Africa by Élisée Reclus/Volume 4/Chapter 12
CHAPTER XII.
SOMALI AND EAST GALLA LANDS.
HIS easternmost region of Africa projects in rude peninsular form beyond the normal continental coast-line, in such a way as to skirt for some 600 miles the south side of the Gulf of Aden, which separates it from the far larger Arabian peninsula on the north. Few other African lands present an equal degree of geographical unity, both as regards its main physical outlines and the homogeneous character of its unruly nomad populations. Taken as a whole, Somali Land constitutes a region of triangular shape, which is bounded on the north by the Gulf of Aden, on the east and south-east by the reefs and shores of the Indian Ocean as fur us the Tana estuary, and on the west, that is, landwards, by the little known and rarely visited mountain range which forms the outer escarpment of the inland plateaux from Mount Kenia to Wosho and the Ankober highlands.
This extensive tract, which has o superficial area of over 400,000 square miles, is inhabited by tribal groups which present great uniformity of type, language, and usages, from one end of the territory to the other. They even appear to have maintained the same uniformity, or at least to have undergone but slight change since the remote ages recorded on the ancient Egyptian monuments.
Progress of Exploration.
Although it has been known for thousands of years to history, the Somali domain has remained almost entirely excluded from the sphere of European influences, which have elsewhere made themselves felt in nearly all regions washed by the marine waters. The geographical exploration of the country is even still very far from being completed. Students of historical geography are unacquainted with the itineraries both of Jorge de Abreu, who accompanied an Abyssinian army to the shores of Lake Zuai in 1525, and of Antonio Fernandez, who traversed this region a century later. On the other hand, the routes of the modern explorers who have penetrated farther inland — Cruttenden, Burton, James, Von der Decken, Brenner, Menges, Révoil, Paulitschke, Mokhtar Bey — stop far short of the mountain range bounding the plateaux of Gallaland, nor have they yet been connected with those laid down by d'Abbadie, Des Avanchers, Cecchi, Traversi, and other recent travellers in the Abyssinian and Shoa highlands. A broad zone of unvisited lands still separates the northern and southern networks, whereas the various systems of itineraries for the most part already overlap each other in the other little known regions of the African continent.
Unfortunately the present political condition of Somali Land renders the exploration
of the interior both difficult and dangerous. The division of the tribes into numerous distinct clans also obliges travellers to pay a considerable amount of blackmail, levied by every little village potentate under the form of presents or other pretexts at every station along the route. Moreover, strangers have to adapt themselves, as everywhere throughout tropical Africa, to a more or less dangerous climate, which, however, thanks to the dryness of the atmosphere, is here less fatal than in most other torrid zones. Other terrors also dog their steps, and several PHYSICAL FEATURES OF SOMALI LAND. 879 have already fallen victims either to tho hardships of the route or to the assassin's dagger. Owing to all the^e obstacles it seems improbable that the country* can be thoroughly known in all the details of its relief until the towns along its seaboard have been occupied by Europeans, and regular trade routes with the inland districts opened by them, either as allies of friendly tribes or as military masters of the land. Already at the time of the Khedive Ismail Pasha, when the Egyp- tians had taken possession of the Upper Nile basin as far as the frontiers of Uganda, they also endeavoured to establish their supremacy on the Somal coast. Their fleets made their appearance before some of the ports along the seaboard ; but ]Jritish intervention prevented the modern Pharaohs from annexing to their empire the land of aromatic herbs. At present the struggle for political ascendancy is mainly confined to the rival British and German nationalities. The Germans have officially annexed the south coast, where they have already " baptized " a port by the eccentric name of HohenzoUern-hafen. The English reign supreme throughout the whole of the northern regions lying over against their formidable stronghold of Aden. The island of Sokotra, which commands at once both coasts, is also regarded by them as British territory. Physical Features. Nothing beyond conjectures can be hazarded regarding the main axis of the mountain range which stretches from Kenia northwards in the direction of the Abyssinian highlands. We do not even yet know how far north runs the great fault or lacustrine depression flanked by volcanoes which traverses Masai Land, separating the sections of the plateau between the Victoria Nyanza and oceanic watersheds. According to the reports of the natives it seems probable that this extensive fissure scarcely extends beyond the lacustrine plain of Zaniburu. North of this shallow basin the mountain ranges, running in the direction from south- west to north-east, that is, parallel with the shores of the Indian Ocean, seem to be disposed in separate ridges at different elevations, whose terraced crests thus present the aspect of steps ascending, like the Indian ghats, to the inland plateaux. Above one of these ridges towers the Mount Wosho, which d'Abbadie beheld at a distance of 150 miles. Farther north Cecchi and Chiarini in 1879, after crossing the border ranges with a mean altitude of from 9,000 to 10,000 feet, descended from the plateau above which rises Mount Wariro, and thence made iheir way over a piss down to the lower terraces which send their surface waters to the basin of the Webi. Still farther north two parallel chains of extinct volcanoes enclose a lacustrine depres- sion, where are found three lakes which have been seen from a distance by the Italian explorers. The northernmost of these basins is that of Lake Zuai (6,000 feet), which was till recently supposed to be an affluent of the Awash river. Now, however, it is known to receive several tributaries from the north, amongst others 830 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. the Katara, doHcribcJ as an "immense" river. According to native report the Zuai comnmnicatc-8 southwards with the second lake, which is known by the name of Ilogga, and it is quite possible that both of these reservoirs send an emissary in a southerl'v direction to the basin of tlio .Tuba. In the north the Awash also escapes towards tho phiins throuj,-h a deep mountain gorge, beyond which are seen the summits of the Shoa highhinds standing out against the horizon. Between the escarpments of the inland plateau and the seaboard, the inter- vening rcgioHs do not slope uniformly in any given direction. According to the information colli-cted by GuiUain, Wakefield, James, and other explorers, the monotony of the plains is diversified by isolated peaks, chains of hills, and rugged uplands. But in the northern part of Somali Land the ground rises from the coast inland in such a way as to develop a long ridge of irregular mountains, which are mainly disposed in a direction parallel with the shores of the Gulf of Aden, and which in their general formation resemble the chains of South Arabia on the opposite side of the gulf. Thus the volcanic heights appear to correspond oa both sides of the marine inlet. The irroup of the Ilarrar Mountains, by which the city of the same name is en- circled as by a magnificent natural amphitheatre, may be regarded as the western limit of the North Somali coast range. Mount Mulata, one of the summits lying t4» the south-west of Ilarrar, is said to attain an altitude of 10,000 feet ; while Mount llama, to the north-west of the same place, rises to the}ieight of 7,300 feet, and several other crests exceed 6,500 feet. East of these granite eminences, the waterparting between the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean becomes more uni- form with the surrounding plains. It no longer anywhere presents any imposing elevations, and even gradually merges in a vast and almost level steppe to which Burton has given the name of the " Marar Prairie," and the northern range of which falls in terraces down to the shores of the Gulf of Aden. This plateau, the ()(jii of the Somali natives, is furrowed here and there by ravines or river-beds which are now mostly waterless, and tcrminnts abruptly in the cliffs and escarp- ments of the Bar, that is to say, the northern coast range. The prevailing formation of these escarpments are granites veined with white quartz and overlain with sandstone and limestone. The rains and running waters have swept away all the vegetable soil from the upper slopes, lodging it in the cavities on the rocks, where are seen a few acacias of pale-coloured foliage, some- what resembling stunted olive-trees at a distance. The cliffs of the Bor are rent at intervals by deep gorge-like crevasses, through which, after the tropical rains, the torrents escaiK? seawards. At the foot of the escarpments stretches the Gohan, or maritime plain, with its dunes and shingle, its wadys and depressions, alternately saline and marshy. South of Berbera the coast ranges again acquire a considerable elevation, and here one of the summits, the wooded and twin-crested Gan Libash, or Toro, exceeds C,o00 feet in altitude.* A narrow pass crossing the divide between the two marine basins stands at a height of 4,500 feet. Beyond this point going eastwards the • 9,500 feet, according to Haggennutcker. * coast range draws continually nearer to the shore, and such peaks as the Golis, the Ankor (3,700 feet), the pyramidal Hais (6,100 feet), the Aïrensit (5,300 feet), near the Yaffar pass, stand at an average distance of not more than 18 or 20 miles from the sea. The intervening space is largely occupied by rocky scarps and bluffs, leaving only here and there a few narrow strips of verdure, generally near the mouths of the watercourses.
Cape Guardafui and the Somali Seaboard.
The eastern extremity of the African "Horn" is curved by deep fissures into
a number of distinct plateaux, huge quadrangular masses above which rise a few low eminences. Thus this conspicuous continental headland is limited southwards by the rocky bed of the Togueni, which trends in the direction of the Gulf of Aden, and by another fluvial ravine which drains towards the Indian Ocean. Near the western edge of this limestone plateau rises the Jebel Karoma (Kurmo), 4,000 feet high, which still bears the name in a scarcely modified form of the "Aromatic Mountain" formerly given to it by the Greek navigators. The Gor Ali, lying more to the east, has the same altitude, while another crest close to Cape Guardafui still rises 2,500 above the sea.
The famous headland itself, variously known to the Arabs as the Ras Assir and Jard-Hafûn, and to the Somali natives as the Girdif, Girdifo, or Yardaf, whence the Guardafui of European navigators, consists of a nearly vertical rocky wall rising to a height of about 900 feet above its surf-beaten base. So deep is the water at this point that vesnels might easily double the headland by keeping close inshore. Nevertheless there are few places where shipwrecks are comparatively more frequent, and where the pilot has to take his soundings more carefully in order to avoid a disaster. Hence the name of the cape has been often explained, in defiance of etymology, as derived from the Italian word "guarda," which in the lingua franca of the Levant has the sense of "beware."
