the Issutugan cuts through the Maritime hills, which it does for forty miles of its course, there is generally a tiny rivulet of water running along the centre of its bed, now and then sinking out of sight, to reappear again a mile or two below, the sand saturated with water held in suspension, forming awkward although not dangerous quicksands.

The aspect of the Maritime mountains is very forbidding. Bare precipices rise everywhere, or the hills form great rounded shoulders, having a surface of gravel sprinkled over with a wretched scrub of little brown bushes a foot high, which are generally dry as tinder. Between Berbera and Bulhár the mountains come closer to the sea, and take the form of low, table-topped plateaux of black trap rock, with fringing precipices about thirty feet deep, and a steep talus slope of débris dropping three hundred feet to the level of the river-beds which cut through these plateaux. Hegebo, near Berbera, is a typical plateau of this kind, and on the Zeila side of the British Protectorate this sort of ground covers an enormous area. On the top of the plateaux the surface has the appearance of having been rained upon by showers of black stones. Here and there tufts of feathery grass grow in the crevices, and there is light, open jungle of flat-topped thorn bushes. Everywhere there are boulders and jagged or rounded pieces of rock, so that where there are no paths caravans cannot go. The sun beating down on the polished black surfaces causes great heat, and distresses the baggage animals, and the stones are very trying to horses’ feet, even camels going better over them. The sand-rivers find their way through these plateaux from the high mountains to the sea, forming deep gullies, the expanse of sand and green bush below contrasting strangely with the black frowning heights on either side.

Between the Maritime mountains and the great Gólis Range are elevated, undulating, interior plains, intersected by river-beds and ravines running generally from south to north. These slope up in continuation of the Maritime Plain, but present greater variety of scenery; here a strip of gravel and rocky ground scantily dotted with low mimósa bushes, and cut up by torrent-beds choked with rough boulders and a tangle of savage thorns, there a wide sand-river winding through a belt of thick forest of the beautiful _gudá_ or larger thorn-tree, with a dense undergrowth of pointed aloes, making it impossible to move about except in the sheep and game paths. Narrow strips of thorn bushes and dark green poison trees (_wabé_) wind down from the mountains, marking the tributary watercourses. The river-beds themselves consist of broad, flat, sandy reaches between alluvial banks, which have been scarped perpendicularly, at alternate points on the right and left, where the swirling water has undermined them with an inward sweep. Large _gudá_ trees grow closely together at the edge of the steep or overhanging banks, their branches being covered with long drapery of _armo_ creepers, which hang down, often as much as thirty feet, to the level of the river-bed below. Behind the jungle which fringes the banks is high grass, until the ground rises, when the red soil, exposed by the action of the rains, is worked into miniature hills and valleys. Here and there at the side or in the centre of the channel is a clump of thorn-trees, round which the sand has been washed up into a bank, and masses of driftwood are heaped round the lower branches. Between the parallel sand-rivers of the interior plains are watersheds of stony ground, very trying to travel over, the sunbeams beating down on the stony path, glittering on the points of the aloes, and being reflected like fire from the thousands of chipped rocks, scattered pieces of quartz, feldspar, and mica which everywhere crop above the surface.

Two days’ march due south of Berbera, having crossed the interior plains, we arrive at the higher mountains, rising to nearly 6900 feet. Gólis is the collective name, though Somális have a name for each flat-topped bluff, as Daar-áss (Red clay), Gán-Libah (Lion hand), Ban-yéro (Little plain), and Dig-wein (Big ears). In fact, in Somáliland every watering-place, hill, or mound, and many a prominent tree, has some descriptive name known to all the local tribes.

The Gólis Range forms a gigantic step rising abruptly on the northern or coast face, and presenting to the sea, thirty-five miles distant, great scarped precipices and bold descents, long walls of perpendicular rock, red, yellow, or gray in colour, fringing the summit for many miles. The whole interior of Somáliland presents the appearance of having, in some great movement of the earth’s crust, been elevated from the level of Guban, an abrupt break or fault occurring at Gólis Range, which seems to have been upheaved for about six thousand feet; while at Hargeisa the country is crumpled up into a chaos of hills, Guban rising gradually into Ogo in several successive steps instead of in one great fault. On the Hargeisa side the country between the levels of Guban and Ogo is called Ogo-Gudan. At the base of the fringing precipices, which are two or three hundred feet high, vast tumbled masses of rock which have slipped from the crest lie heaped together half buried among the foliage of tall cedar-trees and a profusion of forest growth, forming caves and moss-grown recesses with great variety of wild flowers, and clumps of maiden-hair fern growing in the damp crevices of the rocks. The soil is a rich black vegetable mould.

There can be no greater contrast than that between this fine mountain country and the brown sterile shores of the Gulf of Aden. Often as one looks down from the top of Gólis the whole of Guban is hidden from view by an immense expanse of white cloud lying below, resembling a storm-tossed sea, the tops of Deimoleh-Wein and other detached hills rising like islands above it. The air is so clear in the elevated interior that from a hill in the Eilo Range, above Zeila, I have recognised each separate bluff of Gólis at a distance of one hundred and twenty miles. In these hills the roar of a lion or the alarm note of a koodoo antelope can be heard echoing up the gorges for great distances.

On the northern slope, at about a thousand feet below the level of the crest of Gólis, is a ledge of broken ground, a mile or two wide, running parallel to the range for twenty or thirty miles. It is called Mirso, or “The Haven,” and is a favourite pasture of the Habr Awal and Habr Gerhajis tribes, and also good ground for koodoo. It is covered with jungle, but the soil is shallow and stony. A gigantic blue-green cactus, or euphorbia, called _hassádan_, grows here to a height of about forty feet, and gives a very dense shade. The sap is a white milky liquid, which pours from every cut in the tree, and if caught in cups and dried, it solidifies into a kind of rubber. The top of the range is covered with dense jungle of mountain cedar. In the gorges some of these trees, called _dayeb_, grow tall and straight, often four feet in diameter at the foot, and over a hundred feet high; but more frequently the _dayeb_ forest is of comparatively stunted growth, being about forty feet high, with the trunks and branches much bent and twisted. The best trees which I saw were under Daar-áss Bluff, near Kulméye in Mirso, and on Wagar Mountain, farther east.

From the crest of Gólis the country slopes towards the south-east, falling gently towards the interior, the cedar forests ceasing at a distance of about six miles inside the crest, and opening out into grassy downs or thorn-covered wilderness. Soon, as we pass through Ogo, the Haud waterless country, from one hundred to two hundred and fifty miles across, is reached; and on its farther edge the ground again drops slightly, as at Milmil, into Ogádén, the broad broken surface of Ogádén finally sloping into the valley of the Webbe Shabéleh or Leopard river, beyond which is the Juba. Where the Haud Plateau drops at Milmil the limestone surface, which is covered with red soil, breaks up into flat-topped hills, which continue the level of the Haud, but cease a little farther south. They are covered with high _durr_ grass, and form some of the most favourite retreats for lions. Thus the Gólis Range and its prolongations east and west are the most prominent natural feature in Northern Somáliland, forming the watershed between Ogo, the high cool country, and Guban, the arid coast belt. Guban is drained by sand-rivers and ravines, which, starting in Gólis, pass through the interior plains and cut through the Maritime Ranges, the water being eventually lost under the Maritime Plain, to reappear near the surface behind the sea-shore. I consider the whole of the Guban country to be almost valueless, except as a pasture for sheep and goats, as it is only upon reaching the high country that the soil is found to be fertile.

The Haud is the great elevated wilderness which separates Ogádén and Harar from Ogo, Guban, and the coast. The Somáli word _haud_ is used to describe a peculiar kind of country, consisting of thick and sometimes impenetrable thorn jungle, broken up by shallow watercourses, and generally having an undergrowth of _hig_ or _dár_ aloes. The great waterless plateau which is generally called the Haud is really a district, and besides the variety of ground usually called _haud_, it includes large strips of open, rolling, grass plains called _ban_, or, to the south-east, semi-desert country called _aror_. _Ban_ is the Somáli term for an open plain absolutely, or nearly devoid of bushes.

In the wooded parts of the Haud dense thorn jungles alternate with small glades of _durr_ grass six feet high, luxuriating in beautiful feathery clumps, with a level red soil; ant-hills crop up at about every hundred yards, their pinnacles often rising to twenty-five feet. Some of the dead thorn-trees are to be seen standing half eaten by white ants, and the débris of fallen ones are found scattered about half-buried in the soil, where they have been swept along by sheets of water during the last rains. The remains of _galól_ bushes attain an almost iron hardness, and many a wound have I and my followers received at night by stumbling against a _gori_, or jagged stump, half hidden in the high grass. There is excellent pasture in the glades and between the bushes, the Haud pastures being considered better than those of Ogo or Guban. Extensive tracts of fertile soil, of good depth, are to be found at about five thousand feet elevation, which, although, except at one or two mullah villages, none of them are under cultivation, owing to the nomadic life of the people, may yet in the distant future become very valuable. The rainfall in the higher parts of the country is ample, and the water would only require to be stored in tanks, as is done in the drier parts of India, to ensure a supply all the year round. Of course for three months in the dry season the whole of the soil is baked hard by the sun, but the same thing occurs in India. In June, when there is a hot wind at the coast, cool breezes blow over the elevated Haud, making it possible to march all day long; and although in the sun it is hot, yet in a tent pitched under the shade of a flat-topped _gudá_ tree it is sometimes quite chilly, even at midday, while it is disagreeably so in the early mornings.

