When they first arrived there, it was not an unusual
sight to see the men of different tribes, on the hillsides
that form the face of the “ crater,” fighting
battles-royal with their spears and shields.; and even
to this day, they, without their arms, sometimes have
hot contests, by pelting one another with sticks and
stones. There is scarcely a man of them who does not
show some scars of wounds received in these turmoils,
some apparently so deep that it is marvellous how
they ever recovered from them.
Their costume is very simple. The men, who despise
trousers, wear a single sheet of long-cloth, eight
cubits long, thrown over the shoulder, much after the
fashion of the Scotsman’s plaid. Some shave their
head, leaving it bare; others wear the mane of a lion
as a wig, which is supposed by them to give the character
of ferocity and courage to the wearer, while
those who affect the dandy allow their hair to grow,
and jauntily place some sticks in it resembling the
Chinaman’s joss-sticks, which, when arranging their
toilette, they use as a comb, and all carry as weapons
of defence a spear and shield, a shillelagh, and a long
two-edged knife. The women clothe more extensively,
though not much so. Fastening a cloth tightly round
the body immediately under their arms, they allow it to
fall evenly down to the ground, and effectually cover
their legs. The married ones encase their hair in
a piece of blue cloth, gathering it up at the back of
the head in the fashion of English women of the present
d ay ; this is a ' sign of wedlock. The virgins
wear theirs loose, plaited in small plaits of three,
which, being parted in the centre, allows the hair to
fall evenly down all round the head like a well-
arranged mop.* On approaching these fairs, they
seductively give their heads a cant backwards, with
a half side-jerk, which parts the locks in front, and
discloses a pretty little smiling face, with teeth as
white as pearls, and lips as red as rubies. Pretty as
they are when young, this beauty fades at once after
bearing children, and all their fair proportions go with
it. After that marked peculiarity of female negroes,
they swell about the waist, and have that large development
behind, which, in polite language, is called
steatopyga. Although they are Mussulmans, none
wear the yashmac. Beads are not so much in request
here as in other parts of Africa, though some do wear
necklaces of them, with large rings of amber. This
description, however, applies to the Somali in his
own land. When he comes over to Aden he takes
shame at his nakedness, dons the Arab’s gown and
trousers, and becomes the merchant complete.*
In consequence of the poorness of their land, almost
all the Somali are wandering pastorals, which of itself
is enough to account for their turbulent natures. The
system of government they maintain is purely patriarchal,
and is succeeded to by order of birth generally
in a regular and orderly manner, attributable, it would
* The Somali, in their own country, consider the Arab’s gown and
trousers effeminate; so on return to Africa they throw off the Arab
costume again.