During the south-west monsoon the surrounding waters are generally rough, the atmosphere is heavily laden with moisture, and the horizon is veiled in dense fogs and vapour. The marine currents are also very strong, and change their direction suddenly in the vicinity of the coast, at one time setting landwards, at another towards the high sea. Hence in the midst of these conflicting elements the navigator scarcely feels himself free from peril until he reaches depths of 30 or 40 fathoms. When a ship runs aground, the current with which it has drifted leewards almost invariably carries it to the south of the headland. Here it is generally again stranded on the shore of a creek well known to mariners, where the Somali wreckers await their prey.
Some 90 miles to the south of Cape Guardafui, another much dreaded promontory, the Uas Hafûn or Meduddu, projects seawards. This headland is formed by a quadrangular rocky islet with precipitous walls, whose summit develops an undulating table or plateau, with ridges ranging from 400 to 600 feet in height. The island is connected with the mainland by a low isthmus about 12 miles long, and overgrown with stunted brushwood. Thus are formed two open bays north and south of the isthmus, like the north and south sands at Scarborough, where the Arab craft ride at anchor alternately according to the direction of the monsoons. Owen mentions a local tradition to the effect that the Portuguese had begun to cut a canal between the two bays, in order to transform the island to an impregnable fortress.
The upheaval of the sandy spit connecting the Ras Hafûn with the adjacent coast may perhaps be due to a general phenomenon of oscillation going on all along this seaboard, for in many places old marine beaches are observed strewn with banks of fossil shells, and at some points penetrating far into the interior of the continent. The whole of this section of the coast is rock-bound except about the mouths of the torrents by which the shore-line is here and there interrupted. For a distance of over 300 miles to the south of Ras Hafûn, the seaboard is designated by the characteristic name of Barr-el-Khassain, that is to say, "Rugged band," or region of rocks. According to Owen's suggestion, this very term Khassain may perhaps be the same that appears under a corrupt form in the word Azania, already employed by the ancient Greeks, and in the expression "Land of Anjan," which occurs on the old maps.
The height of the cliffs along the coast ranges from 200 to about 400 feet, and the ravines by which they are broken at irregular intervals give access to shingly steppes where the gravel is in many places covered by a blackish silicious layer, interspersed with ferruginous nodules. These elevated plains reminded the French explorer, M. Révoil, of the appearance of the Crau formations in the south of France. A zone of upheaved coral reefs some miles in breadth, which here skirts the F present shore-line for some distance, seems to indicate a general upheaval of the
land, or else a corresponding subsidence of the sea-level in these waters. The chain of sandy dunes which still marks the line of the old beach lies some distance
Rivers.
Of all the fluvial systems in Somali Land the most important, both as regards the length of its course and the volume of its waters, is that which, under the name of Gugsa, takes its rise in the very heart of Ethiopia, and which at first describes a great bend to the north, the east, and south-east of the Tualite highlands, as if it intended ultimately to join the White Nile through its eastern tributary, the Sobat. In fact, this was the hypothesis suggested by M. Antoine d'Abbadie, who fancied that the Gugsa formed a southern pendant to the Blue Nile, which by an analogous bend described in the reverse direction, also joins the White Nile. But although no explorer has yet visited the Halal valleys and gorges through which the Uma, as it is also called in this part of its course, escapes
from the Ethiopian highlands, nevertheless the native reports are unanimous in asserting that after sweeping round the southern base of Mount Wosho, the Gugsa trends eastwards to the Galla country through a fissure in the border range. The Gugsa would therefore appear to be identical with the Dawa or Durka of the riverain pastoral and agricultural populations. It is also known as the Webi, a name which differs little from that of the Abai, or Upper Blue Nile, and which has also the same meaning of "River," or "Running Water." After its junction with several other "Webis," the Ethiopian stream at last takes the direction from north to south, reaching the Indian Ocean some 24 miles to the south of the equator. In this part of its course it is known to the Arabs as the Juba (Jub or Jeb), which has been identified with the Rio dos Fuegos of the old Portuguese navigators.
The volume of water sent down by the Juba is not sufficient to scour the estuary to any great depth. The consequence is that even vessels of light draught have great difficulty in crossing the bar by which its mouth is obstructed. In the
year 1798 an English man-of-war surveyed the waters about the entrance, but the boat which attempted to overcome this obstacle capsized and lost nearly all its crew, who were either drowned or massacred by the coast Somalis. In 1865 the explorer Von der Decken succeeded in penetrating into the river, but was soon after wrecked at the rapids. At lust the American Chaillé-Long, in the service of the Khedive, successfully crossed the bar in 1875, and ascended the river for 165 miles above its mouth. Had he not been recalled, he might have even penetrated farther inland, for the stream was still sufficiently deep beyond the point actually reached by him.
The waters of the river being arrested at its mouth by the chain of red sandhills which here fringes the coast, are displaced towards the south-west, and consequently flow in the same direction as the coastline and the neighbouring marine current. In this direction are also disposed the lateral lagoons and swampy depressions which have been developed above the estuary, and which receive the overflow from the mainstream during the periodical inundations. The river Sheri,
which takes its rise in this marshy district, and which flows south-westwards in a depression parallel with the coast and chain of dunes, seems to be nothing more than an old branch of the Juba, although the two estuaries are now separated by a distance of no less than 80 miles.
The southern estuary, known to the Somali natives by the name of Mto Bubashi, and by the English called Port Durnford, but again recently re-named Hohenzollern-Hafen by the Germans, forms an excellent harbour where the largest vessels can ride at anchor in smooth water for some miles above the bar. Off the coast and parallel with it stretches a barrier reef, which indicates the future shore-line in process of formation. Here all such physical features as sandhills, watercourses, THE WEBI RIVER. 887 beach, shoals, t.nd reefs arc uniformly disposed i:i precisely the same direction from north-east to south-west. Another Webi, like the Gugsa Webi which rises in Kaffaland, has also its chief source in Ethiopia, but farther north in the Gurage district, and on the off- shoots of the border range, some little distance south of the Awash. This Webi, or " River," which possesses no other name in geographical nomenclature, is fed by the waters of an extensive area of drainage. All the torrents between Gurage and the Ilarrar country converge towards this important watercourse ; but all do not reach the mainstream, especially in the dry season, while several are lost in saline depressions without any outflow. During the floods the Webi overflows its banks like another Nile, fertilising the rich plains of Ogaden, the " earthly paradise of Somali Land." Like the Juba, it sweeps round to the south in its lower course ; but as it approaches the coast it has no longer sufficient vigour to force its way seaward through iho intervening chain of sandhills. Hence it skirts the inner base of these dunes in a perfectly straight line for a distance of about 165 miles, and at last runs out in a marshy depression before reaching the loft bank of the Juba. Thus is presented the singular and extremely rare phenomenon of a not inconsiderable watercourse which, after vainly endeavouring to pierce the sandy barrier intercepting its seaward course, follows the inner face of this rampart, like some broad and deep moat artificially excavated for defensive purposes. This Tuni, or narrow maritime zone, separating the river from the Indian Ocean, has an average breath of scarcely more than twelve miles. The long line of sandhills is here and there strengthened by some rocky masses which are evidently upheaved reefs. All the other watercourses which, north of the Webi, traverse the Somali country as it gradually tapers towards the north-east, also fail to reach the Indian Ocean, except perhaps after unusually heavy downpours. The moisture, however, collected in their sandy beds suffices at least to nourish a somewhat scanty growth of riverain shrubs. The largest of these inland or intermittent fluvial basins has its rise immediately to the east of the Webi, in the Ilarrar mountains, and under the name of Tug Faf terminates its arrested course in a marshy depression within the territory of the Ilawiyah people. Another tug or wady, which takes its origin to the south of the Berbcra hills, runs out in the country of the Mijertin Somalis, more than IJO miles from the sea. The last of these wadys comprised within the oceanic area of drainage is the Tug Darror, or "River of Fogs," whose valley lies between the Ras Haf un and Cape Guardafui. On the slopes draining to the Gulf of Aden, the beds of the torrents are nothing more than short ravines excavated in the thickness of the escarpment. Hero running waters are as scarce as in the corresponding gorges on tie opposite coast of Arabia. Climate. In the southern district the climate of Somali Land resembles that of Zanzibar ; on the northern slope facing the Gulf of Aden, it corresponds with that of South 888 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. Arabia; towards the west, that is, on the terraces and spurs of the Ethiopian highlands, it differs little from that of Shoa. No doubt this region, taken as a whole, is comprised wiihin the influence of the north-east trade winds; but these atmosj)heric currents are frequently deflected from their normal course by the changes of barometiie pressure and temperature, by which they are attracted towards the interior, at one time of the African at another of the Arabian penin- sula. During ihj winter months of the northern hemisphere, from October to March, ihc north-east tiade winds prevuil with most uniformity, blowing at this period mainly parallel with the south-west coast of Somali Land. During the summer months the normal winds are reversed, and the monsoon then veers round towards the north-west, and even the north. Partial shiftings also deflect the atmospheric current in the direction of the west, and they are then accompanied by fogs and vapour-ehurged clouds from the Indian Ocean. The mean winter temperature ranges from about 70° to 79° or 80° F., while that of summer is seldom more than 80^ F. According to Menges, the range for the whole year scarcely exceeds an extreme deviation of 20° F. between the hot and cold sea.sons, at le ist on the Berbera coast.