DAMAGE BOOK His EXCELLENCY SIR GEOFFREY FRANCIS ARCHER, K.C.M.G. THE MAD MULLAH OF SOMALILAND THETMAD MULLAH OF SOMALILAND BY DOUGLAS JARDINE, O.B.E. (SECRETARY TO THE ADMINISTRATION, SOMALILAND, I916-21) WITH A FOREWORD BY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE VISCOUNT MILNER, K.G., G.C.B. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS HERBERT JENKINS LIMITED 3 YORK STREET • ST. JAMES'S LONDON S.W.i & & MCMXXIII — Printed in England by Wyman & Sons Ltd., London, Reading and Fakenham INSCRIBED WITH AFFECTION AND RESPECT TO HIS, EXCELLENCY SIR GEOFFREY FRANCIS ARCHER, K.C.M.G., HIS MAJESTY'S REPRESENTATIVE IN SOMALILAND FROM I914 TO I922 TO WHOM THE DOWNFALL OF DERVISHISM AND THE RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF BRITISH PRESTIGE IN SOMALILAND IS PRIMARILY DUE. FOREWORD BY THE RT. HON. THE VISCOUNT MILNER, K.G., G.C.B., G.C.M.G. HE fashion of " forewords" is perhaps being somewhat overdone. I am afraid myself of becoming an offender in this respect. T But in the present case I have a special justification. For during my tenure of the Colonial Office I had great anxieties about Somaliland, and it was in my time, in the autumn of 1919, that the last expedition against the " Mad Mullah" was undertaken. I well remember the reluctance of the Government to sanction that expedition, for the thought of a fresh war, on however small a scale, was abhorrent to all of us. And in view of our growing financial difficulties, the cost of the expedition, which, to judge from previous experi­ ence, might last for months and involve the expen­ diture of several millions, presented a formidable difficulty. But Mr. Churchill and his advisers at the Air Ministry succeeded in persuading me that, with the help of the Air Force, the work could be much more quickly and cheaply accomplished, and of this I in turn succeeded in persuading the Prime Minister. Once the case was clearly put before him, he decided it with his usual promptness, and the expedition was sent. It lasted three weeks and cost less than £100,000. And it resulted in the complete and final overthrow of the Mullah, who had been a thorn in the side of the British administration of VU' viii FOREWORD Somaliland for more than twenty years. It is true, as Mr. Jardine points out, that this result was not due entirely to the Air Force. But it is certain that, but for the hopes we based on the co-operation of the airmen, the campaign would never have been undertaken, and that they contributed greatly to its success. But the campaign of 1919 was only the last chapter of a long story—a story full of dramatic interest, of vicissitude and adventure, and " moving accidents by flood and field "—full too of instruc­ tion for the soldier, the administrator and the diplomatist. That story is here related not only with the fullest knowledge, but with what is often lacking in books of this kind, a freshness and buoy­ ancy, which make it live. Despite the refractory nature of much of his material—the savage and repellent scenery, the uncouth and unpronounceable names—Mr. Jardine succeeds in being not only informative but entertaining. He has something to tell which is of real importance, and he tells it in a manner which is calculated to engage and retain the attention and sympathy of his readers. MILNER. PREFACE HE primary design of this work is to tell the story of the adventurous career of the Mad Mullah from his rise in 1899 to his death T some two years ago; but it is, of course, inevitable that any such work should resolve itself into what is, in effect, an account of Great Britain's connexion with her Somaliland Dependency. In order that this account may be as authoritative and reliable as possible, it has been necessary to refer continually to various State documents; and I have to express my thanks to the Colonial Office, the Somaliland Government, and the Foreign Office, for the courtesy and promptitude with which such documents have been placed at my disposal. My thanks are also due to Colonel G. H. Summers, C.M.G., and Bt.-Major H. L. Ismay, D.S.O., for many valuable suggestions and corrections. I am indebted to my friend, Mrs. Arthur Noble, for the portrait of the Mad Mullah which, being based on various intelligence reports, may give the reader some idea of the personal appearance of that elusive adventurer: to Sir H. E. S. Cordeaux, K.C.M.G., C.B., for the loan of the original of the Mullah's letter which is reproduced in facsimile in Chapter II: to the War Office for permission accorded to reproduce the plans relating to the actions at Jidbali, and Illig: and to Miss Eva Godman, Sir Geoffrey and Lady Archer, Major Ismay, Lieut.