2 
THROUGH SOMALILAND AND ABYSSINIA chap. 
to Berbera from Og&den and Harar. They bring hides, ivory, 
ostrich -feathers, rhinoceros and antelope horns, prayer -skins, 
honey, coffee, ghee (clarified butter), and gum ; exchanging 
these products and loading up for the return journey with the 
beads, dates, rice, cotton goods, and other articles which form 
the cargoes of dhows visiting the ports. The traders have 
portable huts ( gurgi ) which are packed on camels, and can be 
pitched or struck in about an hour. These they erect on long 
GROUP OF SOMALIS (WHITE ESA). 
From a Photograph by the Author. 
halts, and when staying at the coast towns in the trading 
season. The rer or kraal (karia in Arabic) is formed by 
unpacking the gurgi and pitching them in a semicircle, 
surrounding the whole by a thorn-fence or zeriba. The huts 
are carried on camels in sections, and consist of a framework 
of bent gipsy poles, over which mats and skins are sewn when 
a halt is made. While on the march the mats do duty as 
pack-saddles for the camels, the skins being tied over the loads 
to protect them from sun and rain. While the caravans are at 
the coast, generally during the greater part of the cold weather, 
Dsr 
