'FRENCH POSSESSIONS IN THE GULF OF ADEN. COMPILED BY CAPTAIN E.J.E SWAYNE, 16TH BENGAL INFANTRY.' [‎15r] (34/76)

4
Vl
The Kourha sub-tribe, which appears to have originally belonged to the
Bedwi-Tamila, is constantly at war with the Assa-himera, as also with the Woema
and Debeni tribes.
(2) Debeni, (3) Woema and (4) Musheikh.
The Debeni and Woema conjointly occupy the Errur valley and lie general
ly on the south and south-west of Lake Aussa, extending to the foot of the
Harrar highlands. They are both said to acknowledge the"Sultan of Laita as
Chief.
(2) The Debeni. —This tribe carries on most of the salt traffic between Lake
Assal, Aussa and Shoa.
It lies on the east of the Woema, one of its chief centres being Saggadera.
(3) The Woema occupy the country farthest inland, from Killelu to
Mullu.
They extend far into the Gamnissa District and are bordered by the Takyil
and Gasoba sections of the Musheikh.
(4) Musheikh, an outlying section of the Woema at Sutlelli near Errur,
acknowledges a chief called Tembako as its head. This Chief lives at Errur.
Very little is known of the other tribes mentioned, the (5) Hurruk, (6)
Budaito, and (7) Gibdosa.
Population .—The Danakil are essentially a pastoral people and consequently
Population nomads. They have no fixed habitations, but
wander about according to the season of the year,
wherever the necessity of obtaining pasturage for their flocks leads them.
Each tribe moves in an orbit of its own, and its pastures and watering places
are jealously guarded from the incursions of neighbouring tribes. In times of
drought it frequently happens that tribes are forced to seek pasturage beyond
their own particular limits, and unless the tribes have intermarried and are
allied, this invariably leads to war. There is hardly a tribe that is not at some
time or another at war with some other tribe, and even sub-tribes, and in
dividual families, are frequently in a state of blood feud which has perhaps
existed from immemorial times.
Character. —Roaming, as he does, about large tracts of country and meeting
with various strange tribes, the Dankali is a trader by instinct. Suspicious, blood
thirsty and treacherous, he takes a pride in murder and boasts of his deeds. If a
European or a chief fall to his spear, he wears a white ostrich feather stuck in his
frizled hair, lesser victims being commemorated by a black feather. This custom
is sometimes varied by wearing iron or brass bracelets on the arms, or by
sticking blocks of wood in the pierced lobes of the ears.
The enemy’s dead are invariably mutilated.
If the prejudices and customs of the tribes be respected, however, and a
proper introduction and escort be obtained from their chiefs, a European may
travel without interruption from the tribes, but each tribe acknowledges only its
immediate chief and cares very little for the superior Sultan, who makes an empty
claim to the chieftainship of tribes who never even see or hear of him.
Chiefs and Tribal Laws .—Thus the authority of the Sultan of Tajoura, who
claims control over tribes extending far into the interior, ceases to be even a pre
tence a day’s march short of Aussa.
The authority of the Sultan of Aussa is perhaps the most widely recognized,
but then even, it is so only in his own particular sub-tribe of the Mudai'to. The re
mainder of that tribe acknowledges other chiefs, each sub-tribe obeying only its
own particular chief and acknowledging nothing more than the empty title of the
Sultan, who, however, has influence to combine them against a common enemy.
The titles of Sultan and Wazir Minister. are hereditary, but are assumed turn and turn
about. Thus on the death of the Sultan, the Wazir Minister. succeeds him, the latter
being succeeded as Wazir Minister. by the Sultan’s son, who subsequently, on the new
Sultan’s death, becomes himself the Sultan.
The elders of the various families rule their followers with the help of
public opinion, as expressed by those families. The lex-talionis is the only law