WE REACH JOH 
223 
Next day we passed a lot of men, quarrelling, as usual, at 
a deep well in the solid rock, called Goohedli. One man 
said he must water his flocks first, another man said he 
must, and I expected every moment that spears would be 
used in the arguments, when up came my cook, with a rifle 
in one hand and a stick in the other, and jabbering fifteen 
to the dozen. Presently off went his rifle, bang ! when all 
the men fell flat with their faces to the earth, whilst the 
cook calmly went on jawing. We gave the poor ponies 
drink, and then left the noisy, snarling people. 
Soon after we descended into a flat, sandy plateau, with 
open bush, and here and there a plain. Not a sign of 
animal life was to be seen. We camped at Hengoodah in 
great heat on a dry, grassy, open space, the first grass I had 
seen for weeks. Passing a village, where we bought some 
ghee at an exorbitant price, we camped at sunset at 
Gelgoodlah. The day was brought to a close with a fight 
in camp between two of my men, which ended in their 
precious ghee being spilt in the sand, at which I was much 
pleased. 
Next day we reached Joh, where there were two wells 
of spring water coming out of the rock. At night the 
camels kept starting up, and at last we caught sight of 
some natives in the bushes. My guideman went out of the 
zareba, and addressed a long speech to the bushes. He 
said that we were not an ordinary caravan, but an expedi- 
tion to shoot elephants, and that if they tried to steal any- 
thing from us, we should get out our elephant-killing 
engines and blow them all into a thousand pieces. After 
this address the night passed in peace. 
Next morning I sent men in every direction to look for 
fresh elephant spoor. We were now in the heart of the 
Haweea country, having left the Marehan country far 
behind. The natives reported that we were within six 
days' march of the east coast. I doubled the night-watches, 
and put extra day-sentries over the camels and ponies, as 
the people seemed so troublesome. I had men continually 
