Lieutenant Richard Burton of the British India…

Lieutenant Richard Burton of the British India navy, when frequenting the northern Somali coast in 1854-55, finds a Somali governor, Haaji Shermaarke Ali Saalih of the Habar Yoonis clan of the Isaaq clan-family, exercising real power over Saylac and adjacent regions.

By the time of Burton's arrival, once-mighty Saylac has only a tenuous influence over its environs.

The city itself has degenerated into a rubble of mud and wattle huts, its water storage no longer working, its once-formidable walls decayed beyond recognition, and its citizenry insulted and oppressed at will by tribesmen who periodically infest the city.