Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 6 1888.djvu/127

Rh [As Mr. Moule has alluded to Cerne Abbas, I wish he had told us something of the remarkable Phallic superstition which attaches to the Cerne Giant, counterparts of which are to be found in Brittany and all over India to this day.]

NOTES ON THE FOLK-LORE AND SOME SOCIAL CUSTOMS OF THE WESTERN SOMALI TRIBES.

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(Continued from vol. v. page 323.)

II.—.

HE town of Zayla (or Audal, as it is more usually called locally) is inhabited by three classes: (1) The original inhabitants of the town, who are called "Rer Audal," (2) Eesa Somál, (3) Gadabtúsi Somál.

The Rer Audal are a community of half-castes, the offspring of Arab settlers who have intermarried with Somáli, Habshi, or Dankali women. They speak both Arabic and Somáli, but generally prefer the latter. Their marriage customs, which differ in many respects from those of the surrounding tribes, are worthy of notice.

Girls are usually married at the age of fifteen or sixteen, and are selected for their personal charms, such as they are.

When a man has fixed his choice on a girl he goes through the ceremony of asking her in marriage from her father or nearest male relative, to whom he presents $5 in cash and about five pounds of coffee-husks. The Kázi and a number of the male relatives and friends of both parties are present, and after a long and generally very animated discussion the amount of dafa or dowry to be paid to