AN ANNOYING PLANT. 
bo 
~I 
and I had to trust entirely to native guides. As usual, I 
could not travel in a straight line, the guides informing me 
that it would be impossible to get water if I did so; so I 
had to march down the Tug Sillul, on which Lafkei is 
situated, some distance, and then travel northwest once 
more. In many places there was absolutely no path, and 
the guides led us through a very densely wooded country. 
The underbrush was thick; and often there would be long 
stretches of ground covered with aloes, and also a cruel 
plant known in Mexico and Texas as the “Spanish 
bayonet.” It resembles the aloe closely, but the leaves are 
narrower, and the tips are armed with strong, sharp 
needles which make it difficult to wind in and out among 
them without getting injured. They are constantly pier- 
cing the animals, inflicting severe wounds. The Somalis 
call this plant “hig;” the Arabic name is “salab.” Both 
these and the aloes are distributed all over Somaliland. 
There was also a tree called the “ kedi,” which is simply 
a mass of spikes, and a species of acacia called “hura,” 
bearing a reddish pod about the size of a pea, of which the 
- Somalis are very fond; but the only satisfaction one has in 
eating them is to get a slight sweet flavor out of a pound 
of pod. It rained almost every day for a short time, and 
the sky was almost continually overcast. This made 
marching pleasanter, but it was very difficult for me to 
rate my chronometers. Ever since leaving Hargesa I 
had not been able to get a meridian altitude of the sun, 
owing to the clouds, and it was only occasionally that I 
could take stellar observations. 
On the roth of August we had a troublesome march, 
having to cross several tugs with steep banks, and finally 
to ascend a very rough path made by game, over a range 
of hills. 
The next day we were to have the pleasure of seeing a 
