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
_29th January_.--The caravan marched over the plain into Kurayat, or
Little Las Kuray, where Lieutenant Speke, after a detention of upwards of
a fortnight, took boat, and after five days' sail arrived at Aden, where I
was expecting him. He was charged forty dollars--five times the proper
sum--for a place in a loaded Buggalow: from Aden to Bombay thirty-five
dollars is the hire of the whole cabin. This was the last act of the
Abban, who is now by the just orders of the acting Political Resident,
Aden, expiating his divers offences in the Station Jail.
CONCLUSION.
Lieutenant Speke has passed through three large tribes, the Warsingali,
the Dulbahanta, and the Habr Gerhajis.
The Warsingali have a Sultan or Chief, whose orders are obeyed after a
fashion by all the clans save one, the Bihidur. He cannot demand the
attendance of a subject even to protect the country, and has no power to
raise recruits; consequently increase of territory is never contemplated
in this part of the Somali country. In case of murder, theft, or dispute
between different tribes, the aggrieved consult the Sultan, who,
assembling the elders, deputes them to feel the inclinations of the
"public." The people prefer revenging themselves by violence, as every man
thereby hopes to gain something. The war ends when the enemy has more
spears than cattle left--most frequently, however, by mutual consent, when
both are tired of riding the country. Expeditions seldom meet one another,
this retiring as that advances, and he is deemed a brave who can lift a
few head of cattle and return home in safety. The commissariat department
is rudely organised: at the trysting-place, generally some water, the
people assemble on a day fixed by the Sultan, and slaughter sheep: each
person provides himself by hanging some dried meat upon his pony. It is
said that on many occasions men have passed upwards of a week with no
other sustenance than water. This extensive branch of the Somal is divided
into eighteen principal clans, viz.:
1. Rer Gerad (the royal family).
2. Rer Fatih.
3. Rer Abdullah.
4. Rer Bihidur.
5. Bohogay Salabay.
6. Adan Yakub.
7. Gerad Umar.
8. Gerad Yusuf.
9. Gerad Liban.
10. Nuh Umar.
11. Adan Said.
12. Rer Haji.
13. Dubbays.
14. Warlabah.
15. Bayabarhay.
16. Rer Yasif.
17. Hindudub.
18. Rer Garwayna.
The Northern Dulbahantas are suffering greatly from intestine war. They
are even less tractable than the Warsingali. Their Sultan is a ruler only
in name; no one respects his person or consults him in matters of
importance: their Gerad was in the vicinity of the traveller; but evasive
answers were returned (probably in consequence of the Abban's
machinations) to every inquiry. The elders and men of substance settle
local matters, and all have a voice in everything that concerns the
general weal: such for instance as the transit of a traveller. Lieutenant
Speke saw two tribes, the Mahmud Gerad and Rer Ali Nalay. The latter is
subdivided into six septs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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