Page:First Footsteps in East Africa, 1894 - Volume 2.djvu/164

 er to raise recruits; consequently increase of territory is never contemplated in this part of the Somali country. In case of murder, theft, or dispute between different tribes, the aggrieved consult the Sultan, who, assembling the elders, deputes them to feel the inclinations of the "public." The people prefer revenging themselves by violence, as every man thereby hopes to gain something. The war ends when the enemy has more spears than cattle left--most frequently, however, by mutual consent, when both are tired of riding the country. Expeditions seldom meet one another, this retiring as that advances, and he is deemed a brave who can lift a few head of cattle and return home in safety. The commissariat department is rudely organised: at the trysting-place, generally some water, the people assemble on a day fixed by the Sultan, and slaughter sheep: each person provides himself by hanging some dried meat upon his pony. It is said that on many occasions men have passed upwards of a week with no other sustenance than water. This extensive branch of the Somal is divided into eighteen principal clans, viz.: 1. Rer Gerad (the royal family). 2. Rer Fatih. 3. Rer Abdullah. 4. Rer Bihidur. 5. Bohogay Salabay. 6. Adan Yakub. 7. Gerad Umar. 8. Gerad Yusuf. 9. Gerad Liban. 10. Nuh Umar. 11. Adan Said. 12. Rer Haji. 13. Dubbays. 14. Warlabah. 15. Bayabarhay. 16. Rer Yasif. 17. Hindudub. 18. Rer Garwayna. The Northern Dulbahantas are suffering greatly from intestine war. They are even less tractable than the Warsingali. Their Sultan is a ruler only in name; no one respects his person or consults him in matters of