* The regular winter rains, which however are rarelv very copious and attended only by comparatively mild thunder storms, are due to the nortli-east monsoons, which prevail from December to March. As a rule, this season is marked rather by fair weather and clear skies, or else by light clouds, which drift over the coastlands without precipitating any moisture. The true wet season is ushered in with the southern monsoon, which lasts from April to July or August, and which is accompanied by tremendous hurricanes beating furiously against this exposed seaboard. Farther inland the mostly waterless wadys and torrents are now flushed by the tropical downpours, and the arid wastes bloom again for a brief interval. This rainy period, tlie (jn or (jngi of the Somali, is followed by the haga, when the skies are overcast, but no moisture falls, and the surface of the land resumes its usual arid aspect. The cycle of the seasons is completed by the dair, the coldest j)eriod, and the Ji/<i/, a dry month which precedes the return of the heavy rains. These van(»us seasons are delayed in the direction from east to west, that is to say, from the coastlands towards the inland plateaux ; but here the rain-bearing clouds, being arrested by the slopes of the mountains, discharge a more abundant rainfall than along the seaboard. The average annual rainfall on the Shoa highlands is estimated at about forty inches. Flora. In the low-lying districts the soil, being badly watered, is naturally unproduc- tive except in a few favoured localities, where the vegetation vies in splendour and exuberance with that of the Indian seaboard under the same latitudes. But elsewhere the few scanty wells or reservoirs and rivulets of brackish water are msutticicnt to support anything beyond a poor stunted flora scattered thinly over • November 28th, at night, 68° F. April 2nd during the day, 89° to 90° F. * FAUNA OF SOMAI.I LAND. 889 wide spaces. Along the seacoast little is seen but the plants characteristic of alkaline soils, except in the vicinity of the wadj's, which are often fringed with leafy trees. On the hills and uplands the prevailing forms are gum-yielding acacias, mimosius, euphorbias, and the aromatic growths from which are obtained the frankincense and myrrh of commerce, and for which this region, like the opposite coast of Arabia, has always been famous. Some authorities have even derived the very word myrrh itself from the Mnrehan (properly Mnrreyhau) tribe, in whose territory it is obtained in the greatest perfection, although it seems more probably connected with a Semitic root mar, or mur, meaning " bitter." Another curious member of this family is the Oltbanum, or BoswcUia, which grows on the bare rocks, to which its white roots seem glued as with a coating of mastic. Nevertheless a leafy .vegetation becomes continually more prevalent in the direction of the south. Clumps of the date-palm occur only in the neighbourhood of the coast towns ; but even here the fruit never comes to maturity, the Somali not having yet learnt the art of fertilising the female plant, an art of which the Arab date merchants are careful to keep them in ignorance. The dura palm is met in a few isolated spots, but the banana is nowhere seen beyond the gardens of the seaboard district. On the uplands of the interior, botanists have collected a large number of new species. Here some of the more abundantly watered mountain slopes, such as those of Gan Libash, present a magnificent vegetation rivalling in beautv that of the Abyssinian highlands. In these districts the naturalist Mengcs has found the giant juniper and the superb jibara, with its mass of bright blossom rising several yards above the foliage. The coffee shrub also flourishes on the spurs and offshoots of the Shoa highlands. The central territory of Ogaden, which stands at a meon elevation of about 3,000 feet, appears from the information obtained by Sottiro to be mainly a vast region of steppes. After the light showers to which it is exposed the whole surface is converted into a boundless sea of tall grasses interrupted in some places by tracts of shingly wastes. Fauna. The fauna of Somali Land differs little from that of the Galla country in the Ethiopian uplands, except that it becomes continually poorer in the direction of the coastlands. The elephant and other large animals roam only in the southern and western parts of the country, which are more copiously watered and have a correspondingly richer vegetation. Numerous herds of elephants climb the difficult escarpments of the Gan Liba^h, which man himself is scarcely able to ascend. They also frequent the Ogaden steppes, and are said to withdraw to the banks of •the AVebi at the approach of death. In the northern regions the forests, bush, and stonv tracts harbour various species of monkeys, a prevalent type being that of the cynocephalous, or dog-fuced apes. Carnivorous beasts, such as the lion, leopard, panther, jackal, hyaena, and other felidiE, infest the Ogaden steppe, while all the plateaux are roamed by the 390 SOUTH AND EAST AFBICA. OS trich and herds of wild asses, gazelles, and antelopes, amongst which Menges has discovered a new species, the cwrious " harnessed " antelope, with a combination of white striiws and spots on a greyish brown ground, somewhat resembling the trappings of u horse. Iluros and other rodents are common on the coastlands, but the lively macromrluhn, which differ from the shrew chiefly in the greater length of the hind legs, and which French writers call the rat a trompe {Macroscelides Rozeti), keep chiefly to the dry rocky places, looking at a distance like squirrels, And continually hopping about, after the manner of kangaroos, in search of insects and other ninull animals. Amongst the li/ard tribe occurs the remarkable ogama Rueppvllii, which clianges its colour when an attempt is made to seize it. Another curious member of this fumilv is tlie Vromai^tix batillifcnts, which hides in the fissures of the rocks, presenting to its pursuer nothing but its tail armed with sharp spines. Indigenous in Somali Land is the Acnjliiinn rultitrinmn, the finest variety of the guinea-fowl, which has the head of a vulture and many of its habits, for it feeds not only on torn but also on insects and carrion. The naturalists who have vi.siied this region, notably Von der Decken and Ut'voil, liavc discovered several new species of molluscs and insects, as well as a new termite, which builds tall nests in the form of obelisks. In the neighbouring waters the fishermen ca])ture many sharks, whose flesh is prepared for the Zanzibar market and the tins exported to China, where this gelatinous article of diet is highly esteemed as a choice delicacy. Inhabitants. The inhabitants of Somali Land were known to the ancient Egyptians under the general name of Tunt. In one of the temples at Thebes, Deir-el-Bahari, Di'imisten and .Mariette have diircovercd some remarkable mural paintings, which represent the payment of tiibute in gums, frankincense, and myrrh, offered to the queen of the Egy])tians by the people of Punt. The figures themselves wear the same garb and have the sjme general appearance as the present Somali people. At that time they had already a knowledge of metals, so that the stone implements discovered in many parts of the country must belong to a prehistoric period, at least three thousand si. hundred, and more probably over five thousand years, removed from our days. Nevertheless, most of the Somali, ignorant of their true descent, and as zealous Mussulmans an.xious to include some saint of Islam amongst their ancestry, juitend to be sprung from a family of Koreish Arabs. Like their Danakil neigh- bours, they even claim close kinship with the Prophet's family, and point to a house still e.xisting in Mecca which was the residence of their forefathers. According to one tradition, their direct progenitor was a certain Sherif Ishak ben Ahmed, who orosseil over from Hadramaut with forty followers about five hundred years ago. liut other legends go much farther back, tracing their descent from the Himyarite chiefs, Sanhuj and Sauiamah, said to have been contemporaries of a mythical king INILVBITANTS OF SOMALI LANT). 891 Afrikus, who is supposed to have conquered the wbo'e continont and given it hiii name about the year 400 of the new era. I'^nfortunutely the ruins discovered in various parts of the country are so 8ha])e- less that it is no longer p )8>il)le to tell from the style of architecture whether they are to be attributed to Egyptian, Assyrian, Persian, or other ancient builders. A thousand different objects, however, have also been found which attest a long, standing commercial intercourse with all the maritime regions connected by the yearly alternating trade- winds. Amongst these objects are glazed earthenware, enamels, and glass, stone and alabaster vases, pearls, and other gems, which clearly show that the ancestors of the Somali people maintained e.xtensive relations with the flourishing and industrious nations of the East. The sudden destruction of any present trading place on the seaboard would not reveal to future treasure-seekers amongst its debris so many remarkable objects as have been found amid the ruins of the cities overthrown two or three thousand years ago. Numerous barrows, or sepulchral mounds, dating from those remote times, still exist in certain parts of the country. They generally consist of pyramidal piles of stones interspersed with shells, fishbones, and implements belonging to the successive stone, bronze, and iron ages. The graves that have been rifled in the neighbourhood of Zeila appear to be of Galla origin, and the natives of this district point to the site of an " immense city," which is also said to have belonged to the Galla people. Yet no settlements of any Galla tribes are now found nearer to Zeila than the Harrar territory, which is distant about 120 miles to the south. Doubtless extensive migrations and shiftings of populations here took place in fonner times, and similar changes and displaceuK n s, especially of the nomad communities, are still continued in our days as actively as ever. The Somali. There can be no doubt that, taken collectively, the Somali belong to the same ethnical group as the Danakil on their northern and the Gallas on their western and southern borders. In several places along the frontiers it is even difficult to decide on the true nationality of the intermediate populations, so indistinct are the transitional types. Nor has the terra Somal itself any very definite meaning, in virtue of which it may be unhesitatingly applied to all the inhabitants of the region comprised between Tajurah Bay and the Juba River. According to Hilde- brandt, this ethnical designation has the sense of " black," or " swarthy," a description which does not hold good for all the Somali jjeople, although they are on the whole of a somewhat darker complexion than either their Danakil or their Galla neighbours. Other etymologists have interpreted the word in the more disparaging sense of " miscreant," " ferocious," or *' truculent," while the Somali themselves offer no explanation of their general appellation. By the Gallas they are called Tumr, a name which is also of uncertain origin and meaning. The country is designated by the Arabs as the Barr-es- Somal, that is to say, the " Abode of the Somali," although the limits of this " abode " are far from being determined with any attempt at accuracy. Southwards the race is iprk encroaching on the conterminous populations of Galla and Banta origin. Till recently the Juba River had been indicated as the southern frontier of the Somali domain, but during the last few years the Somali have advanced as far as the
in the direction from north to south, corre«ponding with the alternutlnj* coast streums and trade winds of the same region. The Somali people can scarcely be said to have a common racial type, so great is the diversity in the physical appearance of the different tribes and nalionH, a difference which is itself mainly due partly to the differences in the social habits, partly to the v.jrying climatic conditions and ethnical interminglings. Neverthe- less the Somali may in a general way be said to resemble the Danakils, although as a rule they are taller* and less robust; the figure is also somewhat more slim, the bearing more martial, the complexion darker. The figure seems all the taller that the head is smaller in proportion to the size of the body. Scarcely any invalids are found amongst them, although they age rapidl}'. A young man not more than twenty years old may sometimes be taken for one of forty, while one of forty looks like a venerable patriarch. Many who are in complexion as black as the Shilluks of the White Nile, or the Senegumbiuu Wolofs, have nevertheless the same regularity and even delicacy of features as the very finest Europeans. The women espeiiully are often admired for their harmony of expression and dignified carriage, as well as for their soft and musical voice. On these points very strong testimony is given amongst others by Captain Wharton, who lately spent some time surveying the Somali seaboard, and who describes the coast tribes near the equator as the handsomest race of men and women he had ever seen, black in colour, but with magnificent physique.f At the same time the life of hardship led by the women gives them almost a decrepit look before they are thirty years old, and this effect is intensified by the tendency to steatopygia which is very common amongst the married women. The models of physical beauty so frequently met amongst the Somali have by some authorities been attributed to crossings with non-African populations, and especially with the Semites of the neighbouring Arabian peninsula. Such inter- minglings have certainly taken place, and during the centuries when active com- mercial relations were carried on all along the seaboard, Aryan influences, represented both by the Greeks and Persians, may even have had some share in modifying the primitive Somali type. But on the other hand many so-called Negro populations in the interior of the continent are also known to be distin- guished by the almost classic outlines of their features. The closest resemblance to the Arabs in physiognomy, as well as in social habits, is found amongst the tribes of the coastlands. The western Somali, and especially the Issa people, who dwell nearer to the Gallas, in the same way show a corresponding closer resem- blance to the type of that race, being distinguished from the other Somali by a broader face and coarser features. The flat features and high cheek-bones, characteristic of the true Negro type, are most prevalent in the southern districts, and especially amongst the Rahanuin conquerors, who have already come in con- tact with the Bantu populations of the Tana basin.