-Colonel R. E. Drake-Brock- man, D.S.O., and the Air Ministry for the various photographs. ix X PREFACE Finally, I have to thank the Survey Department of Nigeria for assistance given in the compilation of the sketch map. D. J. J. London, February, 1923. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAG8 I. PROLOGUE : SOMALILAND AND THE SOMALIS - 15 II. THE RISE OF THE MULLAH ----- 36 III. THE FIRST AND SECOND EXPEDITIONS - 57 IV. THE THIRD EXPEDITION 87 V. THE FOURTH EXPEDITION 125 VI. THE WITHDRAWAL FROM THE INTERIOR - - - 156 VII. DUL MADOBA 197 VIII. THE REOCCUPATION OF THE INTERIOR 230 IX. THE FINAL EXPEDITION OF I92O - 262 X. THE DEATH OF THE MULLAH 285 XI. EPILOGUE 309 APPENDICES 320 INDEX -----.---- 331 XI ILLUSTRATIONS His Excellency Sir Geoffrey Archer, K.C.M.G. Frontispiece Berbera Native Town from the Air - facing page 20 Somali Girls: Three Methods of dressing the hair] „ ,,28 Somali Girls : Putting the finishing touches - ,, 28 A debaltiq ------- 32 A Somali Dance ------„ 34 Facsimile of Letter to the Mullah - - - 40 ,, from ,, ---,,„ 42 Two Somali Fishermen - - - - „ ,, 52 Tribal Horsemen on the March - - - 60 A Tribal Oil (Army) -----„ 60 A Mosque at Berbera ,, „ 90 Water Transport on the Line of March - - „ „ 116 Captured Dervish Camels - - - ,, ,, 116 The Mullah's Defences at Tale photographed from the Air ------„ ,, 174 Coriield and Some of his Constabulary 200 Types of Native Soldiers employed in Somali- land, 1914-1915 236 A Gun in Action at Shimber Berris - - - 236 A Dervish Fort at Shimber Berris - - - „ 240 The Mullah's Fortress at Tale - - - - 262 Bombs dropping near the Mullah's Encamp­ ment at Tale „ „ 272 A Group of Somali Notables at Sheikh 290 Risaldar-Major Haji Musa Farah, I.S.O. „ 310 xiii PLANS AND MAP Map of the Somali Country to illustrate the Career of the Mad Mullah - facing page 80 Sketch of the Action at Daratoleh - - „ III Sketch of the Action at Jidbali - - „ 136 Rough Sketch of Plateau round Illig 148 XIV THE MAD MULLAH OF SOMALILAND CHAPTER I PROLOGUE : SOMALILAND AND THE SOMALIS HIS is an age of biographies and of autobiographies. Some are accounted good, others bad. But, at least, it T may be said for most biographers that they can claim some personal acquaintance, and generally a very intimate personal acquaintance, with the subject of their works. Boswell knew his Johnson, and Morley his Gladstone. Perhaps, too, Mrs. Asquith knew her Margot. But to the chronic­ ler of the career of Mohammed bin Abdulla Hassan this all-important qualification is utterly lacking. For I have never seen the Mad Mullah; and, indeed, since his rise in 1899, no Englishman ever set eyes on him. Not that His Madness would not have been delighted to entertain me in his stately stronghold at Tale ; but there was always this about him, that his sense of hospitality was apt to be somewhat crude, and my enjoyment would have been tempered by the foreboding that the inevitable climax of his entertainment would have been the roasting of an infidel over a slow fire. Not to have seen the Mullah must, therefore, be a condition precedent to writing his biography ; and, if further apology be required, I can truly urge that for five 15 16 THE MAD MULLAH OF SOMALILAND or six strenuous years he was seldom out of my official thoughts. There is another handicap under which the Mullah's biographer must labour. The world at large knows so little of Somaliland or the Somalis that my opening chapter must be devoted to some description of the stage on which the Mullah's twenty-one years' revolt against British rule was set, and not to the intimate and intriguing descrip­ tions of babyhood and childhood that characterise the initial stages of most biographies. The home of the Somali peoples is that part of North-Eastern Africa which is generally known as the " Horn of Africa."* Some 320,000 square miles in area, it lies between the Equator and the twelfth degree of north latitude. It is bounded on the north by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, on the east by the Indian Ocean, and on the west and south-west by Abyssinia and Kenya (formerly known as British East Africa). This territory has been partitioned by treaty between Great Britain, France, Italy, and Abyssinia. The British sphere, some 68,000 square miles in area and curiously like a ham in shape, occupies the north-central portion of the horn, being bounded on the north by the Gulf of Aden, on the east and extreme south-east by Italian Somaliland, on the south and south-west by Abyssinia, and on the north-west by French Somaliland. It has an average length of some 400 miles and a depth inland * It formed part of the land of Cush mentioned in Genesis, and was known as the land of Punt to the early Egyptians about 1700 B.C.