The Haud was first crossed by Mr. F. L. James and his party in the winter of 1884-85, and a description of the journey is given in his book, _The Horn of Africa_. Their camels were carrying loads for thirteen days without touching a drop of water. The description of the Haud in the above-named work, although I believe it to be an accurate portrait of the country passed over by that expedition, does not give any idea of the pleasant coolness and apparent fertility of the more elevated North-eastern Haud. Mr. James’s party crossed this district at almost its widest part, and in the _Jilál_ or driest season. The plateau is traversed by several _warda_, or great trade routes, to the far interior from the coast, generally running nearly north and south. In the strips of _ban_, or open plain, often many miles wide, all caravan paths are lost, each caravan crossing independently of landmarks, and no impression is left on the growing grass. Once the _ban_ is passed, however, all tracks will have converged into one well-worn path, or group of parallel paths. One of the most important of these is the Warda Gumaréd crossing the plateau from Hargeisa to Milmil.

The drainage from the Haud and Ogádén finds its way into the Nogal Valley, or into the Webbe Shabéleh, eventually falling into the Indian Ocean on the east Somáli coast, which is assigned to the Italian sphere of influence. In reality, the Shabéleh, I believe, does not actually reach the ocean, but falls into marshes near Mukdisha (Magadoxo). Farther south, beyond the Webbe Shabéleh and the Webbe Ganána or Juba, is the Tana River, rising near Mount Kenia in the Masai country and flowing east. The Somális make annual raids as far south as the Tana, to within a few days’ march of Lamu on the east coast, but, as far as we know at present, the permanent Somáli country may be considered to lie well to the north of the Juba. Most of this river lies in Gállaland, and its sources have been scarcely touched by any European explorer, except, perhaps, by the Italian explorer Captain Bottigo.

I have said that some of the highest ground in Somáliland is the great upheaval of Gólis, continuations of which stretch far away to the eastward, parallel to the sea-shore as far as Cape Guardafui, forming the bold, almost unexplored coast line which is visible from the decks of steamers passing along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. But there is a still higher mountain system, that of the Harar Highlands, up to the foot of which the Haud Plateau extends. The Haud gradually falls towards the south-east, and rises ever higher the farther one goes westward, its north-west angle being occupied by the high _ban_ known as the Marar Prairie. This magnificent expanse of open grass land is fifty-six miles long by thirty-five broad, having an area of nearly one thousand square miles, and an elevation ranging from 4900 feet to 6300 feet. There are a few grassy knobs like the Subbul hills which rise singly out of the plains to nearly 7000 feet above sea-level.

In the _Jilál_ season the Marar Prairie is a sheet of yellow grass, quite dried up, but still containing nourishment—the varieties being chiefly _darémo_, _dihe_, and _durr_, all three having valuable fattening qualities for horses or camels. After the first rains the young grass begins to come up in patches of vivid green, the old, longer grass falls, and soon the plains are entirely covered with a carpet of rich green turf, short and crisp, inviting a gallop, and having almost the appearance of unlimited English pasture. The soil is red and powdery. Some of our camps on the plains were between 6000 and 7000 feet above sea-level. The country is probably similar to the South African veldt, the great elevation in a measure compensating for the nearness to the equator.

There is heavy rainfall, the Marar Prairie partaking of that of Harar and Abyssinia, but the water sinks to a great depth, so that with the exception of temporary rain-pools the surface is waterless. There are, however, many permanent watering-places in the jungle-covered hills and broken ground bordering the prairie to the north and west, and in the Harar Highlands, whose lofty summits can be seen overlooking the western edge of the plain, some of them rising to over 10,000 feet. The Somális say there is sometimes ice on these mountains, and that people die of cold.

The Marar Prairie supports enormous masses of game, and I have had many a good day’s sport upon it, which will never be forgotten. Although this is the largest _ban_ which we have actually circumscribed and measured, it may not be larger than many others in unexplored parts of Somáliland, but is probably the best in quality. Some of the low-lying _ban_—as, for instance, that of the Zeila Maritime Plain—is of very poor quality, and this is partly why the Esa is not a mounted tribe. I am told by Dolbahanta tribesmen whom I have taken to Marar, that there are similar elevated plains at the back of the unexplored Warsingali country. There are many other fine patches of _ban_ in the Haud which have been explored by us, as at Aror and Toyo.

My brother, while passing through the Esa country, wrote in his Journal: “After leaving Doleimalleh we came across a strip of plain which seemed to afford an example of the manner in which the _ban_ is formed. There were miles upon miles of dead and bleached thorn-trees, about twenty feet high, evidently vigorous some ten years ago. These had either been killed by very heavy floods, as the ground is flat and water does not drain off easily, or they had been destroyed by extensive fires. Among these trees were scores of red ant-hills, eight or ten feet high, and many of the dead trees were overwhelmed by them, just a branch or the part of a trunk projecting here and there. When the trees have all been eaten the termites no doubt leave, and their mounds are washed away by rain and wind, leaving behind only a vast grassy plain.”

The extreme north-western angle of the Marar Prairie is marked by a hill called Sarir Gerád, and from its base the ground falls abruptly to the north into the Harrawa Valley in the Gadabursi country, and to the west into deep gorges which lead towards Gildessa. The bushes cling in a sharply-defined line to the rugged hills of denudation into which the high prairie breaks up. The general formation of these hills is mountain limestone, much eroded in the ravines by the chemical action of water, and weathered into holes and caves, lined with deposits of stalactite. Some of the torrents which descend to the east of Sarir cut through deep alluvial deposits, leaving overhanging earth banks eighty to one hundred feet deep. The whole of this wild and mountainous region is very remarkable and picturesque, and the more interesting to a sportsman because, together with the Harrawa Valley, it is still visited at the right season by two or three herds of elephants. The average elevation of this valley is about 5000 feet above sea-level, and it has deep alluvial soil cut up by ravines with perpendicular banks. The vegetation is very luxuriant, the predominating kind being the _hassádan_ or euphorbia, which here grows to a height of from thirty to sixty feet. There is a great variety of flowers, and the grass is excellent in this valley, which stretches away several days’ journey into the Esa country.

It can be well understood in a country of such an extended area, and varying so much in elevation, that a large variety of plants and trees exists; and in addition to the vegetation already noticed there are many bushes and trees which one learns to recognise in the course of a journey. It is of course impossible to mention them all, but the following are a few of the most conspicuous:—

The most thorny of all the bushes I consider to be the _billeil_. This horrible bush grows to a height of about ten feet, and is covered with small curved hooks of great strength which cannot be disregarded. The _sockso_, _adad_, _galól_, _khansa_ are other more or less thorny bushes which are met with everywhere. The _adad_ produces the best gum-arabic (_hábag_), large transparent knobs the size of a pigeon’s egg being visible in the joints of the branches. The _galól_ is a twisted, straggling, and untidy-looking thorn-tree, growing to a height of fifteen to twenty-five feet, the root being used for hardening and making watertight the bark _háns_ or water-vessels used by Somáli caravans. The branches have very little strength, and are useless for building platforms in when watching for game. There are thorns over an inch long, each springing from a white bulb.

The jungles in Ogádén chiefly consist of the _galól_ and the _khansa_. The giant euphorbia called _hassádan_ grows in the hills and in the Haud, seldom much above or below five thousand feet. The _derkein_ is a tree allied to the _hassádan_, but it is found at a lower elevation, and is very common in the Dolbahanta country, growing in thick compact groves, and within these groves it is the custom of the natives to bury their dead. Two large thorn-trees of great beauty are the _gudá_ and the _wádi_. The _gudá_ has a dark stem and grows to a height of from thirty to fifty feet, spreading out to an umbrella top and giving excellent shade. The _wádi_ has a whitish stem and spreads out like the _gudá_, but more symmetrically, and is ornamented with white thorns about five inches long. The _kedi_ and the _mégag_ are conspicuous trees. The _kedi_ grows without a branch for about eight feet, and then breaks out into a compact rounded mass of long, green, soft thorns, growing one out of the other, in the same way as a prickly pear. The _mégag_ is much the same in shape, but there are no thorns, and it breaks out into small twisted branches, matted together, with tiny blue-gray leaves. Another tree is the _garas_, having leaves like a laurel, while the roots and bifurcations of the stems contain deep recesses which often hold drinking water after rain. The _wabé_, or dark green poison-tree, is very common in the mountains, a concoction of arrow-poison being made from the roots. The _athei_ is a small bush with gray leaves, the twigs of which form the native substitute for a toothbrush in Somáliland. _Ergin_ is a slender, green, grass-like bush of the cactus kind, with a milky sap, which forms dense cover and is often the resort of leopards. _Dár_ and _hig_, the latter of which produces excellent rope-fibre, are varieties of the aloe, and cover enormous areas. There is no ground more favoured by the lesser koodoo.

