486 MAN : PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



which are dusted over the greasy superstructure and regarded as 

 most effective. Here are also half-a-dozen tents of the native 

 hairdressers, where the mysteries of the toilet receive the finishing 

 touch. The style differs, as a rule, but little from that of the other 

 Beja tribes or even of the Abyssinians. The black, kinky, and 

 wavy hair, essentially different from the fine woolly hair of the 

 Negro, is drawn out so as to completely cover the ear, and is then 

 disposed in two main divisions by a horizontal parting. The 

 upper mass is raised to a top-knot, while the rest is plaited in 

 small tresses with their ends unravelled. But the whole is 

 first saturated with mutton-fat which causes it to retain the shape 

 given to it by the deft hand of the artist 1 .''' 



Through the Afars (Danakil) of the arid coastlands between 

 Abyssinia and the sea, the Bejas are connected with the numerous 



Hamitic populations of the Somali and Galla lands. 

 Genealogies. For the term "Somal," which is quite recent and of 



course unknown to the natives, Major H. M. Abud 2 

 suggests an interesting and plausible explanation. Being a hos- 

 pitable people, and milk their staple food, " the first word a 

 stranger would hear on visiting their kraals would be 'So mal,' 

 i.e. " Go and bring milk." Strangers may have named them from 

 this circumstance, and other tribal names may certainly be traced 

 to more improbable sources. 



The natives hold that two races inhabit the land : (i) ASHA, 

 true Somals, of whom there are two great divisions, Ddrbd and 

 Ishdk, both claiming descent from certain noble Arab families, 

 though no longer of Arab speech ; (2) HAWIYA, who are not 

 counted by the others as true Somals, but only "pagans," and 

 also comprise two main branches, Aysa and Gadabursi. In the 

 national genealogies collected by Major Abud and Captain Cox, 

 many of the mythical heroes are buried at or near Meit, which 

 may thus be termed the cradle of the Somal race. From this 

 point they spread in all directions, the Darods pushing south and 

 driving the Gallas beyond the Webbe Shebel, and till lately 

 raiding them as far as the Tana river. It should be noticed that 



1 Von Maltzau, quoted by Junker, Travels, I. p. 55. 

 - Genealogies of the Soinal, 1896. 



