vil JOURNEY TO WEBBE SHABELEH RIVER 197 
undermined by the river, leaving a perpendicular scarp of about 
fifty feet. 
Until Captain Baudi, with Signor Candeo, came this way on 
their journey to Imé, three years before my visit, only one 
European had reached either Durhi, Segag, or Imé. The Rer 
Amaden are the Ogadén tribe next to the south of the Malingur, 
and have pastures nearly as far as the Webbe Shabéleh 
river; on the farther side of the Webbe the Gdalla country 
begins in the west, and that of the Aulihan Somalis in the east. 
My coast Somalis had already begun intriguing to try and get 
me back to Berbera, as they fear the Galla border ; and my 
expedition nearly came to a premature conclusion through want 
of information and guides. 
The country for many days was uninhabited. I wanted to 
send a message to the Rer Amdden, whom I had never seen, to 
let them know that my intentions were peaceful, but the whole 
of the waterless bush ahead being reported empty for forty 
miles, my messengers were afraid to go forward, and we had 
no information where the Amaden were, or whether they might 
attack us. There was also a chance of the messengers being 
killed by marauding Gallas. 
My leave was drawing to a close, and my idea, long formed, of 
going to Imé and the Webbe Shabéleh seemed fated to disappoint- 
ment. The Rer Amaden were reported by the Malingur to be a 
warlike and powerful tribe, who had never yet seen an Englishman ; 
so with my small party of twenty camelmen, further weakened by 
our having to detach scouts and messengers, it seemed risky to 
make a plunge into the country ahead without information. 
After several ineffectual attempts to find out the Rer Amdden, 
or tracks of their grazing camels, I pushed on through unin- 
habited country along a good path leading southwards, and on 
27th April we halted at Enleh. Here I determined. to make a 
final attempt to communicate with the Amdden, and if un- 
successful, to return by the north-eastern route to the coast, now 
distant three hundred miles, going through the Malingur, Sheikh 
Ash, Rer Ali, Rer Hartin, Habr Gerhajis, and Habr Awal tribes. 
We halted at Enleh from 27th April to 2nd May, waiting for the 
scouts to return tocamp. I had chosen the two Ogadén guides, 
one of whom was a wdad named Yunis, and had given them 
large water-bottles and dates to carry in their hands, and told 
them to look out for rain-water, and not to return for four days, 
unless they found the Amdden karias. 
