GALLA AND SOMALI TRIBES 



Aylmer, who was killed in the early part of this year 

 by Abyssinian poachers, was the first to investigate 

 this unknown region, and in two papers contributed 

 to the Geographical Journal he threw some light 

 on the general hydrography of the country. But the 

 southern half of Jubaland and the northern part of 

 Tanaland, that is to say, the country between the 

 Tana River and the Lak Dera, has been totally 

 neglected, and still remains almost completely 

 unknown. Westwards of 41° 30' E., as far as the 

 Lorian, no white man had ever penetrated until I 

 crossed it this year. 



" One problem not yet solved is that of the 

 continuation of the Uaso Nyiro," was a statement 

 made by Mr. F. R. Cana in an admirable summary 

 of the unknown regions of Africa in 1911,^ and he 

 continues : " It is highly desirable that the mountains, 

 rivers and lakes of this part of East Africa should be 

 made known with certainty. The country is inhabited 

 by wild Galla and Somali tribes, and most of it is 

 a semi-arid bush-land, but the soil is rich and there 

 are many areas beside that above Lorian suitable for 

 cultivation." It was to solve this problem and to add 

 as much as possible to our knowledge of the country 

 lying between the Lorian Swamp and the Indian 

 Ocean that I undertook the journey that I am about 

 to describe in the following pages. Before I do so, 

 however, it is advisable to define these problems at 

 greater length, and to give some account of what was 

 already known of the Lorian. 



The Uaso Nyiro, which means in the Masai 

 language "the brown river," rises in the Aberdare 



^ Geographical Journal^ November 191 1, " Problems of Exploration : 

 Africa," by F. R. Cana. 



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