Of the largest trees the most conspicuous are the _darei_, a fig-tree, and the _gób_, a very large thorny tree growing on the banks of river-beds, with edible berries of an orange colour, the size of a cherry, and containing a large stone. In taste they resemble apples, and are delicious eating. The _tomaiyo_ is a root like a knotted swede, growing three inches below the surface in the soft red soil of the Haud and Ogádén. It is green and purple outside, and inside consists of a white watery pulp which will allay thirst. This plant is difficult to find, and has to be burrowed for. _Armo_, a vividly green creeper with large, fleshy, heart-shaped leaves, covers all the trees by the river-beds, hanging festooned like a curtain, and turning the _gudá_ thorn-trees into natural shady bowers. Of the three best grasses already mentioned as growing in the Haud, the _durr_ grows to about six feet, the _darémo_ to about fifteen inches, and _dihe_ to about four inches. All these grasses curl and twist about very much, the _durr_ spreading out into branches like a bush. The favourite cover chosen by a lion is in nine cases out of ten either _durr_ grass, _khansa_ forest, or the reeds (_alálo_) growing at the margin of a river-bed.

The Somáli climate is on the whole very dry and bracing, and there is no malarial fever to speak of except on the Webbe Shabéleh river.

In the Maritime hills the highest shade temperature I have registered is 118° Fahr. at midday, and on the cool elevated Haud country the temperature just before sunrise has often been as low as 56° in June. The lowest temperature I ever registered was 49°.

During the months of July, August, and September 1892, my brother took daily five or six observations with barometer and thermometer. The following shade temperatures, taken at random from his tables, may be of interest:—

+------------+-----------------+----------+------------+------------+ | | | Elevation| |Thermometer.| | Date. | Place. | in feet | Time. | | | | | above | | °Fahr. | | | |sea-level.| | | +------------+-----------------+----------+------------+------------+ |July 4-8 | Berbera | 35 | 8 A.M. | 94½ | | | | | 12.15 P.M. | 99 | | | | | 6 P.M. | 99½ | | | | | 9.30 P.M. | 95 | | ” 17-20 | Hargeisa Wells | 3938 | 6.30 A.M. | 67 | | | | | 8 A.M. | 67 | | | | | Noon. | 82 | | | | | 5.25 P.M. | 80 | | | | | 9.5 P.M. | 74½ | | ” 23 | Kheidub-Ayéyu | 3841 | 1.30 A.M. | 56 | | | (Haud) | | 5 A.M. | 61 | | | | | Noon. | 83 | | | | | 9 P.M. | 75 | | ” 25-28 | Gagáb (Milmil) | 3429 | 5 A.M. | 63 | | | | | Noon. | 85 | | | | | 2.30 P.M. | 82 | | | | | 9 P.M. | 68 | |August 8-10 |Waror (Jerer | 4161 | 4 A.M. | 59 | | | Valley) | | 6.30 A.M. | 63 | | | | | 9.30 A.M. | 69½ | | | | | 1 P.M. | 84 | | | | | 3 P.M. | 85 | | ” 31 | Harrhé | 5761 | 1 P.M. | 80 | | | | | 2 P.M. | 75 | |Sept. 3-5 | Makanis (Marar | 6209 | 6 A.M. | 56 | | | Prairie) | | 7 P.M. | 65 | | ” 9 | Kalerug | 6310 | 3.30 P.M. | 72½ | | ” 10 | Sarir Gerád | 6330 | 6 A.M. | 56 | | ” 24 | Biyo Kabóba | 3353 | Noon. | 103½ | | ” 25-26 | Hassein Gedíchi | 2252 | 5 A.M. | 67 | | ” 30 | Lehellu | 10 | 2 P.M. | 93 | |October 4 | Zeila | 45 | 3 A.M. | 84 | | | | | 10 P.M. | 85 | +------------+-----------------+----------+------------+------------+

GLOSSARY OF GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

The names have been spelt in accordance with the Royal Geographical Society’s system, vowels having an Italian pronunciation, _ei_ being pronounced as in the English word “weight,” and so forth.

The following will occur often in geographical names, some being modern terms, others having fallen into disuse in ordinary conversation:—

_Ad_, _Ado_, white.

_Ass_, red.

_Ban_, an open plain; as _Ban-yéro_, little plain.

_Biyo_, _Biya_, water; as _Biyo-foga_, distant water; _Biya-ha-gódleh_, water of the place of caves.

_Bur_, a mountain or hill; as _Bur-mádo_, the black hill.

_Daba_, foothills; as _Daba-ádo_, the white hills.

_Dagah_, a rock; as _Dagaha-dáyer_, the monkey rock.

_Dih_, a valley; as _Dih-wiyileh_, the valley of rhinoceroses.

_Dur-dur_, a perennial spring.

_Eil_, a deep well; as _Eil Sheikh_, the Sheikh’s well.

_Gad_, a headland or bluff; as _Gadki-góbleh_, the bluff of the place of the _gób_ tree.

_Ged_, a tree; as _Ged-wein_, big tree.

_Gola_, _Gol_, a peak; as _Gola-dagah_, the rocky peak; _Gol-adéryu_, the peak of koodoos.

_Gumbur_, a hillock; as _Gumbur-ta-jifto_, the sloping hillock.

_Habr_, _Rer_, and the Arabic _Ayyal_, are tribal prefixes.

_Hassádan_, an euphorbia tree; _Hassadinleh_, the place of the euphorbia.

_Hedd_, or _Dúd_, a forest; as _Dúd-libah_, the lion forest.

_Kabr_, graves; as _Kabr Ogádén_, the Ogádén graves.

_Karin_ or _Duss_, a pass; as _Karin-dagah_, the rocky pass.

_Lás_, a shallow well or sand-pit; as _Lás Ánod_, milk well.

_Mádo_, _Mádu_, or _Madóba_, black.

_Magala_, a town; thus Berbera is called _Magala-sahil_, the “coast town.”

_Nás_, a pointed breast or hillock; as _Nás-gódki_, the hillock of the cave; _Náso hablod_, the maiden’s breasts.

_Sarar_, a plateau; as _Sarar-ki-adáda_, the white plateau.

_Tug_, a sand-river; as _Tug-dér_, the long river.

_Webbe_, a large running river; as _Webbe Shabéleh_, the leopard river.

_Wein_, great; _yer_, small.

The plural is often formed by doubling the last consonant and adding _o_; as _Dubbur_, plural _Duburro_.

_Leh_ is a termination constantly occurring in geographical names, and meaning locality; thus:—

_Armáleh_, the place of armo creepers.

_Libah_, a lion; _Libableh_, the place of lions.

_Shabél_, a leopard; _Shabéleh_, place of leopards.

_Warába_, a hyæna; _Warábileh_, the place of hyænas.

Besides those given above, the following meanings of names which are to be found in the map will be interesting:—

_Adadleh_, the place of _adad_ trees.

_Alóla-Jifen_, sloping plateau.

_Badwein_, large tank.

_Biyo-ado_, white water.

_Biyo Frinji_, the Franks’ watering-place.

_Bur Ád_, white hill.

_Bur Ánod_, hill of milk.

_Bur Dab_, rocky hill.

_Burka_, the hill.

_Daar-Áss_, red clay.

_Dabada Jiáleh_, hill of the _jia_ tree.

_Dagaha Madóba_, the black rock.

_Dagahbur_, rocky hill.

_Deimoleh_, place of _deima_ trees.

_Dere-gódleh_, the ravine of the cave place.

_Derin-galólo_, the ravine of _galól_ trees.

_Digirin-leh_, place of guinea-fowl.

_Dig-wein_, big ears.

_Dih-bauna_, valley of rock rabbits.

_Eil Anod_, milky well.

_Eil Armo_, well of the _armo_ creeper.

_Eil Birdáleh_, well of the _birda_ tree.

_Eil Midgán_, bushman’s well.

_Eil Sheikh_, the Sheikh’s well.

_Gal Hedigáleh_, gully of the stars.

_Gán-Libah_, lion’s paw.

_Garasleh_, the place of _garas_ trees.

_Gol Adér-yu_, the peak of koodoo.

_Goriáleh_, place of tree-stumps.

_Gudáweina_, the large _gudá_ tree.

_Gumbur Dúg_, the hillock of gadflies.

_Hedd-Gódir_, koodoo forest.

_Hegebo_, many hills.

_Issutugan_, straight river.

_Laba-Gumbur-mádo_, the two black hillocks.

_Magala-yer_, little town.

_Marodíleh_, the place of elephants.

_Nasíya_, resting-place.

_Sarar-awr_, the camel plateau.

_Shimbiráleh_, the place of birds.

APPENDIX III

NOTES ON SOMÁLI TRADE

The manufactured goods which the African wants, and the raw material which he can export, are much the same all over the countries of tropical Africa. But Somáliland has one great advantage as a trading country over many other African regions. Trade caravans depend for their transport upon camels, not upon human beings; and these camels, although comparatively weak, are vastly superior to those of many other camel countries, in that they cost only about £2 each and pick up all their food by the wayside. A comparison of the cost of camel transport in Somáliland with the human transport on the Zanzibar coast will show the former to great advantage.

The calculation which follows is based on my own experience of both countries. It is some years since I was at Mombasa, so I am open to correction if the prices there have been recently reduced.

The Zanzibar coast porter carries a 60 lb. load of merchandise and a few days’ rations, and costs about £1 per month in pay and food. Thus six porters would carry 360 lbs. of merchandise for a three months’ journey at a cost of £18.

