I 
SOMALI ETHNOLOGY 
3 
the camels are placed under the care of the nomad Somdls, to 
be fed and tended until the return journey to the interior in 
the spring. 
The nomadic tribes also form zerlbas during their wanderings, 
staying in camp for a month or two at a time. Each nomad 
clan wanders in an orbit of its own, and reoccupies its former 
zerlbas at the different pastures year after year. Their zerlbas 
differ from those of trading caravans by being made in a double 
ring, the outer circle of which is often twelve feet high, to keep 
out lions. Inside the double brushwood fence the space is 
divided into pens for cattle, camels, sheep, and goats, the 
ponies being hobbled and allowed to graze abroad by day, while 
at night they are tied to the outside of the huts or to thorn 
trees ; and for their further protection fires are lit round the inside 
of the zerlba and in the huts. At the coast towns the arrange- 
ments are not so formidable, a low single fence to keep in the 
animals being deemed sufficient. The huts are put up by 
women, while the men form the zerlba and cut logs for the 
watch-fires, using an axe (fas) made from a block of soft iron, 
worked into a ring with a forked stick inserted — much like the 
axe of jungle tribes in India. The men are extremely lazy, 
and consider that their dignity is lowered by tending anything 
but camels, cattle, and ponies. Thousands of sheep and goats 
are looked after by a few women and small children ; while the 
donkeys and the water -vessels they carry are the particular care 
of the oldest and most decrepit women. 
The neighbourhood of nomad encampments and watering- 
places is always noisy and dusty, the ground being worked into 
powder by the feet of thousands of animals. Most of the 
bushes are denuded of their branches for firewood, and the grass 
is eaten and worn away. At the important wells watering is 
done by sub-tribes, to each of which is allotted a certain well at 
a certain hour. When watering is going on, the groups of 
naked men singing in chorus as they pass the water up to the 
troughs, the lowing of the cattle, the countless flocks and herds 
moving to and fro half veiled by clouds of dust, form a very 
remarkable scene. The nomads who live about the G61is Eange 
draw near to the coast during the cool trading season, and 
return to the high Ogo country to remain there during the 
summer months. They form no large caravans, but are engaged 
in a good deal of petty barter with the coast and in the export 
of sheep. 
