Advancing to the gate, Mad Said accosted a warder, known by his long wand of office, and sent our salams to the Amir, saying that we came from Aden, and requested the honor of audience. Whilst he sped upon his errand, we sat at the foot of a round bastion, and were scrutinised, derided, and catechized by the curious of both sexes, especially by that conventionally termed the fair. The three Habr Awal presently approached and scowlingly inquired why we had not apprised them of our intention to enter the city. It was now "war to the knife"--we did not deign a reply. FOOTNOTES [1] It is worn for a year, during which modest women will not marry. Some tribes confine the symbol to widowhood, others extend it to all male relations; a strip of white cotton, or even a white fillet, instead of the usual blue cloth, is used by the more civilized. [2] Cain is said to repose under Jebel Shamsan at Aden--an appropriate sepulchre. [3] This beast, called by the Somal Jambel, closely resembles the Sindh species. It is generally found in the plains and prairies. [4] In the Somali country, as in Kafirland, the Duwao or jackal is peculiarly bold and fierce. Disdaining garbage, he carries off lambs and kids, and fastens upon a favourite _friandise_, the sheep's tail; the victim runs away in terror, and unless the jackal be driven off by dogs, leaves a delicate piece of fat behind it. [5] The Somal call the owl "Shimbir libah"--the lion bird. [6] The plume was dark, chequered with white, but the bird was so wild that no specimen could be procured. [7] The Arabs apply this term to tea. [8] The Dayyib of the Somal, and the Sinaubar of the Arabs; its line of growth is hereabouts an altitude of 5000 feet. [9] Travellers in Central Africa describe exactly similar buildings, bell- shaped huts, the materials of which are stakes, clay and reed, conical at the top, and looking like well-thatched corn-stacks. [10] Amongst the Fellatahs of Western Africa, only the royal huts are surmounted by the ostrich's egg. [11] These platforms are found even amongst the races inhabiting the regions watered by the Niger. [12] Charred sticks about six feet long and curved at the handle. [13] Equally simple are the other implements. The plough, which in Eastern Africa has passed the limits of Egypt, is still the crooked tree of all primitive people, drawn by oxen; and the hoe is a wooden blade inserted into a knobbed handle. [14] It is afterwards stored in deep dry holes, which are carefully covered to keep out rats and insects; thus the grain is preserved undamaged for three or four years. [15] This word is applied to the cultivated districts, the granaries of Somali land. [16] "The huge raven with gibbous or inflated beak and white nape," writes Mr. Blyth, "is the corvus crassirostris of Ruppell, and, together with a nearly similar Cape species, is referred to the genus Corvultur of Leason." [17] In these hills it is said sometimes to freeze; I never saw ice.