GALTI DEPREDATIONS 



I would much prefer to inhabit a hut of this descrip- 

 tion than a house of European design. 



It was not long after my arrival that I realised I 

 should have to go farther afield than Kismayu to 

 obtain my camels, for all available ones had long been 

 snapped up by the authorities for the transport of 

 supplies to Sarrenleh, a military post on the upper 

 Juba River. For 800 men of the King's African 

 Rifles were stationed there under eleven white officers 

 to patrol the north-eastern corner of Jubaland. This 

 was rendered necessary owing to the turbulence of 

 the Galti tribe of the Marehan Somali, who had but 

 lately entered British territory, having migrated from 

 southern Somaliland. True stock raiders, as all 

 Somali are at heart, they had caused much trouble by 

 practising their favourite pastime on friendly tribes, 

 who appealed to the Government for help, and it was 

 in answer to this request that a patrol had been 

 despatched to restore order and put a stop to the 

 looting of cattle. The presence of a small army 

 naturally checked the depredations to some extent, 

 but such is the character of the Somali, that unless 

 the Galti are given a thorough lesson in discipline the 

 next time they are caught transgressing, they will 

 immediately begin looting again with renewed energy 

 as soon as the force is withdrawn. 



Seeing how matters stood, I decided to go over 

 to Giumbo and try to obtain permission to buy my 

 camels in Italian Somaliland ; so I rode over one 

 evening to Gobwein on a camel in company with Mr. 

 Dundas, and remained the night there, as the guest 

 of Lieutenant Phillips, who was in charge of a small 

 detachment of the Camel Corps. Gobwein, which 

 means in the Somali language "a large plain," is 



44 



