LEATHER— SPEARS 



that has not yet been solved. The iron required is 

 obtained from the coast through Arab traders, and 

 payment is made for it with cattle, hides or ghee. 



The Midgan men themselves tan the leather that 

 is required for the manufacture of shields, sandals, 

 belts and water-bottles. The skins most prized in 

 Jubaland are those of the giraffe {Giraffa reticulata), 

 the rhinoceros, which is very rare, and the oryx beisa. 

 In the bulls of the latter species the skin over the 

 withers and lower part of the neck is extraordinarily 

 thick and tough. This peculiarity in the oryx beisa may 

 have been developed as a protection against their sharp 

 spear-like horns when they are fighting one another. 



The spears carried by the warriors, of which there 

 are a considerable variety, are usually fitted with thin 

 strong shafts made from a variety of wood. Some 

 are quite ornamental, cut from trees especially selected 

 for their fine even grain, and highly polished by 

 rubbing in ghee, which imparts a rich dark yellow 

 gloss to the surface ; others are fashioned from a kind 

 of wood that resembles hickory ; others, again, are 

 made of ebony, which is also treated with ghee. The 

 latter kind are only carried by those warriors who have 

 killed an enemy ; this distinction, which confers upon a 

 man the privilege of wearing the " Bal," or feathered 

 head-dress, is eagerly sought after, and the young men 

 are always on the look-out for the opportunity of gain- 

 ing it. Among certain tribes I have been told that a 

 man cannot marry until he has thus proved his metal. 

 The wooden sleeping-pillows are of a variety of 

 shapes, ranging from the pattern with the single leg, 

 as carried by the poor man, to that cut out of a solid 

 piece of wood, 15 inches in diameter, with six legs, 

 which are very rare and only used by men of import- 



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