^34 
TARANTA. 
five or six days longer ; Ummar, the Shum of the Hazorta in this 
district, had the charge of seeing them safely toDixan. 
This chief soon paid us a visit, and fronn him I gleaned the 
following information.— That there are three thousand fighting men 
in their tribe, under five different chiefs: First, Shum Moosa, who 
commands in the district of Assahcurry, to the south of Taranta; 
second, Shum Ally, who commands at Assalatha; third, Shum 
Hussien, at Dallieth ; fourth, Shum Hamed, at Assubah ; and him- 
self, Shum Ummar, at Dufferkydah, in the neighbourhood of this 
place, who also commands the passes of Taranta. All these chiefs, 
whose territories extend from near Dixan to the sea, live in strict 
amity with each other, and acknowledge Shum Abdallah Welled- 
el-Zangarah as supreme. He resides at Zulla, by the sea side, some- 
where near to the island of Valentia, where w^ater is procurable 
throughout the year ; that is, there are wells, which though generally 
exhausted in the evening, are, like those at Arkeko, full again by the 
morning. To this place they all go down in the rains with their 
cattle, and remain there four or five months, till the force of the 
waters is abated. On their return, they bring with them a consi- 
derable quantity of salt, which they exchange for grain in Habesh, 
and the districts of Baharnegash Yasous and Subhart. This salt is 
procured from a mountain two days journey from Zulla. They 
cultivate a little grain themselves, but subsist chiefly on the flesh 
and milk of their cattle. Subboolah is the name of a species of fig 
tree, which they lop for their cattle when grass is scarce. There is a 
powerful tribe to the south, called Bussamoo, with whom they are 
at war, and another tribe to the north called Tecroor; all of them 
speak the same language, which he called Dancafli. They trade 
