APPENDIX II 
363 
The tomctiyo is a root like a knotted swede, growing three inches below 
the surface in the soft red soil of the Haud and Ogaden. It is green and 
purple outside, and inside consists of a white watery pulp which will 
allay thirst. This plant is difficult to find, and has to be burrowed for. 
Armo, a vividly green creeper with large, fleshy, heart-shaped leaves, 
covers all the trees by the river-beds, hanging festooned like a curtain, 
and turning the gudd thorn-trees into natural shady bowers. Of the 
three best grasses already mentioned as growing in the Haud, the durr 
grows to about six feet, the daremo to about fifteen inches, and dilie to 
about four inches. All these grasses curl and twist about very much, the 
durr spreading out into branches like a bush. The favourite cover chosen 
by a lion is in nine cases out of ten either durr grass, khansa forest, or 
the reeds ( aldlo ) growing at the margin of a river-bed. 
The Somali climate is on the whole very dry and bracing, and there is 
no malarial fever to speak of except on the Webbe Shabeleli River. 
In the Maritime Hills the highest shade temperature I have registered 
is 118° Fahr. at mid-day, and on the cool elevated Haud country the tem- 
perature just before sunrise has often been as low as 56° in June. The 
lowest temperature I ever registered was 49°. 
During the months of July, August, and September 1892, my brother 
took daily five or six observations with barometer and thermometer. 
The following shade temperatures, taken at random from his tables, may 
be of interest : — 
Date. 
Place. 
Elevation 
in feet 
above 
sea-level. 
Time. 
Thermo- 
meter. 
0 Fahr. 
July 4-8 
Berbera 
35 
8 A.M. 
94i 
12.15 p.m. 
99 
6 P.M. 
99i 
9.30 p.m. 
95 
„ 17-20 . 
Hargeisa Wells . 
3938 
6.30 a.m. 
67 
8 A.M. 
67 
Noon. 
82 
5.25 p.m. 
80 
9.5 p.m. 
74i 
„ 23 . 
Kheidub-Ayeyu 
3841 
1.30 A.M. 
56 
(Haud) 
5 A.M. 
61 
Noon. 
83 
9 P.M. 
75 
„ 25-28 . 
Gagab (Milrnil) 
3429 
5 A.M. 
63 
Noon. 
85 
2.30 p.m. 
82 
9 P.M. 
68 
August 8-10 . 
Waror (Jerer Valley) 
4161 
4 A.M. 
59 
6.30 a.m. 
63 
9.30 a.m. 
69i 
1 P.M. 
84 
3 P.M. 
85 
