14 
THROUGH SOMALILAND AND ABYSSINIA chap. 
or whip, or the open hand, and theoretically this act can only 
be wiped out by blood. 
There are always innumerable blood feuds going on in 
Somaliland, but as a rule the tribal fights are not very serious, 
a dozen men killed in every thousand engaged being a fair 
proportion. The men slain in these combats are buried on the 
spot, and then begins a long series of negotiations for the 
settlement of the amount of blood money, which generally lasts 
months, or even years, before any result is arrived at. Often 
at a council all the old men on both sides get up in a fury and 
leave hurriedly for their kraals with angry shouting, showing 
that diplomacy has failed. 
This sitting in council discussing tribal politics appears 
to be the principal occupation of Somalis, and at Berbera, in 
the native town, they may generally be seen sitting in circles 
holding protracted discussions. They appeal to our courts to 
decide the greatest and most trivial cases, delighting in arbi- 
tration ; and tribes from very great distances inland, even from 
Og&den or the Marehhn country, come to the Berbera Court 
with cases, a great number of which have to do with raids of 
some sort, committed either upon grazing flocks and herds or 
upon caravans. 
Although a good deal of intermittent fighting is prevalent 
all over the interior, the Somalis have no quarrel with the 
English. They show respect for the English as being their 
natural protectors and arbitrators. The chronic fighting which 
goes on throughout the country is only looked upon by the 
elders as healthy blood-letting, giving the young men some- 
thing to do. It is only considered serious when it occurs 
on the main caravan routes, thereby damaging trade. In 
Cuban quarrels and raids have practically ceased within the 
last few years, owing to British influence. 
The Somalis love display, and do honour to their own 
sultans 1 by the performance of a ceremony called the dihdltig. 
When this function is to be gone through a body of horsemen 
are collected, and line having been formed, the tribal minstrel 
or gerara sings, while sitting in the saddle, long extempore 
songs in praise of the sultan and the tribe, the most atrocious 
flattery being the leading feature of the song. At every great 
hit scored by the minstrel the song rises to a shriek, and all 
the horsemen turn and gallop away, returning and reining up 
1 The Gerad (Arabic Saltan) is the paramount chief of a tribe. 
