

MY SOMALI BOOK 



CHAPTER I 



Somaliland — First trip from Aden — Berbera : prelimiiiaiy arrangements — 

 General description of Somaliland — Physical features, etc. — Inhabitants 

 — Fauna. 



An arid desert country beneath a scorching tropical 

 sun : the home of a " Mad Mullah," cause of one of 

 the most prolonged and least successful of our " little 

 wars " : absorbing blood and money but making 

 no return : a sad example of our muddling policy, or 

 want of policy ; right or wrong that is, I think, a very 

 prevalent impression of Somaliland. 



But it has other and more pleasing aspects. Much 

 of the country dry and barren it yet has striking 

 variations of scenery. Its inhabitants, whether you 

 like them or not, are an interesting race, with a higher 

 place in the scale of humanity than the majority at 

 least of the negro tribes. Their origin is somewhat 

 uncertain, but they undoubtedly have a liberal strain 

 of Arab blood, and their features, except to some 

 extent their lips, show nothing of the negroid type. 

 And from the sportsman's point of view, with which I 

 am mainly concerned, the country still provides, though 

 without such an extensive fauna as that of East Africa 



B 



