1844.] Note on the Mijjertheyn Somalees. 321 



This is the only Somalee tribe that I have met with who acknow- 

 ledge the name of Sultan; and though some years have elapsed since 

 the days when one man governed the entire country, still the title has 

 descended in the direct line of the eldest son, down to its present pos- 

 sessor, a lad of eleven years of age. 



As in Arabia, so in this country, the people may be divided into two 

 classes; viz. those who reside at the different Bunders, and employ 

 themselves in trade with India, and the Red Sea; and the Bedouin part 

 of the population, whose only wealth consists in their horses, camels, 

 sheep, &c, and the gums which their mountains produce so abundantly. 



Regarding the town's-people, they are precisely the same as the 

 town-Arabs : — the worst specimens of the tribe. Intolerant (from 

 ignorance) in their religion, avaricious to excess, and (if possible) 

 equalling the Dunkali tribe at Tajoora in duplicity and falsehood, 

 they lead a life of utter indolence ; their only care being to get a good 

 price for their gums, which the more industrious Bedouin brings from 

 the mountains, and which are carried for them to the Red Sea and 

 Indian markets in bugalas, navigated chiefly by Arabs. 



We had many opportunities of seeing and judging of this class 

 during our protracted stay on this coast at the wreck of the Memnon, and 

 by every one, I think I can safely say, we were more or less deceived. 



Though many of them are men of considerable property, they live 

 in the coarsest manner possible; a little jowari bread, and a few dates 

 form their common food, varied occasionally by a dish of Mangalore 

 rice and a piece of salt shark. Meat is too valuable amongst them to 

 form a common article of food, but a sheep is generally slaughtered 

 in honor of a guest who may be reasonably supposed to be able and 

 willing to pay for the same by a return present. In the N. E. mon- 

 soon they have a tolerable supply of milk, which forms an agreeable 

 addition to their daily fare. They never smoke, but many chew to- 

 bacco to excess, and some of them adopt the Dunkali custom of mixing 

 a small quantity of wood ashes with the leaf to increase its pungency. 



The Bedouin portion of the tribe are strictly a race of shepherds, 

 with no fixed habitation ; and carrying all their worldly goods with 

 them, they much resemble the Arabs of Nejd. The number of their 

 flocks is immense, and they form a large moving population, rarely re- 



