202 THROUGH SOMALILAND AND ABYSSINIA CHAP. 
the voices had evidently heard my rifle an hour or two before, 
and tried to hit off our whereabouts. 
Arriving at camp, I found Yunis and the other guide, and 
three Amdden tribesmen, waiting by my tent. It was these 
men’s voices we had heard in the bush. Yunis had good news 
to tell. He and his companions had come upon some Amdaden, 
a small party of men who had wandered from the main karias of 
their tribe, which was encamped two days’ journey to the south. 
This party had come into the uninhabited country to collect gum- 
arabic; this they pick off the bushes, and send down to the 
coast tribes by small caravans, which return with cloth to the 
interior. The gum-pickers are always very poor, often starving, 
and camping without flocks and herds, they undergo great hard- 
ships while carrying on their trade. The two Amdden offered 
on the morrow to guide us to their tribe and put us well on the 
road to Imé. They said that their headmen, the most important 
of whom were Sheikh Abdul Kader and Jama Deria, had heard 
much of the Englishmen at Berbera, and wanted to see one and 
shake his hand ! 
At night came Jdma Deria and Hirsi, his son, mounted on 
white ponies. They slept in my camp. JdAma Deria was a fine 
old fighting chief with a white beard, his features being well 
formed, but the complexion nearly black; he is the leading 
minstrel of the Rer Amaden tribe, and has composed songs which 
are sung on horseback in the debdltig, and on other occasions, far 
and wide in Somaliland. His great hobby is lifting cattle and 
fighting with his neighbours, with the natural accompaniments, 
love of horseflesh and minstrelsy. I found Jama Deria, despite 
his failings, to be a dear old man, with splendid qualities, 
although his character was rather spoilt by a strong tendency to 
stinginess ; however, I subsequently became great friends with 
him. He expressed himself delighted that an Englishman had 
at last found out the Rer Amdden; he said the old men, young 
men, and children would all welcome me; and that he would 
lead me to the Sheik (Abdul Kader) at Dambaswerer, where 
they hoped to keep me as long as I would stop. He said that 
he knew all the Imé tribes, who were afraid of him; and he 
hoped, now that the English were the friends of the Rer Amaden, 
he would be able to keep the Abyssinians in their proper place. 
On the 2nd of May we broke up our camp at Enleh early 
and marched to Galadur, where we camped again. Old Jama 
Deria and his son escorted me, and he was delighted to have 
