II 
THE NOMADIC LIFE 
35 
cow milked. Ghee, or clarified butter ( suhug ), is prepared from 
the cow’s milk which is left after the people have drunk their 
fill, and this ghee is sent down for sale to Berbera, where the 
coast people, who live chiefly on rice, consume a great quantity. 
Somalis need fat or butter, and when not eating mutton or 
camel’s flesh, or drinking large quantities of milk, they insist 
on a plentiful allowance of ghee to mix with their rice. The 
cattle from the interior are largely exported to Aden for the 
supply of the garrison, and vast quantities of hides are annually 
exported to America. It is possible that the Aden supply has 
been affected of late years by the great drain caused by the 
Abyssinian foraging expeditions into Ogaden. 
Sheep and goats constitute the ordinary Somali meat food. 
Camel meat is preferred, but it is considered a luxury, and 
cattle are seldom killed. The common sheep are of the black- 
headed variety (dumbo), with fat tails, and are seen whitening 
the hillsides wherever tribes are encamped. In the rains they 
get very fat, their tails becoming flabby masses. At this season 
the Bur Dab raider hurries back to his family, to luxuriate on 
the delicious meat. Sheep are given as presents to caravans, 
and, like fruit in India, “ they represent in the bountiful East 
the visiting-cards of the meagre West.” In many places a chief 
is not supposed to be officially aware of a stranger’s presence till 
he has received his gift of a sheep or two, or a piece of cloth. 
Sheep and goats can ordinarily go a week without water, but 
when grass is green they require none. We saw thousands of 
sheep grazing in the Haud pastures, forty miles away from water, 
and were told they would remain there for three months. 
Somali sheep have no wool to speak of, and are never sheared. 
A few goats are herded with every flock of sheep, and, being by 
far the more intelligent animals, take the lead when the flock is 
moving. The shepherd walks in front, calling to the goats, 
which are followed by the sheep. Sheep are exported in large 
numbers to Aden. In 1891 there were sixty-eight thousand 
exported chiefly to feed the garrison. Amongst the tribes 
quantities of sheep are killed daily, and devoured at the evening 
meal in the karias, with singing and dancing. Mutton ranks 
second to camel meat as the favourite food of a SomMi. 
The annual movements of the trading caravans and the 
nomad tribes of Somaliland depend, of course, on the seasons. 
Boughly the duration of the seasons is as follows : — 
j (1) Jildl — January to April — the driest season ; great heat. 