- Stature of the Somali according to Paulitachke's meastiremcnta : Habr Awal tribe, 6 feet 2 inches;
Imm tribe, 5 feet 11 inches ; Gadibursi tribe, o feet 10 inches, t Prveeedinai of the Royal Geographical Society ^ October, 1885. The Somali language, of which grammars, vocabularies, and collections of national proverbs have already been published, confirms the evidences of kinship with the surrounding Danakil and Galla peoples, which have been derived from their physical appearance and traditions. Nevertheless a considerable number of Arabic words, and even expressions, have been introduced into the current speech, through the frequent relations which the Somali have maintained with the Arabs ever since the Mohammedan religion has been spread throughout the region of plateaux and uplands stretching between the sea and the Ethiopian highlands.
The few natives who have any knowledge of letters make use of the characters employed by their Arab teachers, from whom they have also borrowed numerous social and religious institutions. .
The inhabitants of the northern districts lying nearest to Arabia scrupulously observe the prescribed rites, never failing to repeat the prayers at the stated times in all the towns, wherever a hovel is to be found dignified by the name of mosque. They are summoned in the usual way by a muezzin, or crier, while the sacred ritual is recited by Arab priests. Travellers never leave their homes without THE SOMALI RACE. 895 providing themselves with the wooden bowl required to hold the water for tho customary ablutions. Adults also shave their heads in the Mussulman fashion, and wear a costume almost identical with that of the Arabs. But throughout the inland districts and in all the southern parts of the country the natives have preserved their animistic superstitions and a manner of life more analogous to that of the Danakil and Beja Ilamites. I'he men still swear by the rocks and worship large trees. They wear the loin-cloth combined with a sort of white cotton toga, which is draped in Greek fashion, usually leaving the right shoulder exposed. "When travelling they wear sandals, and generally plaster their abundant head of hair with a preparation of lime and clay, which serves the double purpose of protecting it from the heat of the sun and getting rid of troublesome parasites. In order not to disarrange the head-dress, they sleep with the neck resting on little wooden blocks or pillows, like those commonly met in Japan and amongst most people of Central Africa. A great number of the Somali have also their ears pierced in the Bantu fashion, although the lobe is seldom distended by the insertion of heavy wood, mother-of- pear, ivory, bone or metal ornaments. Round the neck, however, they wear strings of large amber or coral beads, and some still practise tattooing on the arms, breast, and other parts; but these designs have no longer any symbolic or distinc- tive meaning, as amongst most of the southern tribes. Like the Beja, the Somali wears in his hair a carved scraper, and makes constant use of his scented wood toothpick, so that his teeth are always immaculately white. The women wear a red skirt and white toga fastened round the waist with a coloured girdle ; they are also generally more overladen with ornaments than the men, all displaying pendants attached to the ears, necklaces, rings, bracelets, charms, chains, and other trinkets. Custom requires boys to be circumcised in their third year, while girls when six years old are subjected to a still more cruel operation. In times of sickness, and even when small-pox is prevalent, the victims are occasionally abandoned to the lions, hyaenas, and other wild beasts of the wilderness. Like most people that eat at irregular times and have often to go for long periods without food, the Somali are, according to circumstances, great gluttons or models of sobriety. None except the fishermen of the seaboard districts ever touch fish ; nor will they eat even game or eggs, and also scrupulously abstain from the flesh of animals forbidden by the precepts of the Koran. Antelopes and gazelles are left to the pariah or outcast populations. Coffee also is very little used as a drink in Somali Land, although it is often eaten after the Galla fashion, that is, reduced to a powder and kneaded up with butter, the same mixture being at the same time used for lubricating the body. The consumption of alcoholic drinks is strictly forbidden, except in the Ogaden country, where a fermented beverage is made of camels' milk. Tobacco is little smoked, but is taken in the form of snuff and also chewed mixed with ashes. Like the Jlarrari people, the Somali also meet together in the evening to masticate the leaves of hat {Ce/astrus edulis), which acts as a stimulant, enabling them to prolong their vigils tli rough the night. This is 806 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. a convenience, for tbey are great talkers, as well as very eager for news, so mucli so that the Somali plants his spear at the entrance to his village to indicate that the road is barrerl to strangers until they have informed him of all the tidings from the di.stunt parts whence they have arrived. Somuli Lund has for ages bi>on wasted by incessmt tribal warfare. " The only field here cultivated," says M. Revoil, in the figurative language of the East, "is the field of death." Being dividid into a great number of petty states, the people are almost constantly at feud with each other. Each suspects his neighbour and the warrit)r never goes al)r<)ad iinarnietl. The rich man has his gun, purchased in one of the seaport towns ; the poor have their spear and their dart, occasionally sup- plemented by a murderous double-edged bbide and a knobkerry for braining the enemy that falls in the combat. Like the Masai, the Somali warrior usually '* stands at ease" by lean-ngon his spear and bending the right log, somewhat after the fashion of persons walking on stilts. lie is proud of having killed his man, and to commemorate the event either adds an ostrich plume to his headdress or we irs an ivory bracelet on his wrist. In some districts the friends of the departed hero pile round his grave as many blocks as the victims that have fallen to his prowess. But it is fair to state that if the Sonudi takes the life of his adversary without a pang, he is himself equally indilferent to the same fate. When wounded he suffers without a murmur, and holds out his arm unflinchingly to the native surgeon, who cauterises it in his primitive way with fire or a red-hot iron. Thanks also to the climate, the Som^i frequentlv recovers from wounds that would inevitably prove fatal to a European. If it is honourable to kill, it is no less glorious to plunder, provided always that it be done in open warfare. No one steals in time of peace, " because all the Somali are brothers," and no one takes the superfluous trouble to elose his house. But all are free to attack the stranger, who dare not even venture to penetrate into their territory until he has first jjrocured by purchase an ahun, that is, a protector or ])atron in the tribe. When a vessel is wrecked on their inhospitable shores all claim tiio established rights of flotsam and jetsam, and the wreckers hasten to the spot from distances of sixty or seventy miles round about. Not a single household in the whole of the Guardafui peninsula but has some objects to show which belonged to Europeans wrecked on the surrounding seaboard. Graves mentions a famous sheikh, u very pious devote?, who lived near the cape, and who, during the bad season, was handsomelv feed to invoke Allah nijjht and dav in order to brins: about the wreck of passing Christian vessels. But it should be remembered that not so very long ago the villages along the west coast of France and south coast of Englund not only prayed for such contingencies, but set up false beac ns to allure their victims to destruction. The Somali of the coastlands, and notably the Mijertin people, would consider themselves degraded by cultivating the land. They are shepherds, fishermen, sauors, or traders, but not husbandmen. Some are «ven daring mariners, who in their light dhows of forty or fifty tons burden venture on long voj'ages to Bombay and Zanzibar, A great many live a half-nomad existence, following their* flocks SOMALI TRIBES. 897 from pasturage to pasturage in the grassy regions of the interior. The industries, by far the most important of which is the manufacture of matting, are almost entirely in the hands of the women, who are all very laborious. Few of the tribes make any use of the horse, and it seems probable that this animal was not introduced into the country till comparatively recent times. It oven still bears its Arab name of farm. According to Sottiro, every village in the Ogaden territory keeps a park of a few dozen ostriches, which feed apart under the charge of children, and which pass the night in the huts; during the migra- tions they also join the caravan in company with the camels. But they are not allowed to breed in captivity, and the domestic stock is consequently kept up altogether by cupturing the wild birds in the chase, or perhaps taking them when young. Slavery is unknown amongst the northern Somali tribes, who kill but neither buy nor sell their fellow-men. But the case is different in the central and southern regions, where a section of the population is reduced to servitude, and where the slaves themselves are treated with horrible ci-uelty. Nearly all these unhappy wretches have their feet shackled with two rings connected by an iron bar ; they eat nothing but refuse, yet they are compelled daily to drag themselves to the fields and till the land under the broiling sun. Every fault is punished with tortures, and under these circumstances it is not surprising that the slaves frequently seek in a voluntary death relief from their miserable existence. In many districts the Somali warriors are addicted to slave hunting, and the captures made by them serve as the current standard of exchange, the trade value of this " commodity " being estimated at from a hundred and twenty to a hundred and fifty dollars. It also frequently happens that the Somali treat the members of their own family as slaves. " If you despise not wife, child, and servant, you shall yourself be despised," says a* local proverb. According to Burton, the young married man welcomes his bride whip in hand, and begins by giving her