Note 43 — Chapter VIII · FIRST JOURNEY TO THE WEBBE SHABÉLEH RIVER (continued)

The mullahs get on with Europeans because, being the only people in Somáliland who can read and write, they have great respect for people who show nimbleness with a pencil and note-book, and who can write even on horseback; they admire pictures and photographs.

I was amused by their insisting that nearly every book I had was a “Frinji Bible”; and not till I had shown them the illustrations in one of the supposed Bibles, which was Gordon-Cumming’s Five Years’ Adventures in South Africa, did they realise that there are books on every subject. They all beg for hashi (paper), Korans, and tusbas, and I gave a score of mullahs two or three quires of white foolscap to divide between them.