92 THROUGH SOMALILAND AND ABYSSINIA cua. 
of the terrible Mahamud Gerdd, they were a detachment of the 
Arasama and Barkad Gerad, who had been out protecting their 
flocks and herds at Eil Dab and Badwein by scouting for the 
Mahamud Gerad. They followed us to Gosaweina, clamouring 
for cloth, and hobbling their horses, they made a bivouac on the 
plain with us at night. We did not light fires, not wishing to 
attract the Mahamud Gerdd. The horsemen told us that rain 
had fallen in the plain to the north, below Bur Dab, and that at 
Waredad there was a pool full of water. 
We had now mapped the Dolbahanta country to the head of 
the Nogal Valley, and the time had arrived for our return to 
the coast. We ran the gauntlet of the begging Arasama elders 
back to Eil Dab, and then struck due south, crossing Bur Dab 
Range by a pass called Laba Gardai, which descended into the 
Waredad Plain below. While we were in camp at Eil Dab 
some of our escort, losing patience, began firing with blank 
cartridge at the excited mob of Arasama who were pressing 
round camp demanding tobes. The elders brought in what they 
declared to be a wounded man, and made the occurrence the 
text for a further demand that we should pay blood-money or 
fight the tribe; but we found it was only an old half-healed 
scar, and laughed at them. 
A trading caravan, anxious to go to Berbera, but fearing the 
robbers who infest Bur Dab, took advantage of our protection 
for the next few days. In this caravan the women were to the 
men as six to one, and had it been attacked when alone it would 
have fallen an easy prey to a small party of raiders. To place 
so much valuable property almost entirely in the charge of 
defenceless women is putting temptation in the way of the 
robber bands, and often the owners have only themselves to 
blame. 
We reached Arregéd, a deep ravine in the middle of the Bur 
Dab Range, and during the night two men were seen skulking 
in the bush near camp. On the 20th, taking three men and a 
theodolite, I ascended Bur Dab, and choosing a station for star 
observations, spent the night on the top of the hill. In the 
morning before descending to camp we explored the interior of 
the range, and found that all the plateaux of which it was formed 
dropped sheer down into a large basin seamed by watercourses 
and tunnelled everywhere by caves. The regularity of the 
strata and their water-worn appearance led us to believe Bur 
Dab to be composed of limestone, and not a volcano, as stated 