a sound thrashing, in order to establish his authority over her from the outset. Neverthe- less, the women move about freely enough in the rural districts. As in other Mohammedan countries, the husband repudiates his wife whenever the whim takes him, and at his death she becomes the inheritance of his surviving brother. Most of the divorced or otherwise disgraced women enter into the service of the caravans as water-carriers. Tribal Groups. — The Rahanuin. Being destitute of all national cohesion, the Somali are divided and subdivided into a multiplicity of rev% or fakidas, that is, tribes and septs, which band together or break into fresh fragments according to the vicissitudes of wars and alliances. Nevertheless, in the midst of all these minute divisions the elistence may be recog- nised of three main ethnical families or tribal groups : the Rahanuin in the south, the liaKiija in the centre, and the Hashiifa in the north. The Ruhanuin or Rahhanwin, who are constantly at war with the Gullas and 898 SOUTH AND EAST AFEICA. Ikntus, whom they have grndually driven southwards to and beyond the Tana river, are the least known of all the Somali peoples, the very names of most of the duns belonging to this warlike nation being still unrecorded in ethnological works. Along the banks of the AVebi, of which they hold the south side, they ure colloctivelv called Gobron ; farther south, that is, in the narrow peninsula comprised between the Webi and the Benadir territory on the seaboard, dwell the Tuui, most peaceful of all the Somali tribes, who, instead of the spear, go about armed only with a stick. The Rahanuin division also includes, according to I'aulitschko, the Abgal people, who occupy the north side of the Webi. The Abgals, who are noted for their exceptional ferocity, still live at enmity with all the surrounding tribes, and are here and there even still opposed to the doctrines of Islam. All these fakidas are in a state of constant warfare with those of the Ilawiya division. The IIawivas and Midgans. The Ilawiyas, who are dominant in Ogadcn, that is, the great central territory* of Somidi Lanrl, are certainly the most powerful of all the Somali people. M. Revoil describes them as less bellicose than the other branches of the race, but at the same time more fanatical and more dangerous to foreigners. They belong to a distinct Mohammedan sect, which, to judge from their practices, seems in someway akin or analogt)us to that of the Wahabites in Central Arabia. According to the accounts received by Sottiro, the Ilawiyas have a large infusion of Galla blood, to which may perhaps be attributed the fact that their complexion is of a lighter shade than that of the seaboard tribes. In the inland regions most of them appear to be settled ai^riculturists, which is doubtless due to the greater elevation of this region, which is also better watered and more fertile than the low-lying coast- lands. In r)gaden, a land of pasturage and of cattle, they are on the contrary all nomads. In several parts of their domain the Ilawiyas are numerically in a minority. In fact in these districts they constitute a higher caste or political rulers, who re- gard with contempt the bulk of the inhabitants as belonging to alien tribes, or even to con(juered races. Thus the Adone people, who occupy the southern parts of Ogaden, differ altogether from the Somali proper, and according to their language and social habits should rather be grouped with the Bantu populations. The Adon«} idiom is closely related to the Ki-Swaheli of the Zanzibar coastlands. The two castes of the Ycbirs and Tomals, who, like the European gipsies, are the fortune-tellers, blacksmiths, and tinkers of these regions, are also regarded as tribes of different origin from the true Ilawiyas. The Yebirs are somewhat addicted to magic practices, such as manufacturing amulets, conjuring snakes, healing the sick, casting lots, and interpreting omens. They also take a leading part in all feasts and public ceremonies. The Tomals, called also Handads, forge the spear-heads; but although indispensable to the community they are kept beyond the precincts of the villages, and obliged to marry amongst themselves, being despised and feared as baneful mat^icians. • SOMALI TEIBES. 800 In still greater contempt are hold the Midgans, called also Rami, that is to say
- Archers," who are universally regarded us the lowest of the low. They worship
trees and snakes, and eat all the prohibited food, such as fish, fowl, eggs, hares, and gazelles. They are also daring hunters, feirleisly attacking the lion and the elephant, whom they pierce with their poisoned arrows. Like the Yebirs, tho Midgans also practise medicine, and have the rcpatation of being extremely clever charlatans. According to the Somali legends, the lower castes are the issue of crossings between Abyssinian women and maleficent genii, while the Midgans are of still more degraded origin, their ancestors having been the slaves of these Abys- sinian women. The Hasiiiyas. The IlashiyaSj or Northern Somali, more commonly known by the name of Aji, have evidently been most affected by contact and family alliances with the Arabs. So far as they are concerned, tho national traditions are to some extent justified and the Hashiyas may to a certain degree trace their genealogies back to the Koreish family of the Ilashims, one of whose warriors, named Arab, is supposed to have emigrated to Africa towards the end of the twelfth century, or less than six hundred years after the Hegira. Ilis residence, which became the capital of a powerful empire, is said to have been discovered at Zeila, or in the vicinity of that place. The Hashiyas are subdivided into two main groups, respectively named Tarud (Darode), that is, the " Banished," and Ishak, from two descendants of Arab. From Tarud are descended the Mijertins, most famous of all the Ilashiya nations, comprising some thirty tribal groups under the common suzerainty of a bogltor, or sultan. To the Ishak branch belong the Issa, or better Eissa, and the Gadabursi, who occupy the shores of Tajurrah Bay and the districts about Zeila and Berbera, and are consequently of all the Somali people the best known to Europeans. With the same branch are grouped the Habr Tol, Ilabr Ghar Ilaji, Ilabr Awal, and the other tribes whose name is preceded by the word habr. In the Somali lan- guage this word habr has the meaning of " grandmother," " venerable matron," and seems to indicate a faint reminiscence of a previous social system in which descent was reckoned only through the female line, as is still the case amongst most African populations. If this conjecture be correct, traces of the matriarchal state would thus still survive amongst these fierce Somali populations who at pre- sent treat their women with so much contempt. It is noteworthy that amongst the three above-mentioned Ilabr tribes are found the very finest specimens of the Somali type. The south-western Hashiyas — Ghirri, Bersub, and Bertiri — appear to be allied to the Gallas, and jointly with the Jerso, one of the tribes of this nation, they even constitute a trorra, or political confederacy, worra being a Galla word meaning "clan," or "family." In this region commercial relations and the development of social intercourse between the conterminous tribes have arrested the devastating 400 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. wars which almost everywhere else are incessantly carried on between the SomaU and Galla |>opulation8. The Easteun Gallas. The Gallas, who give themselves the general designations of Oromo, that is " Men," or " IJrave," and Ilm-Onnn, that is, "Sons of Men," are more commonly known to tlicir S<}niali enemies by the appellation of Durr, that is, "vile," or "abj<ct." But although thus closi)ised by the neighbouring Somali people, the Gallas greatly surpass them in intelligence, love of industry, peaceful habits, and trustworthiness. They are also far more numerous, thanks to the fertility of their plains, whose li;,'ht reddish soil they diligently cultivate. According to the Egyptian officers, who till recently held command in the city of Ilarrar, there was a population of several millions in the province of the Upper Webi annexed to the Khedival possessions. Paulitsehke, however, while confirm- inn- the rejMirts regarding the extremely dense population of this region, reduces to about 1,."50(),000 the probable number of north-eastern Gallas concentrated in the Upper Webi basin. The southern districts, that is, the valleys watered by the streams flowing to the Juba and the Tana, are also very thickly peopled. The Gallas who dwell beyond the limits of Ethiojjiu, ])roperly so called, that is, on the slopes draining to the Indian Ocean, cannot in any case be estimated at less than three millions. On the other hand, the whole of the Somali territory contains a population of scarcely one million, of whom about 100,000 belong to the great Mi- jortin nation. The Somali rct-upying the coastlunds along the Gulf of Aden between the Jrbel Karoma and the Gan Libash, are estimated by jI. Revoil at scarcely more than -^0,000 altogether. Nevertheless in these incessant border feuds, the aggressors are invariably the numerically iiif^Tior Somali tribes. These fierce nomads, who go about constantly armed and reuJy for the fight, and who are alwa3'S lying in ambush to fall unawares on the foe, have naturally a great advantage over the sedentary Gallas, occupied chicHy with the cultivation of their durrah fields. But on the verge of the desert stretching north of the Ilarrar Mountains some of these Galla tribes have, as nomad pastors, adopted the habits and customs of their hereditary enemies. In order to resist the aggressors, who are attracted chiefly by the love of pillage and the ho])e of plunder, the Oromo have in many places been obliged to abandon tlu'ir fertile plains and settled habitations, or else sink to the position of serfs, mere '♦ hewers of wood and drawers of water " to the rapacious Somali marauders. In the extreme southern regions they have already ceased to defend the territory comprised between the rivers Juba and Tana. But in the northern districts they still show a bold front to the enemy, and here the river Errer, a main branch of the ebi or Ilarrar, has not yet been crossed by their adversaries. Strict watch is constantly kept against the raiders by the Enniya tribe all along the frontiers of the conterriiinous domains.
