392 Mr. E. Lort Phillips on a 



there was a certain amount o£ shooting^ while for the ladies 

 there were expeditions to be made in all directions amid 

 scenery that would be hard to beat. With the exception of 

 old Osman and his sons the other Moosa Jibreel were rather 

 shy of us at first, but this wore off after a bit, and they 

 brought in supplies of milk for sale, which was a great boon 

 both to us and to our men. The latter constructed capital 

 houses for themselves out of boughs of trees and camel-mats, 

 and, as it was the fast of Ramadan, they spent all their time 

 learniug both to repeat and to write prayers, from a widat 

 or priest who had been " laid on " for the occasion. Sheets 

 of writing-paper were in great request as well as pieces 

 of board from old packing-cases — the latter, planed smooth, 

 taking the place of slates. On March 4th, the last day of the 

 fast of Ramadan, a day of great rejoicing in the Mahomedan 

 world, we celebrated the occasion by a general feast and 

 athletic sports, to which the Moosa Jibreel were invited, 

 rather against the wishes of our own men, who could not 

 bear them, though they did not care to show it. The 

 day, however, was a great success and terminated happily 

 without any quarrels or heartburnings, the wily priest 

 arranging with the men that all the prize-money had better 

 be given over to him for "the glory of God,^'' to which 

 proposal, as good Mahomedans, they readily assented. 

 The next day we packed up and descended to the Howd 

 plateau, camping at Gedai's, where we found several large 

 pools of water connected by a tiny stream. Here we 

 anxiously awaited the arrival of the post, hoping that it 

 would bring an extension of leave for Fremantle, who other- 

 wise would have to leave us to rejoin his regiment. The 

 post-bag, however, contained no reprieve, so he started home- 

 wards alone, to our great disappointment. 



The next day, while far from water, we came across a 

 wretched woman in the last stages of exhaustion, having been 

 without food or water (according to her own account) for 

 12 days. The poor creature was suffering from a tumour in 

 the knee, and being unable to walk she had been left behind 

 by her inhuman relations when they had shifted their 



