Wit TURN “SOUTH. 105 
stop us. The country was fairly level, except near the base 
of the mountains, where it was cut up by deep rifts. Some 
natives reported to me that there were a few Mohammedan 
Gallas living on the top of the Daro and Hawatu Moun- 
tains that had never been subdued by the Abyssinians. 
Their stronghold is absolutely inaccessible except to expert 
climbers, and it would be an easy matter for them to pre- 
vent any force from reaching them, by simply dropping 
stones on their heads. They breed sheep and goats, and 
grow much grain on top of the mountain, which is quite 
level; and when they trade with the people living below, 
they let down and raise their sheep and bags of grain by 
means of ropes. 
The two Abyssinians that had been with us left us at 
Abdula, where we camped on November 25. I tried to 
make arrangements with the natives that they should guide 
us from village to village, keeping as near west as possible ; 
but Iam afraid the stupid creatures thought that if they 
simply took us to the nearest village, whether it were 
east or west, and passed us on, it would be satisfactory. At 
one time the native guides asked me to go to a village lying 
diametrically opposite to the course I wished to take. I 
finally made them guide us as near to the foot of the Daro 
Mountains as was practicable, but I was disgusted that 
we had not gotten farther on our way after marching for 
six hours. We must have marched at least fifteen miles, 
but only gained about four miles. 
A little south of the Daro and Hawatu Mountains lies 
another mountain range, and I was informed that just to 
the east of this there were several villages of Mohammedans 
who were very rich in live-stock, and that the chief of these 
people, named Darda Tarri, would be very willing to trade 
with us and to supply us with guides to the river Jub. We 
camped the next day by the side of a small stream of clear 
