284 THROUGH UNKNOWN AFRICAN COUNTRIES. 
Many of the Amar were to be seen about the mountains, 
but we could not get them to make friends with us, al- 
though the two that we had in camp over night seemed to 
try their best to make their countrymen do so. Dodson 
and I and a few boys stationed ourselves at convenient 
positions to guard the pass. 
The camels reached the summit first, and after being 
loaded were started off across the undulating plateau, with 
a strong guard, to find a place to camp. ‘They were fol- 
lowed closely by the cattle; but the sheep and goats, num- 
bering over two hundred, did not get along fast. There 
were a number of beehives, made of hollow logs, suspended 
among the trees, and to keep away thieves at night, sharp- 
pointed stakes were driven into the ground at the roots of 
the trees, so that any thief sliding down the trunks would 
get transfixed. One of these beehives was knocked down 
by the natives just in front of the sheep, and of course the 
bees caused a panic among the animals, so that they fled 
in all directions. 
Everything was in wild confusion for some minutes, as 
the natives were fast driving away the sheep. I sent the 
ten boys who were with Dodson and myself to help the 
five Somalis with the sheep. It was very interesting to 
watch the chase in the valley below us. The Somalis are 
wonderfully good runners, and it was easy for my boys to 
catch the natives. Two of these they took prisoners, while 
the rest left their booty andran. Dodson and I kept firing 
with our Winchesters at any native we saw with an animal ; 
and though they were too far off to hit, the bullets striking 
close to the thieves saved many a sheep. Fortunately 
none of the Amar were killed, and we managed to recover 
very nearly all the sheep and goats; but it was a long time 
before we reached the caravan. We had only seventeen 
rifles with us, and the natives watched us closely; so we 
