Page:First Footsteps in East Africa, 1894 - Volume 1.djvu/70

24 Book of Lights) the tale of Abu Jahl, that Judas of Al-Islam made ridiculous. Sometimes comes the Sayyid Mohammed al-Barr, a stout personage, formerly governor of Zayla, and still highly respected by the people on account of his pure pedigree. With him is the Fakih Adan, a savan of ignoble origin. The system of caste, which prevails in Al-Yaman, though not in the northern parts of Arabia, is general throughout the Somali country. The principal families of outcasts are the following:—

The Yabir correspond with the Dushan of Southern Arabia: the males are usually jesters to the chiefs, and both sexes take certain parts at festivals, marriages, and circumcisions. The number is said to be small, amounting to about too families in the northern Somali country.

The Tomal or Handad, the blacksmiths, originally of Aydur race, have become vile by intermarriage with serviles. They must now wed maidens of their own class, and live apart from the community: their magical practices are feared by the people—the connection of wits and witchcraft is obvious—and all private quarrels are traced to them. It has been observed that the blacksmith has ever been looked upon with awe by barbarians on the same principle that made Vulcan a deity. In Abyssinia all artisans are Budah, sorcerers, especially the blacksmith, and he is a social outcast as amongst the Somal; even in Al-Hijaz, a land, unlike Al-Yaman, opposed to distinctions amongst Moslems, the Khalawiyah, who work in metal, are considered vile. Throughout the rest of Al-Islam, the blacksmith is respected as treading in the path of David, the father of the craft.

The word "Tomal," opposed to Somal, is indigenous. "Handad" is palpably a corruption of the Arabic "Haddad," ironworker.

The Midgan, "one-hand," corresponds with the Khadim of AlYaman: he is called Kami, or "archer," by the Arabs. There are three distinct tribes of this people, who are numerous in the Somali country: the best genealogists cannot trace their origin, though some are silly enough to derive them, like the Akhdam, from Shimr. All, however, agree in expelling the Midgan from the gentle blood of Somali land, and his position has been compared to that of Freedman amongst the Romans. These people take service under the different chiefs, who sometimes entertained great numbers to aid in forays and frays; they do not, however, confine themselves to one craft. Many Midgans employ themselves in hunting and agriculture. When they appear the