appear, to the reverence they feel for preserving their
purity of blood. The head of each clan is called Gerad
or Sultan, who would be powerless in himself were he
not supported by the united influence of all the royal
family. When any disturbances or great disputes
arise, the sultan is consulted, who collects his elders in
parliament to debate the matter over, and, through
them, ascertain the people’s feelings. Petty disputes
are settled by the elders without any further reference.
In most cases war arises from blood-feuds, when a
member of one clan kills the subject of another, and
will not pay the recognised valuation of the party injured,
or allow himself to be given up to the vengeance
of the family who has sustained the loss. In such
cases as these, whole tribes, voluntarily march out to
revenge the deed by forcibly taking as many cattle
from the aggressor as the market valuation may
amount to.
Thus a war, once contracted, does not subside for
years, as by repeated deaths among the contending
parties the balance of blood-money never can be settled.
Moreover, the inflicted punishment seldom falls
on the party immediately concerned; added to which,
in wars of tribes, everybody helps himself to his enemy’s
cattle in the best way he can, and men formerly poor
now suddenly become rich, which gives a zest to the
extension of the contest nothing else could produce.
Indeed, the poorer orders of Somali are only too glad
to have a good pretext for a fight, as a means of bettering
their condition, by adding a few more head of
cattle to their stock. Were this not the case, there
would be no fighting whatever, as the sultan would be
powerless to raise an army against the inclination of
the people. War only ceases when both sides become
exhausted, and withdraw as by mutual consent. The
great object in these encounters is to steal away as
many cattle as possible without risk of person, and such
feats are boasted of with rapture by those returning
home with any prize. In the administration of justice
they consult the Mosaic law, as given in the Koran,
taking life for life, and kind for kind.
The northern Somali have no permanent villages in
the interior of the country, as the ground is not cultivated
; but they scatter about, constantly moving with
their flocks and herds to any place within their limited
districts where water is to be found, and erect temporary
huts of sticks, covered with grass mats; or, when
favourable, they throw up loose stone walls like the
dykes in Scotland. But on the sea-coast, wherever
there are harbours for shipping, they build permanent
villages on a very primitive scale. These are composed
of square mat walls, supported by sticks, and all huddled
together, and partitioned off for the'accommodation
of the various families, near which there are usually
one or more square box-shaped stone buildings, the
property of the chief of the place, which are designated
forts, though there is nothing in their artless construction
to deserve this name. They are all composed of
blocks of coralline, cemented together with mortar
extracted from the same material.
B