DIET 



ance. Mohammed Ali, the chief of the Maghabul 

 Somali, gave me one of the latter, which was most 

 elaborately carved ; it had been treated with ghee, 

 and was of a rich red brown colour. The wooden 

 ghee spoons are ornamented in a similar fashion ; it is 

 usual, though by no means always the case, for a rich 

 man to have his cattle brand cut on the back of the 

 handle, for a similar reason, I suppose, that a man in 

 Europe will have his coat of arms engraved on his silver 

 ware. Thus, amongst others, I have in my posses- 

 sion spoons which have the following marks on the back 



—T) which are respectively the cattle 



brands of Mohammed Ali and Abdi Aden. 



The Somali in the interior are by force of circum- 

 stances abstemious in their habits. Their sole habitual 

 diet is milk and ghee : no fruit, no vegetables, seldom 

 any rice and rarely flesh, for they will not, if possible, 

 kill any of their own stock for food. Yet they are 

 inordinately fond of meat, and if a camel falls sick and 

 can no longer work, they will cut his throat and cook 

 and eat every scrap of flesh. They also boil down 

 all the fat, thus making a kind of lard to which they 

 are extremely partial. Being strict Mussulmans they 

 will not touch alcohol of any kind, not even when ill. 

 But they have another kind of drink, peculiar, I believe, 

 to Jubaland Somali, called " Buni." It is prepared 

 in the following way. The coffee, consisting of the 

 entire berry, is first roasted, or, as a matter of fact, fried 

 in ghee ; the latter is then poured off into a dish, 

 which is handed round to each man, beginning with 

 the eldest. In turn they dip their hands in, and 

 solemnly rub their faces, head or limbs with the ghee, 

 according to their individual taste ; meanwhile, the 



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