The general situation now vividly recalled the descriptions of Burton and other nineteenth-century European explorers: a land of clan (and clan segment) republics where the would-be traveller needed to secure the protection of each group whose territory he sought to traverse. This was achieved by the traditional institution of the 'agent' (abban), providing, for an agreed fee, protection for the temporally adopted client from attack by the agent's kinsmen.

I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Som…, loc. 615