Of This I Have To Observe, That Universal Tradition Represents The Somal
To Be A People Of Half-Caste Origin, African And Arabian; Moreover, That
They Expelled The Gallas From The Coast, Until The Latter Took Refuge In
The Hills Of Harar.
The Gallas are a people partly Moslem, partly
Christian, and partly Pagan; this may account for the tradition above
recorded.
Most Somal, however, declare "Darud" to be a man of ignoble
origin, and do not derive him from the Holy City. Some declare he was
driven from Arabia for theft. Of course each tribe exaggerates its own
nobility with as reckless a defiance of truth as their neighbours
depreciate it. But I have made a rule always to doubt what semi-barbarians
write. Writing is the great source of historical confusion, because
falsehoods accumulate in books, persons are confounded, and fictions
assume, as in the mythologic genealogies of India, Persia, Greece, and
Rome, a regular and systematic form. On the other hand, oral tradition is
more trustworthy; witness the annals and genealogies preserved in verse by
the Bhats of Cutch, the Arab Nassab, and the Bards of Belochistan.
_30th November_.--The Sultan took leave of Lieutenant Speke, and the
latter prepared to march in company with the Abban, the interpreter, the
Sultan's two sons, and a large party. By throwing the tent down and
sitting in the sun he managed to effect a move. In the evening the camels
started from Adhai up a gradual ascent along a strong path. The way was
covered with bush, jungle, and trees. The frankincense, it is said,
abounded; gum trees of various kinds were found; and the traveller
remarked a single stunted sycamore growing out of a rock. I found the tree
in all the upper regions of the Somali country, and abundant in the Harar
Hills. After two miles' march the caravan halted at Habal Ishawalay, on
the northern side of the mountains, within three miles of the crest. The
halting-ground was tolerably level, and not distant from the waters of
Adhai, the only spring in the vicinity. The travellers slept in a deserted
Kraal, surrounded by a stout fence of Acacia thorns heaped up to keep out
the leopards and hyenas. During the heat Lieutenant Speke sat under a
tree. Here he remained three days; the first in order to bring up part of
his baggage which had been left behind; the second to send on a portion to
the next halting-place; and the third in consequence of the Abban's
resolution to procure Ghee or clarified butter. The Sultan could not
resist the opportunity of extorting something by a final visit--for a
goat, killed and eaten by the camel-drivers contrary to Lieutenant Speke's
orders, a dollar was demanded.
_4th December_, 1854.--About dawn the caravan was loaded, and then
proceeded along a tolerably level pathway through a thick growth of thorn
trees towards a bluff hill. The steep was reached about 9 A.M., and the
camels toiled up the ascent by a stony way, dropping their loads for want
of ropes, and stumbling on their road. The summit, about 500 yards
distant, was reached in an hour. At Yafir, on the crest of the mountains,
the caravan halted two hours for refreshment. Lieutenant Speke describes
the spot in the enthusiastic language of all travellers who have visited
the Seaward Range of the Somali Hills. It appears, however, that it is
destitute of water. About noon the camels were again loaded, and the
caravan proceeded across the mountains by a winding road over level ground
for four miles. This point commanded an extensive view of the Southern
Plateau. In that direction the mountains drop in steps or terraces, and
are almost bare; as in other parts rough and flat topped piles of stones,
reminding the traveller of the Tartar Cairns, were observed. I remarked
the same in the Northern Somali country; and in both places the people
gave a similar account of them, namely, that they are the work of an
earlier race, probably the Gallas. Some of them are certainly tombs, for
human bones are turned up; in others empty chambers are discovered; and in
a few are found earthern and large copper pots. Lieutenant Speke on one
occasion saw an excavated mound propped up inside by pieces of timber, and
apparently built without inlet. It was opened about six years ago by a
Warsingali, in order to bury his wife, when a bar of metal (afterwards
proved by an Arab to be gold) and a gold ring, similar to what is worn by
women in the nose, were discovered. In other places the natives find, it
is said, women's bracelets, beads, and similar articles still used by the
Gallas.
After nightfall the caravan arrived at Mukur, a halting-place in the
southern declivity of the hills. Here Lieutenant Speke remarked that the
large watercourse in which he halted becomes a torrent during the rains,
carrying off the drainage towards the eastern coast. He had marched that
day seventeen miles, when the party made a Kraal with a few bushes. Water
was found within a mile in a rocky basin; it was fetid and full of
animalculae. Here appeared an old woman driving sheep and goats into Las
Kuray, a circumstance which shows that the country is by no means
dangerous.
After one day's halt at Mukur to refresh the camels, on the 6th December
Lieutenant Speke started at about 10 A.M. across the last spur of the
hills, and presently entered a depression dividing the hills from the
Plateau. Here the country was stony and white-coloured, with watercourses
full of rounded stones. The Jujube and Acacias were here observed to be on
a large scale, especially in the lowest ground. After five miles the
traveller halted at a shallow watercourse, and at about half a mile
distant found sweet but dirty water in a deep hole in the rock. The name
of this station was Karrah.
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