In any case the Gallas certainly vindicate their claim to the national* desig
nation of " Brave," and even when inferior in numbers they have frequently enough repelled the attacks of the Somali nomads, and even of regular troops. When the city of Harrar was still held by the Egyptian force^, who were con- stantly endeavouring to extend the Khedival authority over the surrounding Galla populations, the Oromo warriors, armed only with sword and dagger, were often seen hurling themselves desperately against disciplined regiments equipped with firearms. Rushing forward to the battle-cry of " Kukuku ! kukuku ! " they more than once threw the hostile forces into confusion, and even occasionally put them to flight. But like their kinsmen of the Ethiopian highlands, the eastern tribes shamefully mutilate the dead. These eastern tribes differ from the other branches of the Galla race only in a few trivial respects, and some customs borrowed from their Danakil, Somali, or Masai neighbours. In their physical appearance they show no inferiority, while their women display the same elegant proportions, the same graceful carriage, and occasionally even the same nobility of expression. The Gallas are a hound stock, not yet sapped by inherited ailments, and unlike the Somali, are a long-lived people amongst whom centenarians are by no means rare. Cheerful and impulsive, but with a well-balanced temperament, they seldom yield to their angry feelings, at least in the presence of strangers. They are a warm-hearted, kindly people, in this also favourably distinguished from tht ir Somali neighbours, amongst whom cruelty and treachery are characteristic vices. The Gallas are moreover dis- tinguished from their Somali neighbours by their cleanly habits, shown especially in their tidy, well-swept dwellings. They also display great skill in the cultiva- tion of their land, maintaining its fertility by systematic manuring and a due rotation of crops. Certainly the Gallas, although hitherto giving little or no proof of any common national sentiment, are one of the African nations which may look forward to a bright future of social progress, and even take its share in the general work of human advancement. Under the Egyptian rule, the Gallus of the Harrar district had been fain to accept as masters a number of foreign officials whose functions were almost exclu- sively restricted to the collect i n of the Government taxes. At present these same Gallas, together with a large section of those dwelling east of the Ethiopian high- lands, are subject to the sway of Menelik, King of Shoa ; lut elsewhere the tribes have maintained their primitive autonomy. The community is organised on republican principles. The administration of the commune is invariably entrusted to a council of elders, whose tnoti, or president, is charged with the executive functions. AVith him are associated the treasurer, the high priest, and the Ookn or director of the general assembly, these ministers -being usually chosen for a period of eight years. The director or " t-peaker," who presides over the public discussions, holding a wooden mace as the sign of his office, is required to keep the debate open until absolute unanimity is arrived at. All have the right of veto, as in the old Polish Diet, and the consequence is that the deliberations are frequently continued from session to session, the principle of " closure " not having yet been introduced. But once a final decision is reached, the question assumes a 128— AT 402 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. gacred character. The forefathers of the tribe are invoked, and in their honour is immolated a spotless steer ; the boku imbues his sceptre with the blood, and the priests, coiling the entrails round their neck and arms, traverse the land, proclaim- ing to all the jjeople the resolutions taken by the national assembly. At other times special functionaries are despatched along the caravan routes, in order to gather from foreign traders tidings of the outer world. Nothing escapes the ears of these public agents which may in any way interest the members of their community. Like the old Greek euu-enoi, they are also required to represent the citizens with all strangers, to introduce them into the villages and offer them the bowl of milk, symbol of hospitality. One of the elders is also required, by way of blessing, to expectorate after the Masai fashion three times on the clothes of the stranger. Being partly annexed to the kingdom of Shoa, the eastern Gallas differ from those of the Ethiopian highlands more in their religious than in their political relations. Most of the western Gallas are still pagans, worshipping trees, moun- tains, and flowers, while numerous tribes have also become members of the Abyssinian Christian Church ; amongst these highland populations the Moham- medans are thus everywhere in a minority. But in the region of the eastern slopes and plains the contrary is the case. The Roman Catholic missions estab- lished in Ilarrar and its vicinity have hitherto made but few converts, whereas the preudiors of Islam have already penetrated a long way into the southern regions, fur beyond the Webi, and here nearly the whole of the On^mo populations have accepted the teachings of the Koran. Under the influence of the new religion the national usages have been modi- fied. The young Gnlli ^lohammedans no longer decorate their face, arms, and body with elaborate tattooings ; they now shave their heads instead of smearing their long tresses with clay and butter. Circumcision, which was never customary amongst the pagan Gallas of these regions, is henceforth universally practised on the youths between their tenth and fifteenth years. The children also receive Mussulman names, which disadvantageously replace such pleasant names as "Joy," "Hope," "Welcome," and so forth, which were current in pre- Mohammedan times. These worshippers of Allah no longer eat raw flesh, like their kindred in the Ethiopian highlands. The marriage rites are performed in the Arab fashion, and the young men no longer carry off their brides by a sort of make-believe abduction. Nevertheless certain customs of the highland Ilm-Ormas still survive amongst the Moslem lowlanders. Such is the numerical excess of female births, that, not- withstanding the institution of polygamj', a large number of young women remain without husbands. In this case Paulitschke tells us that they have the privilege of chtwsing temporary husbands till the birth of a child. It is also customary for families without posterity to adopt a son and heir. When the elders of the village have given their consent, the child is taken to the forest, where he is sup- posed by a kind of legal fiction to be found by his new parents ; then a bull is killed, and his body smeared with the animal's blood and fat, after which ceremony the change is assumed to be so complete that he becomes absolutely unknown to his first family.
East Gaia Tribal Divisions.
There appear to be no despised classes or pariah castes among the eastern Gallas as there are amongst their Somali neighbours. Nor do these Gallas themselves keep any slaves, although they allow the slave-dealers a free passage through their territory.
In the Upper Webi basin the most powerful Galla tribes are the Nolés, who dwell
in the upland valleys of the Harrar country, and the Jarsos, or "Ancients," who are associated in a common political confederacy with their Somali neighbours, the Barsubs, the Ittus, and the Alas. These latter, according to the Egyptian census returns, would appeur to have no less than 2,182 villages. Farther south live the Enniyas, and beyond them the Jiddas and the Arussi (Orussi), who are not to be confounded with the Arussa people who occupy the Upper Juba basin, and who are said to constitute the "mother" nation of the eastern Gallas. Krapf tells us that these natives fight naked "in order to terrify the enemy," or more probably in accordance with some traditional custom handed down from their forefathers.
The half Mohammedan Panigals revere the shrine of an apostle who brought 404 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. them the Koran and had it translated into their language. The Borani, or Vuoranas. who are met as far south as the neighbourhood of Mount Kenia, are also a powerful Galla nation, who, according to Brenner, number as many as a hundred and fifty thousand souls. They are during riders, and have long been at war both with thi'ir Somali anrl Masai neighbours. The Borani are a very religious people, who worship a supreme being, to whom they sacrifice black animals, whether oxen or goats, near black rocks, or else at the foot of some large tree isolated on the plain. Although they do not pniL-tisj tattooing, they huve the breast covered with si-ars, which are produced by striking themselves with some sharp instrument during the frenzy of the national war datice. They inter their dead seated in an attitude of meditation, for, say they, " Man dies not, he only dreams." The Borani are said to be divided into two great branches, the Ya and the Yul. But our information is siill extremely defective regarding most of the popuUitions occupying the regions which are comprised between the Somali seaboard and the unknown territory of South Ethiopia. Here there is still a complete gap between the itineraries of explorers like Thomson and Fischer advancing through Mtisui Land northwards, and those of Revoil, Brenner, Chaille, Long, and others, wlio hae penetrated very little inland from the south coast of Somali Land. A great interval also still remains to bo filled up between Thomson's farthest north and Schuver's farthest south, the whole of this unknown region being roughly comprised between the equator and the tenth degree of north latitude, and stretching from the Indian Ocean westwards in the direction of the White Nile basin. In the Appendix will be found tabulated the names, with approximate popula- tion >, of the chief nations in Somaliland and the territory of the Eastern Gallas. TOPOGRAFHY. — YiTU TERRITORY. The ubiquitous German traders, who have received a " concession " of the whole seaboard as. far as the Jebel Karoma, and who have become the " protectors " of its inhabitants, have made their first essays at annexation at the southern extremity of the Somali coast. In this they have acted wisely, for the district chosen by them is one of the most promising in the whole of East Africa. The valley of the Tana, which reaches the sea at this point, is a natural highway towards the Upper Nile basin, and thus affords considerable facilities for opening up the resources of the vast but still almost unknown region which stretches from the Indian Ocean westwards to the eastern affluents of the White Nile. In the year 1885 the brothers Denhardt, who had already a few years previously traversed the country in various directions, obtained from Sultan Akhmed of Vitu, surnamed Simba, or the " Lion," the concession of a territory about 000 square miles in extent. The whole of this tract, which is limited towards the south by the course of the river Ozi, they immediately placed under the suzerainty of the German Empire. In vain the feeble Sultan of Zanzibar protested against these high-handed proceedings, i rging his own undoubted prior claims and even threatening hostilities. His protests were met by the appearance of German ironclads in the Zanzibar waters, and he soon found that it would be necessary to accept "accomplished facts."
