him. Further, I even threatened the sultan with a
pretended determination to return to Aden, where I
said the matter would be settled at our police court
without bias or favour. I then desired the interpreter
to look out for any vessel that would give me a passage
to Aden, as it was obvious to me Sumunter had
more power in the land than the sultan. This took
them aH by surprise, abashed the old sultan and his
family—for they were proud of their strength—and
induced them to say I need not fear anything on that
score; was the sultan of the Warsingali, indeed, not
the greatest chief in the land, and, moreover, a great
aHy of the English ? This, of course, was only a feint
on my part to bring them to a proper sense of their
duty towards m e ; for I had brought letters of recommendation
from the Government at Aden to their
chief, and knew they would rather do anything than
let me go back in a huff.
29 th. I had been now nine days waiting here, and
had taken many walks about the hill-sides, investigating
the place, and making sundry collections. The
most interesting amongst these was a small lizard, a
new species, afterwards named by Mr E. Blyth, the
Curator of the Asiatic Society, Tiloqua Burtoni, after
my commandant. The Somali brought a leopard into
camp, which they said they had destroyed in a cave
by beating it to death with sticks and stones. They
have a mortal antipathy to these animals, as they
sometimes kill defenceless men, and are very destructive
to their flocks. Besides the little antelope described,
I only saw the Saltiana antelope, and the
tracks of two other species which were said to be very
scarce. Bhinoceroses were formerly very abundant
here, but have been nearly all killed down with spear
and bow (they do not use firearms) by the Somali
hunters, in consequence of the great demand for their
skins for making shields. Amongst the bush and
trees there were several gum-producing ones, of which
the frankincense, I think, ranked first. These gums
are usually plucked by the women and transported to
Aden. The barks of various other trees are also very
useful; for instance, they strip down the bark of the
acacia in long slips, and chew it until only fibres remain,
which, when twisted in the hand, make strong
cordage. The acacia bark also makes a good tan for
preserving leather; but of far greater account than
this is the bark of a squat stunted tree, like the “ elephant’s
foot,” called by the Somali mohur, which has
a smooth skin, with knotty-] ookin g warts upon it like
a huge turnip, reddish inside, with a yellowish-green
exterior. I t has a highly aromatic flavour, and is a
powerful astringent. When making mussacks, the
Somali pull a sheep or goat out of his sk in ; tie its
legs and tail, where incisions had been made, to make
it a waterproof bag, and then fill it with bits of this
bark, chopped up and mixed with water. They then
suspend it in a tree to dry, and afterwards render it
soft and pliable by a severe course of manipulation.