Two camels would be bought at Berbera for £4, and after a long journey, and allowing for a percentage of loss by death, they would fetch, if sold by the Somáli owners, about £3. With the two camels would be one attendant, and his pay and rations for three months would involve an outlay of about £3:15s. The camels, if lightly laden, would carry 275 lbs. each; and the merchandise they would carry, if the liberal allowance of 63 lbs. be deducted for the weight per month of the attendant’s rations, would be 360 lbs., or the same as that carried by the six porters.

The cost of the two camels and their attendant for the three months would, however, amount to only £4:15s. as against the £18 for the porters.

During one of my last journeys we carried rations of rice, dates, and ghee at 1¾ lb. per man for a period of four and a half months. This could never be done by a caravan of Swahili porters, who can only carry a few days’ rations in addition to the load. Serious hardships from want of food are practically impossible when travelling with camels. In comparing porters and camels it must be borne in mind that the Somáli caravans go from Berbera to Imé, four hundred miles, in sixteen days, which is faster travelling than could be accomplished by Swahili porters for the same length of road.

Of all the Somáli coast ports by far the most promising is Berbera. Without counting the great capacity of Somáliland itself as a consumer of our fabrics, which I shall touch upon later, Berbera has many advantages which will, I feel sure, cause it to become very valuable as _entrepôt_ and distributer to countries and tribes outside the existing sphere of British influence. If the resources of Central Africa are destined ever to be fully developed, I believe Berbera will be one of the chief outlets for Central African exports.

The position of Berbera is unique. The meat supplies for Aden come almost entirely from there, and freight is always obtainable. Already two, and sometimes three, coasting steamers call weekly at Berbera, to say nothing of the freights carried by dhows. Berbera is close to one of the greatest lines of shipping in the world, and when trade develops into direct communication, the proximity of Europe and India cannot fail to attract capital. Another advantage which Berbera has over the ports of the East African coast is that the long sea-voyage, with its dangerous Cape Guardafui and its uncertain currents, is avoided; and although the land distance to Uganda and the Equatorial Province is greater than from Mombasa, Somáliland has, in Aden, a base secure from all attack, and is a week closer than Mombasa to England and India. I have already shown the advantage of camel transport in the Hinterland of the Somáli coast. The route to Central Africa, at any rate as far as Imé, four hundred miles inland, is an excellent one, presenting no difficulties to caravans, either owing to physical causes or the temper of the natives; and, moreover, the whole of the country through which it passes is exceptionally healthy.

The Gállas beyond Imé are camel-owners like the Somális, and live much in the same way. The route is so good, for the first four hundred miles at least from the coast, that at any time, should the trade of Central Africa ever in the far distant future be sufficient to justify it, the construction of a railway following it would be perfectly easy.

The following statistics I find published in a Calcutta paper, having been taken from Lieutenant-Colonel Stace’s Official Report on Somáli Coast Commerce, 1891-92: “The total value of the trade of Zeila last year was over a quarter of a million sterling, exports figuring for £151,721 of this sum. The exports consist almost exclusively of coffee from Harar (valued last year at over £100,000), skins, and hides; while their imports are piece goods (£12,508), rice (£31,827), American shirtings (£17,941), Indian shirtings (£10,057), and _jowári_ (£10,000). The total value of the trade of Berbera and Bulhár last year was £280,664, of which imports are responsible for £161,112. Berbera is supposed to contain about 30,000 people during the principal trading season, Bulhár perhaps 5000, and Zeila 6000.”

There are many minor imports which do not compare in importance with those named. Among the possible imports in the distant future may figure common brown blankets. They are most popular as presents, and might eventually, I should think, develop into an article of trade.

Other chief exports at present, besides those already named, are—

Gum, Ostrich feathers, Cattle and sheep (for the Aden market).

The hides, the trade in which seems to me to be capable of great development, go to America, whence most of the cotton goods are imported.

Considering the capacity of Somáliland as a consumer of our fabrics, our countrymen’s lack of enterprise in having allowed American goods to gain the ascendancy in this market seems astonishing. Among the future possible exports of value are the fibre of the _hig_ or pointed aloe, certain barks for tanning leather, and other natural products. Ivory at present mostly goes to ports west of Zeila, and does not figure largely in the exports from the British Protectorate. Now that the Eastern Soudan is closed, the gum of Somáliland should be important.

There are many kinds of resin and of gum, the best gum being that of the _adad_, a low-spreading thorn-tree, exuding from the branches of which can be seen transparent knobs of the gum of a golden hue, the size of a lemon, and pleasant to taste. It is much eaten by the natives and by gazelles. Gum-pickers take it to their squalid-looking encampments, and loading camels with the sacks, they take them to the coast for sale.

FOOTNOTES

[1] The Habr Awal, Habr Gerhajis, and Habr Toljaala.

[2] When a man commits murder or manslaughter the relatives of the deceased can claim blood money. The tribe to which the slayer belongs must either pay this, give up the murderer, or fight. Which of these three courses will be taken depends on the nature of the act, and whether the man is considered to be worth fighting for.

[3] The _Gerád_ (Arabic _Sultán_) is the paramount chief of a tribe.

[4] Most Somális who pray a great deal do it, I am convinced, for their reputation’s sake; and most of the religious observances are to “show off,”—a thing the Somáli loves to do.

An instance of this is the horror of dogs. I have seen a Somáli, when thinking himself unobserved, playing with a pariah dog; but if a Somáli servant, in a house at Aden, when waiting at table, should be brushed against by a perfectly clean English fox-terrier, he will as likely as not drop the dish which he is carrying, and say that he has been bitten. All this horror is acted for the benefit of the other servants.

[5] My usual plan on losing a camel is to offer a reward to the finder, deducting the amount from the pay of the loser.

[6] When a Somáli is speaking to a foreigner, he generally uses instead of _rer_, the Arabic _karia_ (village) to designate his kraal. He also uses the Arabic _ayyal_ instead of the tribal prefix _rer_. Thus he calls the Rer Yunis, who live at Bulhár, the Ayyal Yunis.

[7] I have merely guessed at this origin for the Somális. The traditions of the Gállas themselves should, if obtainable, throw light on this subject. Captain Abud says, “The aboriginal inhabitants of Somáliland cannot be clearly traced. The Somális say they were Gállas, but in the Somáli language every one not a Mussulman is called Gál, or infidel.”

[8] Quite recently (Christmas, 1894) another Somáli raid against the Gállas of the Tana has resulted in the total defeat of the Somális at Kulessa by a handful of white men and natives.

[9] I noticed that though the Gállas at Karanleh and on the Tana were a tolerably thin-featured race, those at Harar were quite different, being very much more coarse-featured than the Somáli type. Mr. W. B. Harris, in a very interesting account in _Blackwood’s Magazine_ (Sept. 1894) of his visit to Harar, has noticed this.

[10] The rhinoceros bird, called _Shimbir Loh_, or the “cow bird,” by Somális.

[11] If camels have to make a start before dawn, it is a great mistake to arrive at the evening camp after dark, and to throw off the loads and let the camels rest at night on an empty stomach. A continued course of such treatment will kill the best camels. When camels “flop” down on arriving in camp, or “swear” very much on being loaded, it is a sure sign they are being overworked. With good pasturage and proper working hours, I have often seen fifty camels loaded up almost in silence.

[12] _Biladiers_, _i.e._ country police (derived from the Arabic).

[13] _Sircal_, _i.e._ Government or Government official—a corruption from Hindustáni or Arabic.

[14] This was a mistake, as I could have bought all the camels for £8 the lot and sold them for £6 at the end of the trip, and on all later trips I have bought instead of hiring.

[15] Guban and Gudan are names quite distinct from one another.

[16] Some time afterwards, in Berbera, two natives came down and reported that they had seen the dead elephant near Hargeisa, and that a passing caravan had appropriated the tusks on its way to Harar. Through the proper channels I applied to the Emir of Harar for their recovery, and that is the last I ever heard of them.

[17] The first treaty between the British Government and the Somális was signed in 1827 after the plundering of an English ship by the Habr Awal. In 1840 another was signed with the chiefs of Zeila and Tajurra. In 1865 Sir Richard Burton’s expedition was attacked at Berbera, and the blockade which followed was raised on the signing of another treaty. In 1866 treaties were made with the Habr Gerhajis, Habr Toljaala, and Midjerten; and since 1884, when the Egyptians handed over the coast to Great Britain, treaties have been made with all the northern tribes. By an agreement signed in 1888, the boundary separating the British and French Protectorates begins near Loyi-ada, on the coast between Jibúti and Zeila, and runs by Abbaswein, Biyo-Kabóba, Gildessa, towards Harar.

On 5th May 1894 a protocol was signed, fixing the boundaries of the Italian and British spheres of influence. The boundary-line starts from Gildessa, and, following the eighth parallel of north latitude, skirts the north-eastern border of the territories inhabited by the Géri, Bertiri, and Rer Ali tribes, leaving Gildessa, Jig-Jiga, and Milmil within the Italian sphere of influence. The line then follows latitude 8° north as far as its intersection with the forty-eighth meridian of east longitude, and thence to the intersection of latitude 9° north, with longitude 49° east, along which it proceeds, terminating at the coast.

[18] These baggage camels from Aden were not a success, and I have never since tried to import into Somáliland any Arab camels but the fast ones which are ridden.

