The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

SOXLALI TRIBES. 399In still greater contempt arc held the IMidgans, called also Rami, that is to say" Archers," who are universally regarded as the lowest of the low. They worshiptrees and snakes, and eat all the prohibited food, such as fish, fowl, eggs, hares,and gazelles. They are also daring hunters, fearlessly attacking the lion and theelephant, whom they pierce with their poisoned arrows. Like the Yebirs, theMidgans also practise medicine, and have the reputation of being extremely clevercharlatans. According to the Somali legends, the lower castes are the issue ofcrossings between Abyssinian women and maleficent genii, while the Midgans areof still more degraded origin, their ancestors having been the slaves of these Abyssinianwomen.TlIKH.VSHIYAS.The Hashiyas, or Northern Somali, more commonly known by the name of Aji,have evidently been most affected by contact and family alliances with the Arabs.So far as they are concerned, the national traditions arc to some extent justifiedand the Hashiyas may to a certain degree trace their genealogies back to theKoreish family of the Hashims, one of whose warriors, named Arab, is supposed tohave emigrated to Africa towards the end of the twelfth century, or less than sixhundred years after the Hegira. His residence, which became the capital of apowerful empire, is said to have been discovered at Zeila, or in the vicinity of thatplace.The Hashiyas are subdivided into two main groups, respectively named Tarud(Darode), that is, the "Banished," and Ishak, from two descendants of Arab.From Tarud are descended the Mijertins, most famous of all the Hashiya nations,comprising some thirty tribal groups under the common suzerainty of a boghor, orsultan. To the Ishak branch belong the Issa, or better Eissa, and the Gadabursi,who occupy the shores of Tajurrah Bay and the districts about Zeila and Berbera,and are consequently of all the Somali people the best known to Europeans.With the same branch are grouped the Habr Tol, Habr Ghar Haji, Habr Awal,and the other tribes whose name is preceded by the word habr. In the Somali languagethis word habr has the meaning of "grandmother," "venerable matron,"and seems to indicate a faint reminiscence of a previous social system in whichdescent was reckoned only through the female line, as is still the case amongstmcst African populations.If this conjecture be correct, traces of the matriarchalstate would thus still survive amongst these fierce Somali populations who at presenttreat their women with so much contempt. It is noteworthy that amongstthe three above-mentioned Habr tribes are found the very finest specimens of theSomali typo.The south-western Hashiyas— Ghirri, Bersub, and Bertiri—appear to be alliedto the Gallas, and jointly with the Jcrso, one of the tribes of this nation, they evenconstitute a worra, or political confederacy, worra being a Galla word meaning"clan," or "family."In this region commercial relations and the development ofsocial intercourse between the conterminous tribes have arrested the devastating