322 Note on the Mijjertheyn Somalees. [No. 149. 



maining more than three weeks in one place, and regulating their change 

 of pasture so as to leave the table lands untouched until the end of the 

 N. E. monsoon, or about the middle of February, by which time the 

 grass there has become abundant, and if a moderate quantity of rain 

 has fallen, sufficient to last them during the hot season, or about the 

 end of November. They are on an average a mean looking race of 

 men, not to be compared with the Somalees to the Westward, nor have 

 their women much pretension to beauty. The men, generally speaking, 

 are undersized, of slight but compact make, and the fatigue and pri- 

 vation that they will endure without repining is almost incredible. 

 Nominally Mohammedans, hardly one in thirty can correctly repeat 

 the prescribed formula of daily prayer, and the lucky man who has 

 been taught to read and write, steals from hut to hut with a well- 

 thumbed copy of the Koran slung over his shoulders in a leather bag, 

 a huge wooden ink bottle dangling at his girdle, and a dressed goat's 

 skin to do duty as a prayer carpet. One of these learned individuals 

 whom we met at Toh6n, was dignified with the title of " Doctor," but 

 with what reason I could not discover. 



The Bedouins live almost entirely upon milk, and prefer it to any 

 thing else ; so long as they can procure a moderate supply of this 

 article from their flocks they rarely touch any thing else, save when 

 they visit the coast. Rice, jowari and dates are imported in large quan- 

 tities from India and Arabia, but they rarely use them until the dry 

 season diminishes the quantity of milk. For the same reason, except 

 during the hot season, they are unwilling to part with their flocks, and 

 though we experienced but little difficulty in procuring a sufficient 

 and regular supply of fresh meat, our success I imagine ought to be 

 attributed to the magic influence of dollars instead of rice and coarse 

 dungaree cloth, which form the common articles of barter on this 

 coast. As the season advanced, however, even money began to fail to 

 induce the people to sell their fat sheep and goats, and at the time 

 that I am writing this, we have been compelled to send a man three days' 

 journey to procure them. 



The Bedouins rarely drink coffee, and their reasons are rather 

 good. " If we drink coffee once," say they, " we shall want it again, 

 and where are we to get it from." 