The population of the Vitu territory and neighbouring archipelago is one of the most heterogeneous in the whole of East Africa. Galla immigrants, Bantus from the south, and those Wa-doé people who were till recently regarded as anthropophagists, have flocked in crowds to the district; while runaway slaves, confident of
here finding a safe refuge, and even land to cultivate, have been attracted in thousands from every part of the seaboard. Then, in order to provide the new arrivals with wives, the "Lion" introduced into his kingdom some Wapokomos, Wabonis, and other members of various Bantu tribes. Even the Portuguese element is represented at Vitu by some families of half-castes.
The numerous ruins which may still be seen on the shore near the mouths of the Tana, attest the commercial importance formerly enjoyed by this district. Within the bar, and on the north or left side of the Ozi branch, stand the two little towns of Shagga and Kipini, near which are some long-abandoned and sandencumbered ancient structures resembling the ruined edifices of Melinda. According to Denhardt these ruins date from the fifteenth, or at latest the sixteenth, century. The modern town of Kipini, founded so recently as the year 1868, has teen rapidly developed, thanks to the local traffic which it fostered. Within. ten years of its foundation it had already as many as two thousand inhabitants, and it
acquired such importance that the Sultan of Zanzibar here established a wali, or political agent, as well as a custom house.
Kau, lying farther up but on the same left side of the Ozi, is another little trading place inhabited chiefly by Swaheli traders. These coast people support the national reputation for hard dealing, and they also rule with a hand of iron the unfortunate Wapokomo peasantry whom they employ to cultivate the delta. Vitu, residence of Sultan Akhmed, who has placed himself under German KISMAYU.— BARDERA. 407 tion, lies not on the coast, but on the banks of a little stream wh.ch joins the Ozi over against Kau. Its port on tlie Indian Ocean is at Lamu, whose harbour is formed by a long deep channel flowing between the two islands of Lamu and Manda, and commanded by a large fort, where till recently was hoisted the flag of the Sultan of Zanzibar. Lamu, which some travellers report to have a population of some fifteen thousand, is now regularly visited by the steamers plying on the East African seaboard ; but the sandhills are already threatening to swallow up a part of the town. Other excellent havens are formed by the creeks which ramify between the islands of the archipelago. Such are the well-sheltered ports of Manda and Patta, where the ruins still lining the beach date back to times anterior to the arrival of the Portuguese. But whether they be Arab fortres-es, Persian or Hindu struc- tures, they are all alike equally avoided by Somali, Galla, and Swaheli as the abodes of evil pplrits. Patta especially was at one time a very flourishing place, with a large trading and industrial population. North of this island and of the Mto-Bubashi estuary is seen a striking example of the phenomenon of a double coastline, consisting of an outer barrier reef and the inner continental shore. In these waters every creek and channel gives access to a fine natural haven. KisMAYU — Brava. — Merka. Kistnayu, or Kisimayit, is the last anchorage on the Somali coast, going north- eastwards in the direction of Cape Guardafui, to which the terra port can be applied. But even this place is little used except as a harbour of refuge, so little developed is the movement of exchanges along this inhospitable seaboard. Never- theless, Kismayu is the natural outlet of the vast basin of the Juba, Mhich reaches the sea about 12 miles to the north-east. In 18G9 this town did not yet exist, but in that year some Somali emigrants from the Upper Juba Valley, and especially from the neighbourhood of Bardera, or Bal T/r, the chief market of the interior, established themselves at this favourable point of the coast, and opened direct commercial relations with Zanzibar. Later some members of the ^lijurtin tribe, the most energetic traders on the whole seaboard, also settled in the same place, the population of which had already risen to eight thousand six hundred in the year 1873. At that time the suzerainty of the Sultan of Zanzibar was represented in Kismayu by some Arab traders and a small Baluchi garrison. In 1870 a ^larseilles commercial house had hoisted the French flag in this port, but after the Ijattle of Sedan the Sultan of Zanzibar hastened to reassert his authority over the place. Bardera is inhabited by Mohammedans, who if not actualh' Wahabites, are fully as fanatical as those troublesome sectaries. They neither smoke nor take snufi", and display an almost rabid zeal in their efforts to enforce their peculiar views on the surrounding Somali populations. Hence insurrections, massacres, migrations of tribes, and disorders of all sorts. In the year 1845, the town of Bardera was utterly destroyed by the enraged inhabitants of the district, who slew all the men and sold the women and children into bondage. A few fugitives, however, contrived to break through the fiery circle closing round the doomed city, and going northwards to the Ganané country, founded a town on the left bank of
the Webi, which has flourished, and is now a great centre of trade. Bardera also again rose from its ashes, and with it was revived the old spirit of religious intolerance. Here were massacred in 1865 the two travellers Link and Von der Decken. The vessel with which the unfortunate explorers had navigated the river, and MAODOSHCJ. 409 which the natives had succeeded in recovering from the rapids, was till recently used by them as a ferry-boat between the two banks of the Juba. East of the lower course of the Wcbi, where it runs for some miles parallel with the sea, the coastline describes a slightly concave curve, to which the Arabs have given the numc of El-Banader, that is, " the ports." Yet the villages along this section of the seaboard offer nothing but exposed and often dangerous road- steads. From this designation of the coast the Bimal, Tuni, Abgal, Wadan, and other neighbouring populations, are often collectively called Banaders, or Benadirs. Bi'dca, or Bairini, the first of the roadsteads, where the little Arab dhows find some shelter behind a chain of reefs, has at least the advantage of an abundant supply of good water. Vessels t^kirting the coast in the direction of Cape Guardafui, here take in their last provision of fresh water. Brava may be regarded as the outport of the Lower Wcbi, for this river, before running out in the surrounding swamps and sands, passes within 7 or 8 miles of this place. In the intervening space is developed a chain of hills 400 to 500 feet high, which assume the outlines of the towers and ramparts of a fortified city. Some Arab and Swaheli families are settled at Brava in the midst of the surrounding Somali populations. Although Mohammedans, these population-*, which are mixed with Galla elements, are extremely tolerant. Their women, who are allowed to go unveiled, arrange their hair in the form of a crest reaching from the brow to the nape of the neck. Mi:r/,a, which stands on a rocky headland, has the best claim of all these villages to the title of bandar, or " port." Here a creek well sheltered from the north-east trade winds affords some accommodation to the Arab dhows which obtain cargoes of hides, ivory, and gum-copul from the surrounding districts. A slightly leaning ruined tower still recalls the Portuguese occupation of Merka in the sixteenth century. Magdoshu. — Opia. Farther north follow a few towns now in ruins, beyond which is seen rising above the beach the massive square tower which commands the terraced houses of Magiloshu* a place which, like Kismayu, Brava, and Merka, is governed in the name of the Sultan of Zanzibar. Within the jurisdiction of the governors of all these towns is included a little enclave or separate territory 10 or 12 miles in circum- ference. Magdoshu is the famous city which Ibn Batuta describes as " immense," and whose name, gradually expanding with its renown, was at last extended to the great island of Madagascar. In bis account of the wonders of the world, Marco Volo had described as an island the coast of " Zanquebar ; " he did the same with that of Magdoshu, or " Madeigascar," which accordingly figures as an island on Martin Beham's old Atlas. As pointed out by M. Grandidier, this was the land
- Other forms of the word are Mogdushu, Makdithu, Madisha, Mogaditho, that is, the Magadoio of the
Portuguese maps. which, after doubling the Cape, the Portuguese fancied they had discovered in the great island inhabited by the Malgashes, or Malagasy people. But in our days Magdoshu has fallen greatly from its high estate. Vast spaces are strewn with ruins invaded by the sands, and here and there eaten away by the waves, although u few mosques standing amid groups of hovels still recall the architectural glories of the ancient city. One of these edifices bears the date 636 after the Hegira, corresponding to the year 1238 of the Christian era.
Magdoshu comprises two distinct quarters, Hamarhiwin and Shingani, the former of which has been almost abandoned and is now gradually becoming a heap of ruins. In Shingani are at present concentrated most of the inhabitants, numbering
about five thousand altogether, and between the two quarters stands the governor's palace. Amongst the inhabitants of Magdoshu are a few Arab families, including some Shurfas, or "descendants of the prophet," besides several Hindu traders and one or two thousand Somali. But fully two-thirds of the population consist of the so-called Abesh, that is to say, the descendants of emancipated slaves, on whom still falls nearly all the hard work.
