300 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. VII 



cated to recover them. Shortly after we finished build- 

 ing our zeriba, we heard wild shouts, and at once I 

 called my men to arms. The shouts drew nearer, 

 and presently we saw a band of forty Rendile war- 

 riors leading five camels which they had tied together. 

 These they had recovered after a bloodless battle with 

 the dthombon. Upon nearing our camp, they left the 

 camels in the shade of the trees, the leader of the 

 war party drew his men into line, and they indulged 

 in a war dance. He then gave them a long address; 

 but as he harangued them in the Rendile tongue, we 

 were unable to understand it. However, our Somali 

 said that many of the words used were of their lan- 

 guage ; so we were able to gather the general import 

 of the address. He began his address by shouting 

 " Oromo" several times. I heard this word with inter- 

 est, for it is a word in use among all the Galla to 

 describe their race. The Galla invariably call them- 

 selves Oromo. The word "galla" in their language, 

 as well as in that of the Somali, means camel. As the 

 Galla at one time possessed many camels, the Somali 

 gave them that name. 



After shouting the word " Oromo" several times in 

 a sing-song fashion, they proceeded to recount the 

 deeds of daring they had performed in the rescue of 

 the five camels. The scene was apparently for our 

 benefit, and in order to impress us with the warlike 

 disposition of the Rendile. When the speech was 

 concluded, the warriors broke ranks, ran forward, and 

 eagerly shook hands with my men, using the word 

 " Nageyr " as a sign of welcome : this is a Galla word 

 of greeting. 



