II 
THE NOMADIC LIFE 
33 
the sands at Berbera, the men following for hours trying to 
catch them. 
According to the Som&lis, camels have a young one every 
second year, generally in the Gu or monsoon. They begin to 
foal when three years old; the foal — black, tawny yellow, or 
white as a well-washed sheep — soon gets on its legs, and in a 
few days can scamper about. They are called Godir , Gel- Ass, 
or Gel- Ad, according as they are born black, reddish yellow, or 
white, and they retain these shades through life. Yearlings, 
older camels, and she -camels with their young are kept in 
distinct mobs. The Somalis object to the firing of a gun near, 
or otherwise startling the she-camels when about to foal, as they 
gallop away in panic, injuring stock. A she -camel, besides 
nourishing her foal, will daily give milk for two men who 
have no other food ; in the event of more being required, the 
young one is killed and the skin removed, and whenever the 
mother is milked its skin is rubbed against her nostrils. She 
becomes quite tractable, and will follow the man who carries 
the skin. If the foal is allowed to live, as soon as it can browse 
the teats of the mother are tied with bits of string, and the 
milk reserved for human beings. 
Somali ponies average about thirteen hands and a half, and 
are bred by every tribe except the Esa and Geri. Of the tribes 
I have met on different expeditions, those having the most 
ponies are the Dolbahanta, the Rer Ali, the Rer Amaden, the 
Habr Gerhajis, and the Jibril Abokr sub -tribe of the Habr 
Awal. In the Nogal country w T e saw enormous numbers, one 
man sometimes owning one hundred and fifty. The Somdli 
pony carries a light w r eight splendidly ; his feet are harder than 
even those of an Arab horse, and, indeed, unless well shod the 
latter would make poor work on the rocky ground over which 
the Somali animal, which is never shod, will gallop at full speed. 
He is handy among bushes, and will go for three days, or even 
longer, without water, eats nothing but grass, and requires no 
care. I have never seen a Somali pony covered up or groomed ; 
he is exposed to all weathers, and is usually infested with ticks. 
The Kud-hudaha is a tick about half an inch in diameter, with 
a tortoise-shell back, its bite being venomous and drawing blood. 
Ponies are bred solely for inter-tribal fighting, the mares being 
considered the best. 
Sir Richard Burton, in his First Footsteps in East Africa , 
gives an admirable description of the Somali pony and his rider, 
D 
