OUR IMMEDIATE NEIGHBOURS, 157 



consequence was that the ten best men were picked out to 

 remain with us, and a nicer lot of fellows we could not 

 desire. 



Our present encampment is not more than a mile 

 from the last, and higher up the river, which had to be 

 forded twice to get to it. The place is named ' Henna/ 

 and it is well known to Arab hunters as a camping 

 ground. 



Immediately beyond it to the east are the hills that 

 mark the boundary of the hunting-grounds of Mek Nim- 

 mur, a native chieftain whom Baker described so fully when 

 in this country. Essafi says that he was a source of great 

 terror and anxiety to the Hamran Arabs, for, well armed 

 and mounted, he went about their country with a party of 

 his men, and coming upon them unexpectedly at night, 

 would kill them and steal all their cattle. With his 

 neighbours on the opposite side, the Abyssinians, he was 

 on friendly terms, and they let one another alone until 

 five years ago, when a report having spread that he 

 had accumulated great wealth, they took a leaf out 

 of his own book, and after killing him carried off all his 

 possessions. The range of low mountains to the east 

 marking the Abyssinian frontier can be very distinctly 

 seen from the high table-land above our encampment ; 

 and nearer us on the north side is a low range of hills, 

 beyond which extends the territory of the Base. Essafi 

 when he came for orders to-night gave us a long account 



