The
name Cacatoes, is given by the Cape Boers, according to Delegorgue, to the
Coliphymus Concolor. The Gobiyan resembles in shape and flight our magpie,
it has a crest and a brown coat with patches of white, and a noisy note
like a frog. It is very cunning and seldom affords a second shot.
[3] The berries of the Armo are eaten by children, and its leaves, which
never dry up, by the people in times of famine; they must be boiled or the
acrid juice would excoriate the mouth.
[4] Siyaro is the Somali corruption of the Arabic Ziyarat, which,
synonymous with Mazar, means a place of pious visitation.
[5] The Somal call the insect Abor, and its hill Dundumo.
[6] The corrupted Portuguese word used by African travellers; in the
Western regions it is called Kelder, and the Arabs term it "Kalam."
[7] Three species of the Dar or Aloe grow everywhere in the higher regions
of the Somali country. The first is called Dar Main, the inside of its
peeled leaf is chewed when water cannot be procured. The Dar Murodi or
Elephant's aloe is larger and useless: the Dar Digwen or Long-eared
resembles that of Socotra.
[8] The Hig is called "Salab" by the Arabs, who use its long tough fibre
for ropes. Patches of this plant situated on moist ground at the foot of
hills, are favourite places with sand antelope, spur-fowl and other game.
[9] The Darnel or pod has a sweetish taste, not unlike that of a withered
pea; pounded and mixed with milk or ghee, it is relished by the Bedouins
when vegetable food is scarce.
[10] Dobo in the Somali tongue signifies mud or clay.
[11] The Loajira (from "Loh," a cow) is a neatherd; the "Geljira" is the
man who drives camels.
[12] For these we paid twenty-four oubits of canvass, and two of blue
cotton; equivalent to about three shillings.
[13] The natives call them Jana; they are about three-fourths of an inch
long, and armed with stings that prick like thorns and burn violently for
a few minutes.
[14] Near Berberah, where the descents are more rapid, such panoramas are
common.
[15] This is the celebrated Waba, which produces the Somali Wabayo, a
poison applied to darts and arrows. It is a round stiff evergreen, not
unlike a bay, seldom taller than twenty feet, affecting hill sides and
torrent banks, growing in clumps that look black by the side of the
Acacias; thornless, with a laurel-coloured leaf, which cattle will not
touch, unless forced by famine, pretty bunches of pinkish white flowers,
and edible berries black and ripening to red. The bark is thin, the wood
yellow, compact, exceedingly tough and hard, the root somewhat like
liquorice; the latter is prepared by trituration and other processes, and
the produce is a poison in substance and colour resembling pitch.
![First Footsteps In East Africa; Or, An Exploration Of Harar. By Richard F. Burton
- As Borad, the White Hill; Libahlay, the Lions' Mountain; and so
forth.
[2] The Arabs call it Kakatua, and consider - Page 117](../images/travel.jpg)