The principal local industry is the manufacture of cotton fabrics. Before the invasion of the African markets by the products of the European and American looms, the textiles of Magdoshu were forwarded far and wide throughout the interior of the continent, us well as to Arabia and even as far as the Persian coasts." Now, OPIA.— BERGHEL. 411 however, the number of buyers of these goods is greatly retlucwl ; nor is much business any longer done in slip])er8 and matting, the other staple industries of this district. The future of Magdoshu will depend not so much on its local products as on the movement of exchanges between foreign markets and the Webi basin as fur as the Galla territories in llarrar and Ethiopia. Magdoshu is separated by a distance of scarcely 24 miles from its fluvial port, Geiii/iy a town composed of latticed cone-shaped huts, where the explorer, Kinzel- bach, was poisoned in the year 1869. The mediaDval Arab writers ^peak of the watercourse flowing to the west of Magdoshu as of another Nile, comparable to that of Egypt itself. Yet this river at present is scarcely more than a hundred feet broad at Gelidi, where the natives cross it in little ferry-boats held together by cordage made of creeping plants. The last point on the Somali coast going northwards, the possession of which is still claimed by the Sulton of Zanzibar, is the village of Jfans/iek {Warrishir), whose harbour is inaccessible duriiig the prevalence of high winds. Beyond this place stretches the domain of the Somali coast tribes, who were till recently independent, but over whom Germany now claims dominion in virtue of some treaty concluded with the Sultan of Opin, an obscure princelet now put forward as the " chief of all the Somali people." His very existence is unknown to the vast majority of the nation, as is theirs to him. This village, or rather camping-ground of Opia, which has been thus suddenly promoted to the dignity of a capital, is situated on a headland between the territory of the Ilawiyas and that of the Mijertin tribe. But even diplomatists will never be able to make it the centre of any large population, for the surrounding country is a waterless steppe, while the neighbouring seaboard is absolutely destitute of harbours. AlLULA. — BOSSASSA. The Mijertins, the most powerful branch of all the Ilashiya nation, inhabit the shole of the northern section of the coast as far as the shores of the Gulf of Aden. The point of the seaboard where they are concentrated in the largest numbers is in the neighbourhood of the liaH-el-Klioil, or " Horse Cape," near an inlet where the waters of the Wady Nogal are discharged during the rainy season. According to Graves, as many as twelve thousand Somali are occasionally attracted to the fair or market of Ras el-Khail. The half-Arab, half Portuguese name of Bnidcr (VAgoa ("water haven") indicates the point where the small coasting craft finds most convenient anchorage. At the time of M. Revoil's visit in 1881, the sultan of the Mijertin nation had his residence at Berghcl, a hamlet of some forty inhabitants, which is sheltered on the north by the sandy slopes and lofty spurs of the Jebel Karomu, terminating eastwards in Cape Guardafui. In the neighbourhood of this modest little capital of the Mijertins are seen some ancient sepulchral mounds and the remains of a fortified camp. The section of the Somali seaboard which skirts the south side of the Gulf of 412 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. Aden i8 carved into a large number of little secondary gulfs or inlets, to which are applie<l the terms liuri or Makhar in the ea-^tern parts, Dalbed or Dahir in the west. Several trading- places follow along this north coast of Somali Land which lies over against Arabia. Here commercial intercourse is much more easily maintained tlian uhmg the exposed seaboard facing towards the Indian Ocean. The proximity of the grassy slopes, with their herds of cattle and clumps of trees, also supplies more produce to the surrounding population. At the northernmost extremity of the coast, two tongues of sand projecting seawards endost^ the bender or port of Allula {Haluleh, Lit/eh), where the Egyptian flag was flown for a few years, previous to the revolt in Soudan. Far- ther on— that is, towards the south-west— stands the headland of Ras Filuk, that is " Elephant Cape," whose speckled rock seen from the west presents the rough outline of the huge pachyderm. South of the cape the sandy beach is interrupted by an inlet similar to that of Allula, forming the little haven of Bendrr Filuk (Fclek), which is followed by the Bender Mermja, still within the domain of the Mijertin nation, and frequently chosen as a residence by their sultans. From this place is exported a large (juantity of myrrh and frankincense, collected by the women in the surrounding districts. About the first days of March, incisions are made in all the trees, and three months afterwards the gums and resins are in a tit state to be gathered. Ikiulvr Khor, or Boftial i, differs from the neighbouring ports by its position on an estuary. Hure the tide ascends for a distance of about six miles into the interior, through a gorge in the mountains traversed by the Tokuina torrents. Through this inlet the Arab dhows gain access to the little town of Botfiala, whose houses stand at the base of earthen towers, built in the form of truncated pyramids. On a recently upheaved beach to the north-east of Bottiala is pictu- resquely .'situated the new town of Gandnln, which is also protected by similar towers. One of the neighbouring escarpments contains some deposits of good salt. Gan- dala takes its name from the (junda tree, which grows in the surrounding lagoons, and which the natives are careful not to touch, for should they happen to break one of its limbs they are sure to lose one of their own. Farther on stands BoamHm, or Bcuda- Ghazem, defended by four forts, and forming the most important trading station on the wliole of the Mijertin coast. This place is visited by the caravans of the inland AVar-Sangeli and Dolbohant tribes, who here exchange their produce for such European wares as they require. Las Gore, lying over sixty miles more to the west — that is, beyond the Ras Hadada — rivals Bender Ghazem in commercial activity. Las Gore is the port of the War- Sangeli nation, who dwell to the south of the Almedo mountains, and whose sultan resides in this seaport, which is defended by two earthen towers. MaYET. BeKBERA. — BlLHAR. Other havens or roadsteads follow in the direction of the west, where Mayet
(Mehet) is the seaport, of the Ilabr Ghar-IIaji people. According to the local 
have given the name of Burnt Island, from the colour of its lavas. The island is annually visited by about forty Arab dhows, from the port of Makalla in Hadramuut, returning laden with cargoes of this manure for their tobacco plantations. West of Mayet follow the seaports of Heis, Ankor, Kerem, all of which belong to the Habr Tol nation. Then, after rounding a headland, the seafarer comes in full view of a deep inlet in the coast forming the important harbour of Berbera. This is the only thoroughly sheltered haven on the whole seaboard, and has consequently been a busy seaport from the remotest antiquity. The town still keeps the old name of Barbaria formerly applied by the Greeks, not to any particular point, but 414 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. to all the coastlands skirting the south side of the Gulf of Aden. Yet notwith- standing its obWous maritime advantages, this privileged seaport has at times been completely abandoned. Thus a war which broke out in the year 1870 between the surrounding Gadibursi and Dolbohant nations compelled all the inhabitants of Berbeni tcMuporarilv to quit their homes. But under the protection of Great Britain, which has 'inherited all the rights of Egypt as the ruling power on this seaboard, liorbera has again become the centre of considerable commercial activity. It has now a lighthouse, piers, warehouses, and even an aqueduct, whose copious water, tlu«rmarat the fountain-head, is brought from a distance of about seven miles.' Berbera is the successor of Bcmlor Alias, another town some ruins of which are still visible on the lowlying shores of the Tamar peninsula enclosing the road- stead on the north and north-west. Lying IGO miles to the south of Aden, and nearly under the same meridian, Berbera shares with that town and with Zaila, another port belonging to England, the whole of the commercial movement in the western parts of the Gulf of Aden. On the beach at Bnlliar, about 45 miles further west, lies the market-place where the Berbara traders meet the caravans coming from Harrar and from all the Somali- and Galla Lands to the south and west of that place. During the busy sc«ason, from October to January, as many as 15,000 persons are attracted to this place. Then, after all the commodities have changed hands, the tents are struck, the long strings of camels laden with their purchases move off in all directions towards the interior, the Arab dhows set sail, and solitude once more prevails along the seaboard. The Somali preter the Bulbar market to that of Berbera itself, because they find in the neighbourhood convenient pasturages for their numerous herds and flocks, whereas round about Berbera nothing is offered except here and there a few trailing plants and shrubs. Bulbar has unfortunately no harbour, and its surf-beaten shores are too often strewn with wreckage. The explorers who have ventured to penetrate from this point into the inland plateaux report the existence of numerous burial-places. The most frequented trade route running south-westwards in the direction of the city of Harrar has its seaward terminus at Bulbar. But Samawanak and DniKjiireta have been spoken of as more convenient starting-points for the future railway, which has already been projected, and which must sooner or later run through the Gadibursi territory towards the great city of the Upper Webi basin, easternmost station and bulwark of the kingdom of Shoa. Accordingly England and France have recently put forward rival claims for the possession of this future gateway to the interior of the continent from this direction. The English mean- time retain in their hands the disputed station, recognising in return the absolute sovereignty of France over the Gulf of Tajurah, which also gives access to the inland regions from the head of the Gulf of Aden. Thus is completed the chain of conquests round about the continental periphery, by means of which the European powers hope gradually to annex to their dominions the whole of the vast domain of the dark races. Year by year the circuit is drawn tighter, while at the same time our knowledge is enlarged of the GENERAL REFLECTIONS. 416 land and its multitudinous inhabitants. Few African regions now remain where the whites dare not venture, and where their reputation for ruthless cruelty still lingers, caused by the part they formerly played in the slave-trade, by which the progress of the Negro has been retarded for ages. As peaceful travellers they now fearlessly penetrate into the very heart of the continent, and the pioneers of scientific exploration have already revealed the sources of the Nile, the Congo, and the Zambese. The European has himself put aside the old deep-rooted prejudice that slavery is the normal condition and inevitable destiny of the Negro race. He deigns now to look on the African as a fellow-man, and in return the African draws nearer to us and begins to regard us as his best friends. It may still be repeated in academic discussions that the natives of the " Dark Continent " are doomed to an everlasting childhood, incapable of expanding to man's estate. But the facts are there to refute the assumption, and to attest the progress already made during the short space of half a century — a progress wiiich, all things con- sidered, may perhaps be considered as relatively superior to that achieved by Europe herself in the course of two thousand years. Certain populations, such as the Basutos, who were till recently an,thropopha gists, have already outstripped in material culture and public instruction many of the laggard members of the European world. Whites and blacks, heretofore alien and hostile races, hence- forth understand that all alike belong to a common human family. %m- ^^