[19] We afterwards heard, in Berbera, that while we were at Gosaweina two or three Mahamud Gerád saw our camp from a distance, and rode away to warn the tribes, with the result that fifty horsemen came to reconnoitre, but found we had already marched back to Badwein.

[20] Sometimes we were several hours passing a cloud of millions upon millions of these insects, which were going the other way; at other times they were found settled upon the ground, covering great areas, or they were crawling and hopping over the grass and sand. The newly-born ones stream along the ground like a brown rivulet; then there are half-grown ones, which can only hop, and look from a distance like strips of green grass. The full-grown locusts are of three colours-yellow, green, and spotted red. The different generations do not appear to mix.

[21] Literally “Lion Hand Mountain.”

[22] Nala, _i.e._ the dry river-bed of India, called in Arabia _wádi_, in Somáliland, _tug_.

[23] Although at the present time I am not much inconvenienced by the wounds, my right arm and shoulder are very deeply scarred.

[24] Euphorbia.

[25] The Esa sub-tribes are grouped into two great divisions—the Esa Ad or White Esa, and the Esa Madóba or Black Esa.

[26] The Jibril Abokr were deeply grateful, and on our second visit to them they took the trouble to come from all sides to express their gratitude to us for having forwarded their complaints.

[27] We saw also several graves of women. In this country they do not give women the heaps of stones surrounded by enclosures which mark the graves of men. They merely bury the women in the earth, heaping thorns on top to prevent prowling hyænas from rooting up the grave; and in the middle of the thorns they set up an upright stake with the top of a broken _hán_ hung over it; this serves as a scarecrow to keep off wild animals.

Our men, whenever we passed a grave, piously said a prayer and plucked a tuft of grass to throw over it.

[28] A large rounded tree producing quantities of edible red berries. They look like cherries, and have a stone inside, but taste like half-dried apples.

[29] Also called Gol Wiyileh.

[30] Some skill of hand and eye is required in this work. The man above with the empty bucket throws it down to the man below at the same moment that the latter tosses up the full one. On reaching the surface each full bucket is emptied out into the rough cattle trough at which the cattle are drinking, improvised out of a hide propped up with sticks and stones, or in a hollow shaped with clay. Half the water is lost on the way up, so it usually takes many hours to water the enormous herds.

[31] “Wise man” or chief.

[32] We afterwards ascertained that at this time Banagúsé, the Abyssinian chief, was shooting elephants in Harrawa under the guidance of a son of Nur, the deposed Ugaz of the Gadabursi tribe. When we passed through the Harrawa Valley a few days later we were taken no notice of by Banagúsé or the Ugaz, who was living quite near our route. The latter had professed himself an enemy to the British, and had been intriguing with the Abyssinians, encouraging them to advance their influence into the Gadabursi country, in the hope that by their help he would be reinstated at the head of the tribe, ousting his brother Elmy, the present Ugaz.

[33] Undertaken after the Esa raid on Bulhár.

[34] The Somális themselves denied that the sickness was caused by bad water, declaring that the real cause was the bites of mosquitoes. These pests (called _Kan-ad_) are not generally present in Eastern Somáliland, but are common at certain spots on the coast between Berbera and Zeila, and on the Zeila-Harar routes, and in the Gadabursi country. They are also found near the Webbe, and when there the tribes from Berbera, who are not accustomed to mosquitoes, have a great dread of their bites, believing malarial fever to be caused by them.

[35] Adapted by Somális from the Hindustáni.

[36] The following titles were explained to me by an Abyssinian, and, though I cannot vouch for their accuracy of spelling, I jot them down:—

_Negúsa negest_, the Emperor; literally the “king of kings.” _Negús_, King. _Rás-Bitódet and Rás_, high titles ranking next to _Negús_. _Dejasmatch_, General of Division. _Kanyasmatch_, General of the Right. _Gerasmatch_, General of the Left. _Fi Taurari_, General of the Advance. _Balanbaras_, Commandant of a fortress. _Turk Basha_, General of Artillery. _Yeshi Alaka_, Chief of a thousand.

The combined camp of a large Abyssinian army is so arranged that the Emperor and various kings occupy the central camp. In front is that of several _Rás_, _Dejasmatch_, and _Taurari_; to the right several _Rás_, _Dejasmatch_, and _Kanyasmatch_; to the left several _Rás_, _Dejasmatch_, and _Gerasmatch_.

Some idea of Rás Makunan’s importance as Governor of Harar may be gained from the fact that he has under him four _Dejasmatch_, eight _Balanbaras_, four _Kanyasmatch_, nine _Gerasmatch_, and five _Fi Taurari_.

Any of the kings has apparently a chance of becoming Emperor. The present Emperor, Menelek, is also King of Shoa.

[37] The _Gu_ or spring rains; due about the middle of April.

[38] Also called Dih Wiyileh.

[39] Amhára, _i.e._ Abyssinians.

[40] It now transpires that the Italian traveller Sacconi had visited this neighbourhood, and that it was here he was killed in 1883.

[41] The Rer Amáden have inflicted loss on the Abyssinians from time to time. I saw the remains of the bivouac of an Abyssinian army which was said to have been defeated by them two or three years before my visit. The Malingúr, living in the Fáfan Valley, which is the Abyssinian eastward path of invasion, have had to give in, but not so the Amáden.

[42] By the Protocol of ’94 the Amáden tribe falls within the Italian sphere of influence.

[43] The mullahs get on with Europeans because, being the only people in Somáliland who can read and write, they have great respect for people who show nimbleness with a pencil and note-book, and who can write even on horseback; they admire pictures and photographs.

I was amused by their insisting that nearly every book I had was a “Frinji Bible”; and not till I had shown them the illustrations in one of the supposed Bibles, which was Gordon-Cumming’s _Five Years’ Adventures in South Africa_, did they realise that there are books on every subject. They all beg for _hashi_ (paper), Korans, and _tusbas_, and I gave a score of mullahs two or three quires of white foolscap to divide between them.

[44] _I.e._ “the black rock,” called after a feature in the river-bed near the wells.

[45] She had actually come back half a mile on her tracks to follow us, with what motive I know not, unless it was to see us safe off the ground. A lion will often, on seeing men in the jungle, follow them in order to mark them down and find out the site of their karia, with a view to future seizures of cattle or human beings.

[46] Between the Tug Fáfan and Milmil we were very much annoyed by two kinds of gadfly, the camels, whenever they were halted, throwing themselves down and rolling, with the result that a great deal of kit was broken. There are two kinds—the _balaad_, a small, grayish black fly the size of a common house-fly, with triangular wings, very dangerous to camels, often causing eventual death; and the _dúg_, as large as a bumblebee, which stings both men and animals, and is present in great numbers, only ceasing its persecutions by night. It is not so dangerous to camels as _balaad_. I learned, on sending specimens to be examined at the British Museum, that neither of these flies have anything whatever to do with the “Tsetse” of South Africa, which belongs to an entirely different family.

[47] These people are a great encumbrance in the movable karias of the nomads, and if they stay there, unless they have relations who will befriend them, they soon die, or are eaten up by the packs of hyænas which haunt the outskirts of the encampments at night. In the hope of gaining a permanent sanctuary they travel painfully great distances to the nearest mullah villages; hence the large number of cripples and sick that are to be found in these settlements.

[48] I call this tree the casuarina, because of its resemblance to a tree so called which is common in India. Having lost my botanical collection in the Webbe I cannot accurately identify it.

[49] The various kinds of game, although unable to get at the water lying at the bottom of the deep wells, visit them at night on the chance of finding water standing at the surface, left in the excavated clay troughs after flocks have been watered.

[50] The people here played a characteristic pleasantry upon me. I found it difficult to buy a sheep, and had quite given up all hope of getting mutton for my men, when one was at last driven up to my tent; the owner of the sheep said he had heard I wanted one, and that having been some distance off he could not come till now. I bought the sheep for two pieces of cloth. Half an hour later its throat began to swell up, and my men showed the marks where it had been bitten by an _abéso_, a very poisonous snake, whilst grazing. Half an hour later it was dead, its neck having swollen to a tremendous size. By this time, of course, the owner of the sheep had vanished!

[51] The bush being chiefly of low, flat-topped mimósas, spreading into foliage about four feet from the ground, a man walking erect has little chance of seeing the game first, unless he stops and bends down to look along the ground at every few paces.

[52] Many Arabic words are incorporated into the Somáli language, and many more are used by Somális only when talking to strangers.

[53] Of these Somáli antelopes, no less than five have been described as new species since 1891, namely, hartebeest, Clarke’s antelope, the red hill antelope called _Baira_, and three dwarf antelopes of the genus _Madoqua_.

[54] _Rusa aristotelis._

[55] Not long after my second visit to the Webbe, Major Wood pushed into the country across the river, and was successful in bringing to England the trophies of these giraffes.

[56] _I.e._ a “wise man,” elder, or petty chief.

[57] These stores should be sewn up in small bags, each to contain a fortnight’s supply.

[58] The stony nature of much of the country renders these necessary.

[59] There are two kinds of pad saddles used by Arab coolies in Aden, a large one for the baggage camel and a smaller and neater one for the fast camel. Neither have stirrups, as an Arab coolie presses his feet into the groove of the camel’s neck, a very comfortable way of riding.

