1905.] on Native Races of the British East Africa Protectorate. 117 



The Somalis are an interesting and remarkable race. In their 

 general physique and habits they resemble the Gallas, but they are far 

 more vigorous, and have unusual aptitudes both for war and for trade. 

 They combine the qualities of savage and civilised life. When at 

 home they are nomads, chiefly remarkable for the quickness of their 

 movements, having nothing which can be called cities or villages and 

 little apparent taste for the arts of life. Like the Gallas, they keep 

 cattle and camels, and, as our campaigns against them have proved 

 more than once, they know very well how to utilise the military 

 advantages which their country possesses. But though they have no 

 towns of their own, at least in British East Africa, they continually 

 visit Zanzibar and the various Arab and European settlements in the 

 Protectorate. On these occasions, though somewhat inclined to be 

 turbulent, they clearly rank with the Indians and Arabs and are 

 superior even to the Swahilis. As merchants, particularly as buyers 

 of cattle, they possess great talent and they show a fondness for 

 litigation and a skill in using the law to their own advantage which 

 cannot be paralleled among other natives. To my mind, they are 

 the most interesting element in the population of East Africa, and 

 the most enigmatical, for it is not always the most distant regions 

 which are the least known, and at the present day there are pro- 

 bably few countries so little explored and so little influenced by 

 Europeans as Somaliland and, one may add, Arabia. Only the 

 southernmost portion of these tribes fall within the limits of the 

 British East Africa Protectorate, but they occupy the whole country 

 from the gulf of x4den to a little south of the Equator, which is 

 divided between the small British protectorate known as Somahland 

 and the large but rather nominal sphere of Italian influence. Like 

 the Arabs, they are divided into numerous tribes whose relations and 

 sub-divisions are exceedingly complicated. The greater number of 

 those in East Africa belong to the Ogaden division, and have a 

 Sultan ; but he exercises little authority, the more important chiefs 

 having a sufficient number of followers to prevent the rise of anything 

 like a real central power. It would appear that though the Mad Mullah 

 sent emissaries to the East African Somahs, they were not disposed to 

 join him. 



I must pass on to the last group of tribes which I propose to con- 

 sider, namely, the Masai, Lumbwa, Nandi, Suk, and Turkhana. These 

 people are clearly allied to one another, but it is rather hard to 'find 

 any common name for them which does not imply too much theory. 

 Perhaps we are justified in calling them Nilotic, in the sense that 

 they are akin to tribes which still inhabit the banks of the southern 

 Nile, and whose origin is apparently to be sought in the countries near 

 the Sobat. A glance at the map will show that from this district to 

 the Rift valley, and thence a little way south into German East 

 Africa, there runs a broad band of population clearly distinguished 

 from the Bantu -speaking races in physique, language and customs. 



