1844.] Note on the Mijjertheyn Somalees. 323 



This abstemiousness amongst them when dependent solely upon 

 their own resources, vanishes as soon as a hearty meal is offered 

 at the expense of any one else, when they will consume an immense 

 quantity of meat, rice and ghee, on the prudent principle of profiting 

 by the opportunity ; and the man who sells a sheep to a traveller on 

 a journey, always considers himself fully entitled to a share of the 

 same. 



We made frequent short excursions inland during the operations on 

 the wreck, and we were never molested by any of these people, though 

 I should not feel disposed to place entire confidence in them. That 

 they are all arrant thieves we found out, certainly to our cost at our 

 camp, where a regular system of plunder went on for a short time. 

 They were all so miserably poor, that any thing like hospitality could 

 hardly be looked for ; but we always experienced civility from them 

 if we approached their huts, and entered into conversation with them. 

 A few spoonfuls of sugar to the children generally had the effect of 

 bringing out the females of the ghurrea, (a place where the shepherd 

 resides,) and in a few minutes we were the best friends in the world. 

 On one occasion, a girl was brought who had lost her foot and ancle 

 by the bite of a snake, and who was hopping about with the help 

 of two sticks. On Captain Powell proposing that she should have 

 a wooden leg, and offering to get one made, the crowd of listeners 

 at first were lost in wonder, but when the principle and the advantages 

 of the said wooden leg were explained, they were beyond measure 

 delighted, and declaring that so astonishing a conception never would 

 have entered their thick heads, they begged that the carpenter, might 

 be set to work directly ; a handsome wooden leg was accordingly 

 made, and under the superintendence of the surgeon, strapped on 

 properly ; but what afterwards became of the young lady I never heard. 



Ignorant and simple as these people are, it is not surprising that 

 their jealousy should occasionally have been awakened when they 

 saw a strange people, so superior in every way to themselves, wander- 

 ing about their country without any apparent reason for so doing. 

 Contented as they were with their stony mountains, they naturally felt 

 alarmed at the preference we appeared to shew for them, and the idea 

 that we were about to take the country, was seriously discussed. 