[60] These rates are what would be given to men highly skilled at their duties; the great thing to avoid is spoiling the market for other travellers.

[61] A disadvantage of the Arab camel is that until it has been a few months in Somáliland it may not settle down to its new climatic conditions and change of food.

[62] It must be remembered that there are generally more sporting parties than lions near the coast, and the game is being driven farther and farther towards the distant interior every year; so it is necessary to go to unexplored tribes to get good sport.

INDEX

Abadigal, Banagúsé’s headman, 166

Abbárso camp, 101

Abbasgúl, 122, 136, 195; raided by Habr Awal, 195

Abdul Ishák, 88

Abdul Káder, 131, 217, 220, 221, 229

Abonsa in the Harar Highlands, 138

Abósa, 143

Abud, Captain, 15, 19; at Hargeisa, 259

Abyssinians, 230, 267, 279; threaten to attack Hargeisa, 101; leader, Banagúsé, 111; scouting for, 126; soldiers seize our men and camels, 147; and the Esa tribe, 149; threaten to attack author’s party, 167; general, 167; raids, 168, 169; dealings with foreigners, 182; ambition, power, influence, 183

_Adad_ thorn bushes, 208, 370

Adadleh, 291

Adan Yusuf, caravan leader, 156, 165, 202

Aden, 257, 291; garrison, 78

Adone, 23, 223, 224, 227, 276

Ahmed Abdalla, Sultán, 138

Ain Valley, 93

Alaka Gobau Desta, 178

_Alakud_ or klipspringer, 318

Aleyadéra nala, 121

Ali Hirsi, author’s hunter, 79, 299

Ali Maan, 115, 158

Allegiri tribe, 94

Aloe plants, 13

Aloes and thorn jungle, ruins rise from, 95

Amáden, 228

Amhára or Abyssinians, 201, 204, 227

Amháric letter from Rás Makunan, 152

_Ammodorcas clarkei_, 310

Antelopes, 298

Ant-hills, 102, 306

_Aoul_ gazelle, description of, 314

Arab salutation “_Salaam aleikum_,” 9; immigrations, 21; pony taken from Bombay as experiment by author, 131

Arabian trotting camel, author’s, 165

Arasama, sub-tribe of Dolbahanta, 93, 96

Armadader aloe undergrowth, 111

_Armo_ creeper, 49, 247, 371; food of elephants, 70

Aror, 126

Arregéd, a deep ravine in Bur Dab Range, 96

Arroweilo, 27

Arroweilo legend, 26, 27

Arrto; loss of Count Porro’s expedition, 152

Arussi Gállas, 223, 230, 263

Assa Range, 41

Au Ismail, 133

_Aukál_, or elders, 81

Aulihán Somális, 210, 267, 273, 307; country, 326

Au Mahomed Sufi, the Somáli Sheikh, 128

Awálé Yasin injured, 158

Awáré, 283

Ayyal Yunis traders, 164

Ba (tribal collective prefix), 20; Awal, 20; Habr, 20; Gailoh, 20; Ambaro (or sons of Ambaro), 21; Gadabursi elders, 79, 84

Baboons, 143, 249, 273, 327

Badgers, 329

Badwein (Big Tank) in the Dolbahanta country, 27; march to, 95

Bahgoba camels stolen, 113

_Baira_ antelope described, 321

Bakáwa, ascent of, 97

Baker, Sir Samuel, 116

Banagúsé, Abyssinian general, 120, 142, 165; his history, 169; threatens to arrest author, 165; is beaten in the game, 167

Ban-ki-Aror Plain, 122

Banyéro Mountain, 249, 251

Barkad Gerád, 95

Basha-Basha, Abyssinian general, 130, 177; reported killed, 278

Baudi, Captain, 210, 224

Beads, 281, 347

Bér, 92; return to, 97

Berbera, 2, 223, 257, 361; start from, 45, 259; Maritime Plain, 51; taken over by British Government, 75

Bergéli, 93

Bertiri tribe, 20, 120, 136, 142, 167

_Billeil_, 194, 207, 289, 370

Birds on the Wagar Mountains, 98; varieties of, 328

Biyo-Kabóba, Abyssinian fort, 114, 152

Blood-feud, 14

Blood-money, 13

Boh, our Esa guide, 151

Boho, 83

Bohol-Káwulu, 113

Bombay Infantry sepoys, 86

Bombós, 122

Bone-setting by the Somális, 159

Botanical collection lost, 277

Bottigo, Captain, 222

Bottor Valley, 111

British influence, effect of, 118

_Bubalis swaynei_, first shot, 100

Buffalo, 228, 273, 274, 326; tracks of, 272

Buk Gégo, 116

Bulhár, 55, 78, 116, 299, 363; under Mr. Morrison’s charge, 81; burnt to the ground, 121; march to, 156

Bur Dab Range, 90, 92, 295

Burka, 265, 307

Bur’o, 92

Burton, Sir Richard, his first expedition to Somáliland, 78

Burton’s book, _First Footsteps in East Africa_, 102, 181

Bushbuck, 262, 268, 273, 277; description of, 308

Bustards, 328

Cabul tents, 185, 341

Cahaigne, Taurin, Monseigneur, 24, 181

Camelman scared, 93

Camels, 8, 13, 29, 30, 32, 33; varieties of, 33; buying and selling, 224, 346; meat, 113; killed by hyæna, 205; load for, 336

Camera and outfit, 343, 345

Candeo, Signor, 210, 224

Caravans, 2, 38; our caravan imprisoned, 144

Carrington’s, Colonel, expedition, 157

Caves at Jebel Hákim, 184

Cecchi, Signor, Italian Consul-General, 156, 181

Cedar forests explored, 98

Centipedes, 329

Clarke’s gazelle, 241, 310

Clarke, T. W. H., 91

Climate of Somáliland, 371

Clothes suitable for Somáliland, 345

_Cobus ellipsiprymnus_, 307

Cowasjee Dinshaw Brothers, 346

Crocodiles, 262, 263, 277, 326

Curteis, Colonel R., 139

Czetwertynski, Boris, Prince, 5, 29

Daar-Áss Mountain, 253, 254, 255

Daba Jérissa, 282

Dagaha Todobálla, or “the Rock of the Seven Robbers,” 243

Dagahbúr in Ogádén, 27, 137, 212

Daghatto Valley, 205, 206, 209, 230

Dágo stops our caravan, 144

_Dair_ (October, November, December), 37, 276

Dambaswerer in the Rer Amáden country, 217, 222, 229

Damel Plain, 55; sight elephants, 63

Danakil tribe, 278

_Darémo_, 124

Dárud, 20

Daud Gerhajis, 21

Daura reports death of Awálé Yasín, 158; and the rhinoceros, 199; his tragic death, 238

Delamere, Lord, 259

Denleh, 210

Deria Hassan, my gunbearer, 74, 199

Deria Shiré, son of important elder of Shiré Shirmáki, 86

Dhows, 37

_Dibáltig_, open recognition of the authority of a sultan, etc., 15, 104; in our honour, 129, 220, 240

_Dibatag_, or Clarke’s gazelle, description of, 309

Dibiri-Wein country, 158

Digan, 157

Digwein, 295, 296

Dik-Dik antelopes described, 319

Dímis, 89

Division of classes in Somáliland, 4

Dobóya, 122

Dofaré, march to, 139

_Dól_, or bushbuck, 262, 308

Dólababa, 236

Dolbahanta tribe, 20, 21; country—reconnoitre trade routes, 90

Donkeys, 3, 35; killed by lion, 285

Dubár, 90

Dubbi Harré, Arussi Gálla chief, 265, 276

Dubbur, 91, 138

Dubburro, 139

Ducks, 189

Dúd Libah, or the “Lion’s Forest,” 236

Durhi, 202, 204, 205, 210, 236

_Durr_, 124, 200, 214, 240; grass, 284

E⸺ (Captain E. J. E. Swayne), 90

Eagles, 328

Egyptians evacuate Somáli coast, 78

Eidegalla tribe, 15, 21, 41, 241, 283

Eil Ánod, 85

Eil Bhai, 142

Eil Dab (rocky well), 94

Eil-ki-Gabro, 203

Eilo, a mountain in the Gadabursi country near Zeila, 10

Eil Sheikh, 82, 84, 85, 89, 157

Elephant, looking for tracks, 47; feeding, 52; method of hunting by natives, 116

Elephants (_Maródi_), 46, 55, 60, 111, 115, 205; at Jalélo, 56; shooting, Hembeweina river, 59; height of one at shoulder shot at, 58, 76; sight herd of sixty, 60; death of the big cow, 64; a wounded bull, 67; feeding on _armo_ creeper, 73; in the Daghatto Valley, 206; description of, 209, 294

Élinta Kaddo, 140

Elmas Mountain, 80, 157

Emir Abdillahi, 119

Enleh, 211, 213

_Equus grévyi_, 204; description of, 322; _nubianus_, description of, 322

Esa insist they are British subjects, 149

Esa tribe, 10, 20, 24, 41, 115, 152; country entered by author, 115

Esmán Abdi seized by leopard, 162

Ethnology, 1

Expeditions, fitting out, 331; expenses, 346

Exports of Somáliland, 376

Fáf in Ogádén, 38

Fáfan river, 259

Farur Gerád Hirsi, 172

Felter, Signor, 178, 181, 185

Feyambiro, 177; on the road to, 185

Fitting out expeditions, 331

Flowers at Tawáwur, 98

Fodwein Bluff, 90

Foxes, 233, 329

French sphere of influence, 77, 153

Frogs, 199

Gabba Oboho, the Adone chief, 224, 226, 258

Gabratagli, an Abyssinian agent of Menelek, 167, 169, 177

Gabriel Guigniony, 181

Gadabursi tribe, 20, 24, 34, 116; country, 25, 295; start for, 112; author leaves the country, 115

