Page:First Footsteps in East Africa, 1894 - Volume 2.djvu/165

 importance: their Gerad was in the vicinity of the traveller; but evasive answers were returned (probably in consequence of the Abban's machinations) to every inquiry. The elders and men of substance settle local matters, and all have a voice in everything that concerns the general weal: such for instance as the transit of a traveller. Lieutenant Speke saw two tribes, the Mahmud Gerad and Rer Ali Nalay. The latter is subdivided into six septs. The Habr Gerhajis, here scattered and cut up, have little power. Their royal family resides near Berberah, but no one as yet wears the turban; and even when investiture takes place, a ruler's authority will not extend to Makhar. Three clans of this tribe inhabit this part of the Somali country, viz., Bah Gummaron, Rer Hamturwa, and Urus Sugay. I venture to submit a few remarks upon the subject of the preceding diary. It is evident from the perusal of these pages that though the traveller suffered from the system of black-mail to which the inhospitable Somal of Makhar subject all strangers, though he was delayed, persecuted by his "protector," and threatened with war, danger, and destruction, his life was never in real peril. Some allowance must also be made for the people of the country. Lieutenant Speke was of course recognised as a servant of Government; and savages cannot believe that a man wastes his rice and cloth to collect dead beasts and to ascertain the direction of streams. He was known to be a Christian; he is ignorant of the Moslem faith; and, most fatal to his enterprise, he was limited in time. Not knowing either the Arabic or the Somali tongue, he was forced to communicate with the people through the medium of his dishonest interpreter and Abban. I have permitted myself to comment upon the