LAK DERA 



o'clock, much to my joy and surprise, reached another 

 river bed, also dry, and a well-travelled native path 

 leading- along it towards the north-west. This, I 

 was certain, was the Lak Dera ; so I gave orders 

 for the camels to be unloaded and went on to in- 

 vestigate. A river bed, such as this, has just the 

 appearance of a crooked line drawn by some gigantic 

 finger in the sand, only, of course, on a gigantic scale. 

 Fill this with dense green scrub, and you have the 

 Lak Dera as I first saw it. Some two hours later 

 I started again under a blazing sun along its southern 

 bank, and marched for half an hour up the trail, when 

 to our mutual surprise I saw two Somali resting 

 under a tree. They jumped for their spears, but as 

 soon as they saw we were friends they came forward 

 and a long conversation ensued. They told me 

 that they were of the Aulehan tribe, and were in 

 search of good pasture and water. This, they said, 

 was the trail which led along the Lak Dera to 

 Lorian, that the river I had crossed early in the day 

 was the Lak Aboloni, and that their village was 

 about four hours up the trail, whither they volunteered 

 to escort us. So off we went again, still marching 

 through the endless green scrub over a country that 

 gradually rose as we advanced. 



From time to time I got a more open view of 

 the river bed, now filled with reeds and tall rank 

 grass, now bare and scarred by innumerable nullahs, 

 and the hours passed like magic until at length we 

 reached their little village, which lay beside two large 

 pools to the north of the river ; but the camels did 

 not arrive until two hours later. The inhabitants 

 were not very obliging, refusing to provide guides 

 for our next march, and though they possessed a 



