[13] Sircal, i.e. Government or Government official—a corruption from Hindustáni or Arabic.
[14] This was a mistake, as I could have bought all the camels for £8 the lot and sold them for £6 at the end of the trip, and on all later trips I have bought instead of hiring.
[15] Guban and Gudan are names quite distinct from one another.
[16] Some time afterwards, in Berbera, two natives came down and reported that they had seen the dead elephant near Hargeisa, and that a passing caravan had appropriated the tusks on its way to Harar. Through the proper channels I applied to the Emir of Harar for their recovery, and that is the last I ever heard of them.
[17] The first treaty between the British Government and the Somális was signed in 1827 after the plundering of an English ship by the Habr Awal. In 1840 another was signed with the chiefs of Zeila and Tajurra. In 1865 Sir Richard Burton’s expedition was attacked at Berbera, and the blockade which followed was raised on the signing of another treaty. In 1866 treaties were made with the Habr Gerhajis, Habr Toljaala, and Midjerten; and since 1884, when the Egyptians handed over the coast to Great Britain, treaties have been made with all the northern tribes. By an agreement signed in 1888, the boundary separating the British and French Protectorates begins near Loyi-ada, on the coast between Jibúti and Zeila, and runs by Abbaswein, Biyo-Kabóba, Gildessa, towards Harar.
On 5th May 1894 a protocol was signed, fixing the boundaries of the Italian and British spheres of influence. The boundary-line starts from Gildessa, and, following the eighth parallel of north latitude, skirts the north-eastern border of the territories inhabited by the Géri, Bertiri, and Rer Ali tribes, leaving Gildessa, Jig-Jiga, and Milmil within the Italian sphere of influence. The line then follows latitude 8° north as far as its intersection with the forty-eighth meridian of east longitude, and thence to the intersection of latitude 9° north, with longitude 49° east, along which it proceeds, terminating at the coast.
[18] These baggage camels from Aden were not a success, and I have never since tried to import into Somáliland any Arab camels but the fast ones which are ridden.
[19] We afterwards heard, in Berbera, that while we were at Gosaweina two or three Mahamud Gerád saw our camp from a distance, and rode away to warn the tribes, with the result that fifty horsemen came to reconnoitre, but found we had already marched back to Badwein.
[20] Sometimes we were several hours passing a cloud of millions upon millions of these insects, which were going the other way; at other times they were found settled upon the ground, covering great areas, or they were crawling and hopping over the grass and sand. The newly-born ones stream along the ground like a brown rivulet; then there are half-grown ones, which can only hop, and look from a distance like strips of green grass. The full-grown locusts are of three colours-yellow, green, and spotted red. The different generations do not appear to mix.
[21] Literally “Lion Hand Mountain.”