v RECONNAISSANCE OF ABYSSINIAN BORDER 121 
which we had ever visited, and we were doubtful as to the 
nature of our reception. 
We entered a patch of bush, when suddenly the jungle be- 
came alive with camels and sheep, and several young women 
rushed at the caravan with their hands spread out and eyes 
flashing, screaming loudly for help, while others plied sticks and 
stones to drive off the flocks, in a deafening clamour and clouds 
of dust ; and boys ran off in haste to summon the fighting men 
of the tribe. 
I sat down in the path, trying to look as amiable as possible, 
for I realised what our sudden appearance must have been to 
these natives. Several of my men, more ready, raced forward 
and caught the flying messengers, and brought them back to me 
as prisoners, The women were sure we were Abyssinians, for 
we carried guns; but finding we were English, a revulsion of 
feeling set in, and the boys went off to tell the tribe the joyful 
news, and the women to get milk for our men. 
The mounted guard soon galloped up, a sturdy-looking lot, 
some twenty of the Rer Ali tribe; they expressed their delight 
by circling their horses, shouting, “Mét/ Mét/ io Mét/” and 
coming up again and again, bending down in the saddle to shake 
hands with us; and their steaming ponies formed a dense circle 
round us as we endeavoured to do justice to the hands. 
The people asked us to stop for a few hours to shoot rhino- 
ceroses, but we were unable to spare the time, as we were 
carrying on a rapid survey, and also had too little water to be 
able to loiter in the centre of the Haud. We passed enormous 
flocks of fat sheep, and near camp met a pretty young woman 
driving her dowry of a hundred camels. Our men said this Rer 
Ali wealth was good to look at, and that a few determined horse- 
men armed with guns could have taken off ten thousand camels 
at one swoop. 
While camped at Kheidub-Ayéyu we observed a long strip 
of jungle-fire creeping along the ridge of thorn-forest in our 
front. Clouds of smoke were floating far ahead of the fire, and 
it must have been driven by a strong south-west gale, judging 
by the pace. The Habr Gerhajis and two sub-tribes of the 
Habr Awal had at different times taken advantage of this 
solitary occupation by trying to loot the karias, but were always 
driven off. Although living in only two, there were a large 
number of fighting men in proportion to the women and children 
in this clan; and they were some of the best mounted of the 
