New-York tribune., 1903-05-03

to encounter the beast with only dagger. Yet
when he pricked himself with a thorn from some
bush he would cry like child"
Another traveller tells how he had employed a
native for several months in = caravan, and
owed him for his service more than 500. He
had always treated the man kindly, and thought
that his servant returned the friendship be-
cause Of the many little favors which he rem
dered unasked. The day before pay day the
master told his servant that he hoped he would
not spend his wages in a pilgrimage to Mecca,
but settle down in a coast town and invest II
in some trade The servant became immediate
" incensed, because, he said, his master want
ed to make Allah hate him. and quit the camp
without waiting for his pay.
Almost always the companion trait to yoia-
tility is vanity. That the Somali native is vain
is as obvious a turkey gobbler's tail. For eX-
ample the men have way of curling their
boards which shows how much futber they are
advanced in the art of self-decoratiOn than the
New-York hairdressers. When a caravan is ap-
preaching a coast town from the interior desert,
with its camels laden with hides. ivory ostrlch
Feathers, rhinoceros and antelope horns, honey
and coffee to exchange for the beads, dates, rice
Ind cotton of the port town the men of the train
begin a day before to make their toilet They
accordingly smear their boards with mixture
of wet ashes and clay, ana then let it dry. In
side of twenty-four hours these coxcombs Of
the desert find their boards ready for the last
course of treatment, which is to dust them out.
After patient rubbing and stroking, the hair is
left as wavy as if every individual fibre had
been curled around a hot iron.
In mid-desert English huntsmen who are in
pursuit of the big game for which Somaliland
has long been famous often run across some ma
tive chieftain with outlandish decorations, such
as would befit a jungle prince and are surprised
to hear him say in the best English:
Good morning, gentlemen may 1 be OF ser
vice to you?"
In reply tc Inquiry it will often be found that
the man has been years in Europe, at London
OF Paris. but could not abide by the plain clothes
of western civilization, and had returned to his
native barbarism. II love my beauty too much"
he will say without quaim Of modesty.
Even the SomaH man loves his own per-
SON he despises that of woman. Only labor is
for woman according to his dictum. Among
those of the lowest class who are the nomads
of the interior, the women do all the heavy
work. driving down the stakes for the tents at
night, bringing the water, heWing the wood. as
well as making the clothes for their masters.
In order to prevent iealouses and divorce
courts the SOman husband finds way which,
though effective, would h3rQly De tolerated IN
American society. If his wife is fair he pro-
ceeds to mutiate her, so not to snare the
eyes of another. The favOrite method is to cut
a hole in the woman's under lip, and stretch the
flesh out into ring by the insertion Of a wood
en- wedge.
Children regarded as a chief asset in the
belongings of a Somali native, and accordingly
there is no such thing as race suicide" in the
eastern horn Of Africa. man may have as
many as four wives and most of the patriarchs
boast of tremendous families. One old chief of
q tribe near Berbera the head Of family
consisting of twenty-three sons, twenty-nine
daughters and 800 grandchildren. father
sells his daughters for cameis. and often builds
up for himself fortune in this way. The chill
dren are named according to the circumstances
of their birth, as Wa Berri (born in the
irg) or Robleh (born in the rain).
In addition to the nomad tribes, there are
what have been called "outcast tribes" of
cite origin. OF these the three most impOrtan!
are Tonlsl. blacksIniths; the Yebir, or leather