34 
THROUGH SOMALILAND AND ABYSSINIA chap. 
not very flattering to either. But he could not have seen the 
best stamp of pony among the Gadabursi, and we have noticed 
that the tribes farther to the east were not so cruel as the 
Gadabursi, a man often dismounting and walking to save his 
animal. 
The few ponies which are kept in waterless tracts, as a guard 
for the grazing camels, receive each a daily allowance of the 
milk of two camels mixed with a quart of water, the latter 
being brought from great distances. They are never used as 
pack animals, being too valuable in the eyes of the Somali to 
be degraded by doing donkey’s work. Mules are sometimes 
used on the Zeila-Harar road, but are found nowhere else in 
Somaliland, to my knowledge. 
We tried the best SomMi ponies ridden by their owners 
against an ordinary 14.1 “ Gulf Arab” imported from Bombay, 
which was ridden by my brother. The Somali invariably 
jumped off with a good start, keeping it for about one hundred 
and fifty yards, and then dropping hopelessly behind when once 
the advantage of the start was lost. 
Donkeys are not much used for transport except on the 
Zeila-Harar roads, where the country is stony. They are largely 
employed in taking salt and rice from Zeila to Harar, a bag of 
rice weighing one hundred and seventy pounds, or half a camel 
load, being carried by each. Only women ride donkeys, the 
Som&li man considering it beneath his dignity to do so. 
When surveying in 1886, with a small escort of Bombay 
Infantry sepoys, I provided each man with a donkey, either to 
tide or to carry his valise and water-bottle on, according to 
inclination. There were twelve men so mounted, and the 
experiment proved a great success. The donkeys were driven 
herded together by two little boys. The escort was composed 
partly of these men and partly of Hindustani policemen 
mounted on ponies, carrying carbines in saddle-buckets. In my 
later journeys, however, finding that the natives of Hindustan, 
being used to plenty of water, were at a great disadvantage 
when crossing waterless tracts, I formed the escort purely of 
well-drilled Som&lis, and this arrangement proved less expensive 
and better adapted to the requirements of the country. 
Cattle are kept chiefly by the tribes inhabiting hilly country 
where water is plentiful, and by the mullahs in their settlements. 
Cow’s milk is generally tainted by the smoked vessels in which 
it is kept, and to obtain good milk it is necessary to see the 
