he rends the skirt of his Tobe, or he tears open some new hut-covering:
this disgraces the woman's family. Polygamy is indispensable in a country
where children are the principal wealth. [24] The chiefs, arrived at
manhood, immediately marry four wives: they divorce the old and
unfruitful, and, as amongst the Kafirs, allow themselves an unlimited
number in peculiar cases, especially when many of the sons have fallen.
Daughters, as usual in Oriental countries, do not "count" as part of the
family: they are, however, utilised by the father, who disposes of them to
those who can increase his wealth and importance. Divorce is exceedingly
common, for the men are liable to sudden fits of disgust. There is little
ceremony in contracting marriage with any but maidens. I have heard a man
propose after half an hour's acquaintance, and the fair one's reply was
generally the question direct concerning "settlements." Old men frequently
marry young girls, but then the portion is high and the _menage a trois_
common.

The Somal know none of the exaggerated and chivalrous ideas by which
passion becomes refined affection amongst the Arab Bedouins and the sons
of civilisation, nor did I ever hear of an African abandoning the spear
and the sex to become a Darwaysh. Their "Hudhudu," however, reminds the
traveller of the Abyssinian "eye-love," the Afghan's "Namzad-bazi," and
the Semite's "Ishkuzri," which for want of a better expression we
translate "Platonic love." [25] This meeting of the sexes, however, is
allowed in Africa by male relatives; in Arabia and Central Asia it
provokes their direst indignation. Curious to say, throughout the Somali
country, kissing is entirely unknown.

Children are carried on their mothers' backs or laid sprawling upon the
ground for the first two years [26]: they are circumcised at the age of
seven or eight, provided with a small spear, and allowed to run about