12 
THROUGH SOMALILAND AND ABYSSINIA chap. 
father of the woman, say, two or three horses and about two 
hundred sheep. Often this is given back to the woman by her 
father, and sometimes a dowry is given by him. In the Rer 
Ali tribe we once passed a drove of about fifty camels being 
driven by a pretty young woman, who stopped to proudly tell 
us that they were the dowry her father was sending along with 
her to her husband. One favourite way of obtaining a wife is 
to loot her in a foray, along with a lot of sheep. Often when 
I have asked a man where he got his pretty wife, he has 
answered, “ Oh, I looted her from the Samanter Abdallah,” or 
the Rer Ali, naming a neighbouring tribe. A nod and a laugh 
from the wife has corroborated the story, and she does not 
appear to be at all unhappy about it. Marriage with aliens is, 
I think, looked upon with favour by Somalis, because it brings 
new blood into the tribe; and it has the additional advantage 
of extending diplomatic relations, a man who has married into 
a tribe being tolerably safe when in its territory, even in dis- 
turbed times. 
Some rich women, who have brought a large dowry to their 
husbands, only perform light work in the huts, and make mats. 
Others tend sheep and cattle, draw water, hew wood, and work 
all day long, with no reward but blows. I go by what Somalis 
themselves say, for I have never seen any cruelty. Women 
work very hard. From every watering-place old women are 
seen struggling to the karias with heavy hans full of water, 
often containing three or four gallons. They carry the hans 
and bundles of firewood in exactly the same manner as they do 
their babies, slung on their backs. The water hans are com- 
posed of plaited bark. They are easily broken, and on every 
march one or two may become useless, owing either to contact 
with thorn branches or to the tired camels sitting on them. 
A little water is always lost by leakage. My own experience 
of hans has been somewhat unfortunate, chiefly because my 
caravans being composed almost entirely of men, their manage- 
ment has not been properly understood. 
Another industry practised by the women is the plaiting of 
camel-mats ; these are made by chewing the striped bark of the 
Galol tree, and weaving it into a mat, which it takes a week 
to make. They also extract the fibres from the Hig , or pointed 
aloe-plants, by beating them between stones, the fibre then being 
twisted into ropes. The Somali women lead the camels on the 
longest marches, and exhibit wonderful powers of endurance, 
