Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/483

 THE SOMALI RACE. 895 providing themselves with the wooden bowl required to hold the water for tho customary ablutions. Adults also shave their heads in the Mussulman fashion, and wear a costume almost identical with that of the Arabs. But throughout the inland districts and in all the southern parts of the country the natives have preserved their animistic superstitions and a manner of life more analogous to that of the Danakil and Beja Ilamites. I'he men still swear by the rocks and worship large trees. They wear the loin-cloth combined with a sort of white cotton toga, which is draped in Greek fashion, usually leaving the right shoulder exposed. "When travelling they wear sandals, and generally plaster their abundant head of hair with a preparation of lime and clay, which serves the double purpose of protecting it from the heat of the sun and getting rid of troublesome parasites. In order not to disarrange the head-dress, they sleep with the neck resting on little wooden blocks or pillows, like those commonly met in Japan and amongst most people of Central Africa. A great number of the Somali have also their ears pierced in the Bantu fashion, although the lobe is seldom distended by the insertion of heavy wood, mother-of- pear, ivory, bone or metal ornaments. Round the neck, however, they wear strings of large amber or coral beads, and some still practise tattooing on the arms, breast, and other parts; but these designs have no longer any symbolic or distinc- tive meaning, as amongst most of the southern tribes. Like the Beja, the Somali wears in his hair a carved scraper, and makes constant use of his scented wood toothpick, so that his teeth are always immaculately white. The women wear a red skirt and white toga fastened round the waist with a coloured girdle ; they are also generally more overladen with ornaments than the men, all displaying pendants attached to the ears, necklaces, rings, bracelets, charms, chains, and other trinkets. Custom requires boys to be circumcised in their third year, while girls when six years old are subjected to a still more cruel operation. In times of sickness, and even when small-pox is prevalent, the victims are occasionally abandoned to the lions, hyaenas, and other wild beasts of the wilderness. Like most people that eat at irregular times and have often to go for long periods without food, the Somali are, according to circumstances, great gluttons or models of sobriety. None except the fishermen of the seaboard districts ever touch fish ; nor will they eat even game or eggs, and also scrupulously abstain from the flesh of animals forbidden by the precepts of the Koran. Antelopes and gazelles are left to the pariah or outcast populations. Coffee also is very little used as a drink in Somali Land, although it is often eaten after the Galla fashion, that is, reduced to a powder and kneaded up with butter, the same mixture being at the same time used for lubricating the body. The consumption of alcoholic drinks is strictly forbidden, except in the Ogaden country, where a fermented beverage is made of camels' milk. Tobacco is little smoked, but is taken in the form of snuff and also chewed mixed with ashes. Like the Jlarrari people, the Somali also meet together in the evening to masticate the leaves of hat {Ce/astrus edulis), which acts as a stimulant, enabling them to prolong their vigils tli rough the night. This is