THE WEALTH OF THE SOMALI 



willing and obedient native into a sullen, dangerous 

 and treacherous enemy, and his undoubted intelli- 

 gence and courage, coupled with his powers of 

 endurance and knowledge of the bush, render him 

 a truly formidable antagonist. 



As I have already mentioned, the wealth of a 

 Somali is estimated by the amount of live stock he 

 possesses. The latter consists of camels, cattle, goats 

 and sheep. Camels are not bred much south of the 

 Lak Dera, but round Wajheir and Eil Wak there 

 are enormous herds. I shall deal with them in 

 another chapter ; and so, therefore, I need not refer 

 to them at greater length here. Nor is there much 

 to be said of the cattle, for they belong to the well- 

 known shorthorn breed of native cattle common 

 throughout East Africa. While the grazing is good 

 the cows give plenty of milk, but the necessity of 

 continually moving according to the water-supply 

 is a serious drawback and keeps the animals from 

 getting really fat. 



The sheep, however, are interesting ; they belong- 

 to a black-headed fat-rumped group, for which Dr. 

 Fitzinger proposed the name Ovis pachycerca, be- 

 lieving them to be descended from a distinct stock. 

 There does not seem to be sufficient justification 

 for such an opinion, since their peculiarities may 

 well be the results of long domestication. As special 

 characteristics of this breed, Mr. R. Lydekker gives 

 '* the absence or rudimentary condition of the horns 

 of the rams ; the excess in length of the lower over 

 the upper jaw ; the strongly developed dewlap which 

 often extends downwards to the chest : . . . the short 

 stumpy tail, which appears as a kind of knob between 

 the fatty cushions on the rump ; the short sleek coat 



K 145 



