ACROSS THE DESERT TO MILMIL. 19 
cruel show, as they use hard ring-bits for their ponies 
that cause the blood to stream from their mouths. The 
Somalis seem to be utterly careless of the ponies’ suffer- 
ing, riding them frequently when their backs are a mass 
of sores. 
We spent four days at Hargesa to rest our camels and 
buy fresh ones, and I discharged here two of my boys for 
bad conduct, replacing them by two strapping fellows pro- 
vided by the chief of Hargesa. One of these, named 
Goolaed Farrah, was reported as a great fortune-teller, and 
indeed it was marvellous how accurate his predictions 
were. He said that a certain boy in the camp named 
Dualla Farrah would not be with us very long, but that he 
would be the first one to meet with a violent death; and 
it turned out this boy was drowned in the first river we 
crossed. Not far from here I shot a fine specimen of a 
wild dog. 
Fred went to the Haud for a three days’ shooting trip, 
and came back with his camels loaded with game, after 
which we filled our water-barrels and started on our five 
days’ march across the desert. At first the path ascends 
rapidly from Hargesa to the height of 5,500 feet, and then 
passes straight across the almost level Haud until it nearly 
reaches the Tug Milmil. 
We were obliged to make long marches of nine hours 
daily, accomplishing in this time about twenty-four statute 
miles by road. Soon after leaving Hargesa we crossed an 
open, grassy plain, seven miles wide, called the “ Bunn 
Seila,’ and extending about forty miles east and west, 
according to native report. But with this exception the 
Haud is covered with thorny acacias, and with mimosa 
bushes and trees. Occasionally, when a distant view is 
afforded on the Haud, it seems to you that you are ap- 
proaching a range of hills; but as you progress you find 