Gadfly, 240, 329

Gadíd, a man born at noon, 21

Gagáb wells, 282

Gaha Pass, 42

Gálla graves, 26; cairns, 94; history, 181; country, 210

Gállaland, project to explore, 155, 258, 276

Gállas, 8, 22, 23, 223, 228, 230, 259, 272, 276

Gán Libah, 99, 241, 243

Garabad, 205, 206, 210

Garasleh stream, 152

Garba-aleh pool, 202, 203

Garbadir, 253

Garodki Mayagód, 124

_Gáshán_, or shield, 10

“Gáshánbúr,” or “brothers of the shield,” 21

Gáwa Pass, 25

_Gazella sœmmeringi_, 314; _spekei_, 316; _pelzelni_, 317

Gebili, pass through, 111

Gédi or march, 21

Géli, author’s gunbearer, 132, 156, 189, 243, 283

Geographical names, 373

_Gerasmatch_, or General of the Left, 178

_Gerenúk_, see Waller’s Gazelle

Géri tribe, 20, 113, 136

Geríré Gállas, 156, 263

Gerlogubi, in distant Ogádén, 78, 138

German mission station, 22; missionaries, 22

Gildessa, 75, 148; exciting time at, 144

Gilimiss, 261

Giraffe, 228, 326

Goats, 36

_Gób_ trees eighty feet high, 127

Gobau Desta sent to Gildessa to meet author, 152; reads Sir R. Burton’s book to Rás, 181

Gojar under Gureis Mountain, 168, 170

Golbánti on the Tana river, 22

Gólis Range, 3, 46, 55, 90, 241, 244, 365

Gol Wiyileh, or the “Valley of Rhinoceroses,” 200

Goose shot, 142

Gosaweina, 96

Government explorations, 77

_Graphic_ exhibited to natives, 201

Grasses, 124

Grave of a chief, 126

Graves, 21, 25; description of, 93

Greater koodoo shooting at Mandeira, 242; description of, 302

Grevy’s zebra, 204, 312

_Gu_ (May and June), 36, 230

Guban, 55, 244, 294, 307, 316; or Lowland gazelle, 317

_Gudá_ timber, 55, 115, 243, 244, 255

Gudaweina, 125

Guigniony, M., a French merchant, 181

Guinea-fowl, 244, 282, 328

Gulanleh, 55, 56, 59, 72

Guldu Hamed, mullah village at Upper Sheikh, 25, 91

Gumbur Dúg Hill, 140, 164

Gumbur Wedel Hill, 133

Gum-pickers, 216

_Gurgi_, 2

Gypsum rock, 92

Habr (tribal collective prefix), 20

Habr Awal, 20, 24, 77, 87, 127; Gerhajis, 20, 21, 41, 53, 79, 86, 88, 127; Toljaala, 20, 77, 91; march through the country, 97, 211

Haddáma, 134

Hadji Adan, our Esa guide, 151, 277

Hádo, a visit to, by author, 173, 186

_Haga_ (July, August, September), 37, 121; wind, 121

Haines or Shabéleh river, 222

_Halal_, 218

Haljíd, 211; march to, 199

Haraf, four miles from Hargeisa, 121, 139

Harar, 2, 22, 223, 295; captured by Abyssinians, 119; visited by author, 177

Harasáwa Valley, description of, 114

Hares, 329

Hargeisa in the Habr Awal country, 4, 7, 17, 55, 121, 139, 211; description of town, 100

Harrawa Valley, 25

Harris, W. B., 23

Harrison, Captain, 139

Hartebeest, new variety first shot, 100; vast herds of, 102, 122, 142, 163, 172; description of, 305

Harka-weina, 247

_Hassádan_ trees, seventy feet high, 98, 370

Hassan, my gunbearer, 20, 156

Haud, 39, 284, 298, 367; Plateau crossed, 122, 129, 291

Hegebo, near Berbera, 364

Helmók Valley, 175

Hemál, under the Bur Ad Range, 115; journey from, to Ali Maan, 116

Hembeweina river at Jalélo, 56, 59, 69

Henweina Valley, 247, 252, 253

_Hérios_, or camel-mats, 346

Hippopotami, 228, 268, 326

Hug, in the mountainous Jibril Abokr country, 26

Huguf Pass, 97

Hulkabóba, shooting camp, 45

Hunting leopard or chitah, 281

Hussein-bin-Khalaf of Karanleh, 260

Hussein Debeli, my head tracker, sees elephant, 57

Hyænas, 193, 202, 203, 240, 261, 275, 281, 286; stabbed by author, 195; description of, 325

Ibrahim, author’s servant, speared through his hand, 181

Ibrahim Gúri has camels, sheep, etc., stolen by Abyssinians, 173

“Ideal” camera, 166

Imé on the Webbe, 137, 210, 211, 221, 223, 258; author’s visit to, 222, 225

Imports of Somáliland, 376

_Ingrés_ (or English), 204

Insects, 98, 329

Ishák tribes, 20, 26

Ismail, 20

Issutugan river-bed, 55; river, 56, 78, 294

Italian sphere of influence, 78

Instruments (scientific), 353

Jackals, 329

Jaléo, 56

Jáma, my hunter, sitting on the dead lioness, 106; Deria, the minstrel of the Rer Amáden, 217, 261

James, F. L., his exploring party, 78, 222, 229, 295, 368

Jarso, 169, 184

Jebel Hakim visited, 182; wonderful caves, 184

Jeráto Pass, 88, 241, 243

Jibril Abokr, sub-tribe of Habr Awal, 24, 41, 90, 98, 120, 243

Jibúti, French port, 149, 182

Jig-Jiga, 111, 120, 165, 170, 186, 187, 211

_Jilál_ (January to April), 36, 163, 191

_Jilib_, or family, 21

Jopp, General, Resident at Aden, 181

_Jowári_, 100, 226, 228, 260

Juba river, 228; sources, 155, 228, 258

Júk, 163

Kabri Bahr, waterless march to, 157

_Kalíl_ season, 37, 163

Kanyasmatch Basha-Basha, 176

Karam, 97

Karanleh on the Webbe, 22, 228, 259, 269

_Karia_, or temporary village, 2

Karin Marda, 174

Kásin Ishák clan, 88

_Khansa_ bushes, or umbrella mimósa, 4, 124, 157, 208, 233, 287, 370

Kheidub-Ayéyu, 126

Khoda Bux, 80

Kirrit, 26; well reached, 92

Kites, 328

Klipspringer, 54, 318

Kondurá, 174

Koodoo shooting, 47, 116, 204, 241, 246; description of, 302

Koran, 17; given to natives, 202; price of, 354

_Kumá_ (Who are you?), 196

Kuredelli in the Jerer Valley, 188, 195, 196

Lámu, 23

Las Damel, 205

Lee-Metford rifle, 214, 282

Leopards, 95, 160, 209; first one shot, 100; stalking a goat in our camp, 101; sport with, 160, 281; one seizes Esmán Abdi, 162; sitting up for one, 165; seizes gazelle and is shot, 198; jumps into camp, 202; killed at Garba-aleh pool, 203; description of, 323

Lesser koodoo, 54, 121, 204, 277; in the Jerer Valley, 199; description of, 303

Lions, 124, 205, 218, 279, 284; killed by the Midgáns, 4; tracks of, 54; roaring of, awake us, 68; stalking herds of antelope, 103; wounds author, 105; fine one killed by E⸺, 109; haunts of, 123; sleeping ten yards from author, 129; tracking and shooting of one by author, 233; seizes sleeping woman, 204; exciting hunt, 234; attack on a man, 278; finest one shot, 288; length of skin, 236, 288; description of, 292

Lioness doing sentry, 284

_Lithocranius walleri_ described, 312

Lizards, 329

Locusts, 98

Lower Nogal, 307

Loyi-Ada, between Jibúti and Zeila, boundary of English and French influence, 153

Maaruf, opposite Karanleh, 263

Mader Adan, 202

_Madoqua swaynei_ described, 319; _phillipsi_ described, 319; _guentheri_ described, 319

Mahamúd Gerád, sub-tribe of the Dolbahanta, 41, 42, 92

Mahomed Liba, a chief of Rer Ali tribe, 127

Malcolm Jones, Mr., 156

Malingúr, 156, 204, 205, 210, 259

Mandalay, 90

Mandeira, 54, 89, 242, 243, 295

Map for Government completed, 89

Marar Prairie, 25, 142, 158, 162, 211, 268, 369; commencement of, 102

Marda Pass, 173

Marehán tribe, 20

Maritime Plain, 53

Maritime Range, 53, 91, 294, 364

Marriage laws, 12

Masai raids, 22

Massleh Wein, 253

Menelek, Emperor, 169

Methodist Mission at Golbánti, 22

Midgáns, 3, 4, 72, 140, 325; method of hunting lion, 293; method of hunting oryx, 299

