Abstract
THE conversational style and highly amusing nature of Major Rayne's lively book by no means obscure the light that it throws on the Somali character, particularly that side of it which could be observed only by one occupying an official position similar to that of the author and largely concerned with the administration of justice and the settlement of disputes in the patriarchal fashion alone understood by the Somalis. No less interesting are the narrative portions. The description of the trek to Hargeisa is so vivid that the reader almost imagines himself one of the party. The chapter that recounts the end of the Mad Mullah illustrates the universal law of history, that when the means of force are dispelled the end of the tyrant is inevitable. An error of date has slipped into p. 214: it was at the bsgmnmg of April, 1903, that GoL Phinkett and his force were ambushed, leaving as survivors only thirty-eight natives of the K.A.R.; Gough's action was on April 22, about a fortnight later. Since those days much more has been learned about Somaliland and its inhabitants, and it may be that the use of the word “Somals” as a collective noun for the various tribes, though not to be found in Swayne's standard work, is the modern convention.
Sun, Sand, and Somals: Leaves from the Notebook of a District Commissioner in British Somaliland.
By Major H. Rayne. Pp. 223 + 12 plates. (London: H. F. and G. Witherby, 1921.) 12s. 6d. net.
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Sun, Sand, and Somals: Leaves from the Notebook of a District Commissioner in British Somaliland . Nature 108, 112 (1921). https://doi.org/10.1038/108112b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/108112b0