290 
THROUGH SOMALILAND AND ABYSSINIA chap. 
binding nature of a contract. His manners are the reverse of 
agreeable, and his voice is a harsh nasal falsetto, in strong 
contrast to the deeper tones of the Somdli. Another contrast is 
in dress. While the Shoan in ordinary costume is dingy, the 
Somali prefers a dazzling white tobe, if he can get one, and 
always washes at every well. A still greater contrast is that 
whereas the Shoan is terribly addicted to drink, the Somali will 
cheerfully die rather than touch a drop. 
To the casual observer the Christian religion, under which 
the Abyssinian has lived for over fifteen hundred years, seems 
to have done less, at least for the lower class, than has the 
Koran for the Somalis. I could not see that the ordinary 
Abyssinians were any better educated than the Somali boys, 
who, sharper and more emancipated, are seen crowding round 
the mullahs receiving oral lessons. And since the mullahs 
themselves are always worrying the traveller for Korans and 
paper, they at least can read and write. 
Somalis, moreover, have not been isolated like the Amhara, 
but have mixed freely with the outer world, as firemen in 
London, Marseilles, and Bombay steamers, as well as sailors 
in dhows and as traders at Aden. When, however, we come 
to the superior class the case is altogether different. In 
Somaliland there is no aristocracy ; wisdom in advanced age 
being the greatest claim to distinction, and in other respects 
all Somalis living alike. 
No attempt is made to compare the ordinary patriarchal 
headmen of the Somali kraals, who cannot rise above a 
primitive nomadic life, with the Abyssinian feudal leaders, 
many of whom are superior in every way, living under a 
more complex system of society, with a kind of heraldry of 
titles and offices, and inequality of classes. 
There can be no harm in discussing the military powers of 
Abyssinia as we should discuss those of any other friendly 
nation. Whatever one may think of the individuals of the 
lower classes in Shoa, which is after all only a part of Abyssinia, 
the Abyssinian army has shown that it has bravery enough to 
work satisfactorily as a military machine with modern weapons, 
and is capable of bringing a very effective fire to bear on 
an enemy. The Shoan has probably, won his victories chiefly 
by the real dash, skill, and bravery of his chiefs ; for the 
feudal system, if founded on real military strength and not 
degenerate, always produces good men at the top. In no 