Midjerten tribe, 20

Milmil, 121, 128, 283; caravans, 41

Mirso, 45, 90, 252

“Moga Medir” rock, mentioned by Sir Richard Burton, 102

Monkeys, 263, 273, 328

Monsoon, or _Gu_, 37, 218

Morrison, D. (the late), 80, 81, 82

Mosquitoes, 204

Mules on the Zeila-Harar road, 34

Mullahs, 4

Músa Abokr, 92

Mussulmans, 9, 218, 324; teaching, 16

Náno, 204, 211

Native councils, 14

Ngai (German mission station), 22

Nogál country, 94

Nomadic tribes, 2, 39

Núr Osman, my camelman, 47, 48, 53, 56

Núr Róbleh of Karanleh, 260, 264, 265

Obok, 278

Ogádén, 2, 4, 20, 182, 202, 276, 294, 298, 307, 316; graves, 94

Ogo country, 3, 41, 54, 307, 316

Ogo-Gudan, 55

_Oreotragus megalotis_ described, 321; _saltator_, 317

Oryx hunting on foot, 4, 163; hide shield, 4; shoot two fine bulls and two cows, 56; tracks, 69; herds of, 102, 122, 136, 163, 205, 216, 241; in the Jerer Valley, 199; at Náno, 204; description of, 298, 325

Ostrich feather worn by Esa who has killed a man, 11

Ostriches, 56, 132, 133, 157, 199; see seventeen, 110; description of, 325

Outfit, 346

Paget, Col. Arthur, 91, 92, 261, 307; threatened attack on, 170

Panjábis enlisted at Aden, 83

Panther, see Leopard

“Paradox” gun, 209, 287

Partridges, 328

Pelzeln’s gazelle, 317

Photographic outfit, 343

Physical geography of Somáliland, 361

Plants and trees, 369

Plateau gazelles, 56, 317

Ponies, description of, 34

Porro, Count, expedition of, 152

Purchase of tent, rifles, etc., 341

Rabbits, 329

Raiding tribes, 41

Raids, Somális and Gállas, 41

Rain, deluge of, 139, 218

Rainy season, 37

Rás Makunan, governor of Harar, 147, 231, 241; his orders to treat British travellers with courtesy, 168; visit to Shoa, 168; visit to Rome, 178; expresses great friendship for the British, 181; author’s farewell visit to, 183

Rations for natives, 348

Ravens, 328

Remington rifles, 144

Rer (tribal collective prefix), 20

Rer Ali tribe, 12, 20, 188, 212; wealth of, 283

Rer Amáden, 136, 156, 212, 216

Rer Harún, 128, 137, 211

Rer Dahir Farah, sub-tribe, 20

Rer Dollol and their camels, 102

Rer Gédi, 134

Rer Guléd (family), 21

Rer Haréd spies, 111; robbers, 113

Rer Mattan (clan), 21

Rer Samanter karias, 139

Rer Shirmáki Adan, 21

Rer Yunis Jibril, 101

Rhinoceros, first one shot, 132; shoot fine bull, 133; horns as sword handles, drinking cups, etc., 148; horns given as present to Rás Makunan, 148; author’s adventure with, 190, 200; drinking, 191; plentiful in Jerer Valley, 198; at Náno, 204; description of, 297

Rhinoceros bird, 32

Rhinoceros Valley, or Dih Wiyileh, 200

Rifle kicks and injures author, 64; ·577 used to shoot lion, 109; Lee-Metford, success of, 215; Winchester “Express,” 214

Rifles, the battery to take, 343

Róbleh, 21

Rock rabbits, 329

Rowland Ward, Mr., 247; examines new gazelle, 310

Ruins, 22; at Badwein, 95

Ruspoli, Prince, 170, 223, 261, 265, 281

Saad Yunis, 92

Said Harti, 21

_Sakáro_ antelopes, 63, 87, 243; description of, 319

Sala Asseleh, 143

Sala, Mr., an Italian traveller, 115

“_Salaam aleikum_” (Peace be with you), 87

Salimbeni, Count, 178

Samani, 219

Samanter, 20, 126; my interpreter, 88

Samawé ruins, 25; tomb, 25

Sarar-awr (camel-back plateau), 86

Sattáwa, halt at, to form camp, 114

Sclater, Dr., 305

Scorpions, 329

Segag, 210

Sen Morettu, 261, 263, 277

Seton Karr, 157

Seyyid Mahomed, 259

Seyyid Mahomed’s town, 4, 259

Shabéleh, 136, 258

Shafei Mussulman, 20

Sheep, 2, 36; export of, 3

Sheikh, 90; Pass, 45

Sheikh Mattar, the chief of Hargeisa, 7, 17, 101, 121, 156, 259

Shendil, 275

Shield, 10, 297

Shírdone Yunis, 80

Shiré Shirmáki, 69, 71

Shirmáki Adan and his fifty-two children, 21

Shoa, 168

_Shúm_, or petty officer, visits author, 164

_Sirkal_ (Government official), 43, 196

Sisai, at the back of Wagar, 97

Snakes, 329

Sobát, twelve miles from Jalélo, 59

Sœmmering’s gazelle, vast herds of, 102, 122, 133, 142, 157, 164, 172; shoot two right and left, 164; at Náno, 204; shot with Lee-Metford, 214; description, 315

So Madu, arrival of mail bag, 153

So Midgán, 85

Somáli tribes, 1, 21, 22; the, his character, 7, 17; salutation “_Nabad_,” 9; religion, costume, weapons, superstitions, and nomenclature, 10; women, wonderful powers of endurance, 12; language, 17; origin, 19; nicknames, 21; seasons, 36; trade, 374

Spears, 10

Spear-throwing, 218

Spiders, 329

Sporting battery, 343

Squirrels, 262, 329

Stace, Lieut.-Col., 376

Storks, 328

_Strepsiceros imberbis_ (lesser koodoo), 243, 303

Subbul hills, 111, 162

Sultán Deria, 21

Swahili race, 23

Swayne, Captain E. J. E., assists me in the survey, 90

Swayne’s hartebeest first shot, 100; description of, 305

Sword hunters, 116

Syk, in the high Ogo country, 88, 244

Taala Gálla, or Gálla cairns, 26, 91

Tana river, 23

Taurin Cahaigne, Monseigneur, of Harar, 24, 181

Tawáwur (nearly seven thousand feet), 97

Temperature, 37, 38, 372; at Sisai, 97

Temple, supposed work of Gállas, 95

Tents, 341; Cabul, 185, 341; description of Basha-Basha’s, 175

Theodolite station, 90

Thirst, effect on domestic animals, 123

Ticks, 34

Tobe, 9, 287

Tomal, 3

Toyo Plain, 42, 297

Trade of Somáli, 375

Traders, 2

Trading caravans, 2

_Tragelaphus decula_, 308

Treaty between British Government and Somális, 77

Trees, 370

Trophies, preparation of, 359

Tug Dér, wells, 91

Túli, 132; march to, 201

_Tusbas_, scented prayer-chaplets, 220

Tusks of Somáli elephant smaller than those of southern ones, 76

Ugaz Núr, 114

Ujawáji, 101, 120, 162

Umr Ugaz, 205, 261

Upper Sheikh, 91

Vultures, 113, 215, 275, 328

Vulturine guinea-fowls at the wells, 94

Wa-berri (from _berri_, morning), 21

_Wádi_ thorn-trees, 163

Wagar Mountain, 46, 97, 303

Waller’s gazelle, 56, 133, 201, 204, 237, 321; seized by panther, 198; shot with Lee-Metford, 214; killed by leopard, 281; description of, 312

Walsh, L. P., assistant Resident at Aden, 78, 148

Wandi, chief of police at Harar, 184

Wapokómo negroes of the Tana, 23

Warda-Gumaréd, one of the great trade arteries, 123

Waredad Plain, 96, 294

Waror, 133; description of wells, 135

Warsama Dugál, a chief of the Ba-Gadabursi, 85

Warsingali tribe, 20

Wart-hog, 126, 243, 254, 278; kill fine one near camp, 64, 278; description of, 324

Water, method of getting, 92, 135; supply statistics, 122; wells, 241

Water-bottles made by natives, 10

Waterbuck, 228, 261, 268, 275, 276; swims across stream, 269; description of, 307

Webbe Shabéleh river, 23, 38, 210, 307; first journey to, 186, 213, 223, 226, 228; second journey to, 258; crossing the river, 264

Wild asses, 56; description of, 323

Wild boar, see Wart-hog

Wild dog, 326

Wolverton, Lord, 261

Women appeal for help against the Abyssinians, 127

Wood, Major C. E. W., 326

Yahia, a Somáli, 265, 276

Yebir, 3

Yemen, 182

Yirrowa, 90

Yoáleh, 127

Yoghol hill, 25

Yunis, author’s guide, 216

Zebra, trying to catch young one, 216

Zebras, 204, 205, 214, 237; description of, 322

Zeila, 24, 151, 153, 362; under British Consul, 78; exploration into the hills, 89; march to, 115

Zeríba, 2, 20, 126, 200, 236; arrangement of, 357

Zoological Society _Proceedings_ shown to natives, 229

THE END

_Printed by R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, Edinburgh._