Mohammed
is now the eldest, and the youngest is a child called Ahmed, left for
education at Mocha. The Hajj has also two daughters, married to Bedouin
Somal.
[8] It is related that a Hazrami, flying from his fellow-countrymen,
reached a town upon the confines of China. He was about to take refuge in
a mosque, but entering, he stumbled over the threshold. "Ya Amud el Din"--
"0 Pillar of the Faith!" exclaimed a voice from the darkness, calling upon
the patron saint of Hazramaut to save a Moslem from falling. "May the
Pillar of the Faith break thy head," exclaimed the unpatriotic traveller,
at once rising to resume his vain peregrinations.
[9] Mercenaries from Mocha, Hazramaut, and Bir Hamid near Aden: they are
armed with matchlock, sword, and dagger; and each receives from the
governor a monthly stipend of two dollars and a half.
[10] The system of caste, which prevails in El Yemen, though not in the
northern parts of Arabia, is general throughout the Somali country. The
principal families of outcasts are the following.
The Yebir correspond with the Dushan of Southern Arabia: the males are
usually jesters to the chiefs, and both sexes take certain parts at
festivals, marriages, and circumcisions. The number is said to be small,
amounting to about 100 families in the northern Somali country.
The Tomal or Handad, the blacksmiths, originally of Aydur race, have
become vile by intermarriage with serviles.