Marehan has been a migrating clan. We know that. Just yesterday they were in Warder, today they are in Luuq. So this context of Marehan migration should not even have to be brought up establishing on its own the irrelevance of where Marehan might have been as a point of contention.
What is so interesting about Burton's observation regarding Harar is he does not identify Ciise, Gudabiirsi, Dir, nor even does he identify Isaaq, nor Habar Awal (hi Khalid), nor Ogaden, etc as communities of Harar.
Harar was a small city-state Emirate by the time Burton was there and famously closed off and reclusive. The city state occupied a number of Hills in which all the folks settled inside the city at night barring the gates. During morning prayer, the gates were opened and the people of Harar trailed out to their fields, livelihood, or went about their trade connecting with the trade lines.
Marehan not only lived in Harar but by 1850 were still relevant enough there to be identified as a "community" among Harar Emirate communities of Somali background.
Mr. Burton
By the time Burton was walking there obviously Marehan were already partly on the Jubba River, as he identifies himself, so it is hugely important that he documented Marehan still had residual leftover in Harar of a continuing community by 1850 who, as he says, were in "defense agreement" with the most powerful of their next of Darod kin (Geri Koombe). These two points are hugely important reinforcing the connective continuance of a long trajectory relevant to the storyline of Marehan and Harar famously situated of course by the records of the Futuh Al Habasha/Conquest of Abyssinia.
There is an historically continuing complimentation to this past as even right now in this very era, UNHCR records establish the confirmation of residual Marehan "vestigial" communities in the Jigjiga-Harar area identified @ Kebri Bayah.
