IN DANGER FROM ABOFILATO’S ARMY. 197 
look down its yawning mouth to a depth of seven hundred 
feet. The exit of the lava stream crossed my line of march, 
and except at this spot the crater was surrounded by a wall 
of jagged rock, thrown into peaks two hundred to three 
hundred feet above the grassy slopes that led up the moun- 
tain. The opening was three quarters of a mile wide and 
most symmetrical, the barren rocky walls extending verti- 
cally to the bottom, in which was a salt-pan, and a small 
pool of salt water.’ I was sorry not to have time to exam- 
ine this mountain more carefully, but the natives were bent 
on war, and I had to keep a constant watch over my men 
and caravan. Haji Idris and the old guide captured at 
Gorilla approached one band of horsemen near enough to 
call to them, but the natives only laughed at our friendly 
protestations. Slowly we marched down. It began to 
rain. Again and again we came to bushy places where 
there was the greatest difficulty in getting the camels ahead, 
and at the same time in keeping a proper compactness and 
guard. It was in these bushy places that we expected an 
attack, as it was the worst position for us. The rain now 
fell in torrents and the difficulties increased, as the path 
became a stream of water with slippery sides. The King’s 
army kept following, and every now and then bands of 
horsemen approached as near as one hundred yards. 
“After travelling some distance, we passed a second 
curious group of rocky peaks, even higher than those of 
Mt. Sogida, and which I believed marked another crater; 
and beyond this we managed to hold a parley with a Boran, 
who came to us bearing a bunch of grass as a sign of peace. 
The parley resulted in promises of peace on both sides, the 
Boran receiving a present of a piece of cloth and a goat 
1 I afterwards learned that this crater, which the natives called Sogida, 
afforded the only salt to be found in this part of the country, and that the 
Boran collected it in great quantities. 
