A RAIDING PARTY OF OGADEN SOMALIS. LUI 
attempting to push on toward Lake Rudolf, in order to 
avoid the Abyssinians, so I told Salan to meet the caravan 
at Bari, a town one hundred and fifty miles lower down 
the Shebeli River, allowing him forty-five days to travel 
to Berbera and back (nine hundred miles) and make his 
purchases. 
I started Salan and three camel-men and two donkeys 
off for Berbera on December 15, Fred, with a small body 
of men, accompanying them across the river. I could not 
go myself to the Shebeli, as I had not been able to walk 
fifty yards from the camp for some days, owing. to my 
slight fever; but Fred reported the water so low that the 
boys could easily wade across it. He had found an excellent 
crossing-place ten miles south of our camp, which was fre- 
quently used by the Ogaden Somalis in their raids upon 
the Gallas. This was just below a broad-topped mountain 
called Mt. Kaldash that I had marked on my map when 
we first crossed the river. 
We succeeded the next day in clearing a path to this 
crossing, and on the afternoon of December 17 made 
our first march for ten days. We had a new arrival 
in camp the night before. One of the camels that Wal- 
da-Gubbra had given me gave birth to a young one, so 
that now we were to havea milch camel in camp. This 
camel, whose name was Gaut, was one of the best friends 
I had, giving abundance of milk for the next six months. 
The young one had to be killed, as we could not take it 
on the march, but Gaut did not seem to mind the loss in 
the slightest. A small body of my men went on ahead to 
the river to cut down the banks a little for crossing. They 
told me afterwards that just as they reached the water 
they saw there one hundred and fifty Ogaden Somalis on 
ponies coming down the broad tug on the other side, and 
about to cross the water to raid the Gallas. When they 
