CHAP. I 
SOMALI ETHNOLOGY 
7 
Town in Og&den, and Hargeisa in tlie Habr Awal country. 
There are about a dozen others of minor importance, all 
inhabited by mullahs, scattered over several degrees of latitude 
and longitude, but Hargeisa may be taken as the type of them 
all. 
Mullahs are enabled to settle down and form permanent 
villages, and cultivate, on account of the respect in which they 
are held by all tribes. A looting party must be driven to the 
last extremity of hunger before it will attack them, and 
generally in such a case only as many animals would be looted 
as are needed to provide food. The mullahs are drawn from 
various tribes, and, being cosmopolitan, have very extended 
influence. They are a quiet, respectable class, generally on the 
side of order, and civil to travellers. 
Hargeisa, a compact village of a few hundred agal or 
permanent huts, is surrounded by a high mat fence, and a 
square mile or two of jowdri ( Holcus sorghum) cultivation 
belonging to different mullahs. Sheikh Mattar, the chief of 
Hargeisa, is a pleasant-mannered man affecting Arab dress ; he 
reads and writes Arabic, and is a steady supporter of British 
interests. Like many of the more important mullahs in 
Somaliland, he has a very dark complexion, almost black, in 
fact, with well-formed, intelligent features. With the exception 
of these mullah settlements, a few graves dotted about the 
country, and some cairns and ancient remains of former races, 
there is nothing permanent to show the presence of human 
beings. The caravan routes are mere paths made by the feet 
of camels and passing flocks, crossed by game tracks in every 
direction. For countless years long lines of baggage camels 
have gone aside from the straight course in order to wind round 
some stone or bush that a child could remove. The work is 
left to the next caravan, or to Allah, who is made responsible 
for everything, good or bad, in Somaliland. There is no 
social system, but patriarchal government by tribes, clans, and 
families ; no cohesion, and no paramount native authority ; and 
the whole country has been from time immemorial in a chronic 
state of petty warfare and blood feuds. 
The Somali has a many-sided character. He is generally 
a good camelman, a cheerful camp-follower, a trustworthy, 
loyal, and attentive soldier; proud of the confidence reposed 
in him, quick to learn new things, and wonderfully bright and 
intelligent. He is untiring on the march, often a reckless 
