[17] These utensils will be described in a future chapter.
[18] The settled Somal have a holy horror of dogs, and, Wahhabi-like,
treat man's faithful slave most cruelly. The wild people are more humane;
they pay two ewes for a good colley, and demand a two-year-old sheep as
"diyat" or blood-money for the animal, if killed.
[19] Vultures and percnopters lie upon the wing waiting for the garbage of
the kraals; consequently they are rare near the cow-villages, where
animals are not often killed.
[20] They apply this term to all but themselves; an Indian trader who had
travelled to Harar, complained to me that he had always been called a
Frank by the Bedouins in consequence of his wearing Shalwar or drawers.
[21] Generally it is not dangerous to write before these Bedouins, as they
only suspect account-keeping, and none but the educated recognise a
sketch. The traveller, however, must be on his guard: in the remotest
villages he will meet Somal who have returned to savage life after
visiting the Sea-board, Arabia, and possibly India or Egypt.
[22] I have often observed this ceremony performed upon a new turban or
other article of attire; possibly it may be intended as a mark of
contempt, assumed to blind the evil eye.
[23] Such is the general form of the Somali grave. Sometimes two stumps of
wood take the place of the upright stones at the head and foot, and around
one grave I counted twenty trophies.
[24] Some braves wear above the right elbow an ivory armlet called Fol or
Aj: in the south this denotes the elephant-slayer. Other Eesa clans assert
their warriorhood by small disks of white stone, fashioned like rings, and
fitted upon the little finger of the left hand. Others bind a bit of red
cloth round the brow.
[25] It is sufficient for a Bedouin to look at the general appearance of
an animal; he at once recognises the breed. Each clan, however, in this
part of Eastern Africa has its own mark.
[26] They found no better word than "fire" to denote my gun.
[27] "Oddai", an old man, corresponds with the Arab Shaykh in etymology.
The Somal, however, give the name to men of all ages after marriage.
[28] The "Dihh" is the Arab "Wady",--a fiumara or freshet. "Webbe" (Obbay,
Abbai, &c.) is a large river; "Durdur", a running stream.
[29] I saw these Dihhs only in the dry season; at times the torrent must
be violent, cutting ten or twelve feet deep into the plain.
[30] The name is derived from Kuranyo, an ant: it means the "place of
ants," and is so called from the abundance of a tree which attracts them.
![First Footsteps In East Africa; Or, An Exploration Of Harar. By Richard F. Burton
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[15] In this country camels foal either in the Gugi (monsoon), or during
the cold season immediately after the autumnal - Page 91](../images/travel.jpg)
