practices are feared by the people,--the connection of wits and witchcraft
is obvious,--and all private quarrels are traced to them. It has been
observed that the blacksmith has ever been looked upon with awe by
barbarians on the same principle that made Vulcan a deity. In Abyssinia
all artisans are Budah, sorcerers, especially the blacksmith, and he is a
social outcast as among the Somal; even in El Hejaz, a land, unlike Yemen,
opposed to distinctions amongst Moslems, the Khalawiyah, who work in
metal, are considered vile. Throughout the rest of El Islam the blacksmith
is respected as treading in the path of David, the father of the craft.

The word "Tomal," opposed to Somal, is indigenous. "Handad "is palpably a
corruption of the Arabic "Haddad," ironworker.

The Midgan, "one-hand," corresponds with the Khadim of Yemen: he is called
Kami or "archer" by the Arabs. There are three distinct tribes of this
people, who are numerous in the Somali country: the best genealogists
cannot trace their origin, though some are silly enough to derive them,
like the Akhdam, from Shimr. All, however, agree in expelling the Midgan
from the gentle blood of Somali land, and his position has been compared
to that of Freedman amongst the Romans. These people take service under
the different chiefs, who sometimes entertain great numbers to aid in
forays and frays; they do not, however, confine themselves to one craft.
Many Midgans employ themselves in hunting and agriculture. Instead of
spear and shield, they carry bows and a quiver full of diminutive arrows,
barbed and poisoned with the Waba,--a weapon used from Faizoghli to the
Cape of Good Hope. Like the Veddah of Ceylon, the Midgan is a poor shot,
and scarcely strong enough to draw his stiff bow. He is accused of
maliciousness; and the twanging of his string will put to flight a whole
village. The poison is greatly feared: it causes, say the people, the hair
and nails to drop off, and kills a man in half an hour. The only treatment