First Footsteps in East AfricaBurton, Richard Francis, Sir
History
First Footsteps in East Africa
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
Harar -- Description and travel; Harari language; Horn of Africa -- Description and travel
[18] It is a string of little silver bells and other ornaments made by the
Arabs at Berberah.
[19] Harari, Somali and Galla, besides Arabic, and other more civilized
dialects.
[20] The Negroes of Senegal and the Hottentots use wooden mortars. At
Natal and amongst the Amazulu Kafirs, the work is done with slabs and
rollers like those described above.
[21] In the Eastern World this well-known fermentation is generally called
"Buzab," whence the old German word "busen" and our "booze." The addition
of a dose of garlic converts it into an emetic.
[22] The Somal will not kill these plundering brutes, like the Western
Africans believing them to be enchanted men.
[23] Some years ago Adan plundered one of Sharmarkay's caravans; repenting
the action, he offered in marriage a daughter, who, however, died before
nuptials.
[24] Gisti is a "princess" in Harari, equivalent to the Somali Geradah.
[25] They are, however, divided into clans, of which the following are the
principal:--
1. Bahawiyah, the race which supplies the Gerads.
2. Abu Tunis (divided into ten septs).
3. Rer Ibrahim (similarly divided).
4. Jibril.
5. Bakasiyya.
6. Rer Muhmud.
7. Musa Dar.
8. Rer Auro.
9. Rer Walembo.
10. Rer Khalid.
[26] I do not describe these people, the task having already been
performed by many abler pens than mine.
[27] They are divided into the Bah Ambaro (the chief's family) and the
Shaykhashed.
[28] The only specimen of stunted humanity seen by me in the Somali
country. He was about eighteen years old, and looked ten.
[29] At first I thought of writing it in Arabic; but having no seal, a
_sine qua non_ in an Eastern letter, and reflecting upon the consequences
of detection or even suspicion, it appeared more politic to come boldly
forward as a European.
[30] It belongs, I was informed, to two clans of Gallas, who year by year
in turn monopolise the profits.
[31] Of this tree are made the substantial doors, the basins and the
porringers of Harar.
[32] The Webbe Shebayli or Haines River.
[33] This scarecrow is probably a talisman. In the Saharah, according to
Richardson, the skull of an ass averts the evil eye from gardens.
[34] The following is a table of our stations, directions, and
distances:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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