38 
THROUGH SOMALILAND AND ABYSSINIA chap. 
people similarly situated, who tend them till such time as required 
for the return journey to the interior. 
In Hctga the Esa Musa and similar tribes are to be found at 
or near the base of Golis Range, and in Bair they climb up this 
step into the Ogo country, which is vacated by the Habr Gerhajis 
tribe, who in their turn have retired far into the Haud, where 
the pastures are good at this season. In Jildl , the dry season, 
the Haud, having neither green grass nor surface pools, is unin- 
habitable, and the Habr Gerhajis being obliged to come north 
into their Ogo pastures and about Golis Range, the Esa Musa 
are apparently pushed down into Guban and the maritime plain, 
which is their own country. In the Gu , or heavy rains, the best 
season for grass, the Esa Musa have only their own sheep and 
cattle to look after. They are then found in Ogo, the Habr 
Gerhajis being far out in the Haud, taking advantage of the 
green pasture. 
All the nomads belonging to the coast tribes go into the 
Haud when there are green pasture and surface water, each tribe 
moving generally north and south, and keeping to its own strip 
of the plateau. Their best pastures are in the Haud, but they 
all have to leave in Jildl, and are then sure to be found north 
of the Haud edge. Sometimes the Habr Awal cross the Haud 
nearly to its southern edge, and at others the Og&den come 
northwards till about half-w T ay across. In this way what may 
be called the “ orbits ” of tribes overlap. In the Gu , or rains, 
when the Habr Gerhajis are far away in the Haud, and com- 
petition at the coast is at its lowest ebb, the Esa Musa export 
their cattle and sheep to Aden. They have agents at Berbera, 
and as opportunities offer, batches of, say, ten oxen or two 
hundred sheep are brought down for export, marching by easy 
stages. Coming from Bur’o, eighty miles from the coast, cattle 
or sheep reach Berbera in four to six days, while caravans 
generally cover the distance in three days. 
Overlooking the Berbera-Bulhar coast track, at a spot about 
twenty-four miles west of Berbera, is a low spur of bare sand- 
stone hills, called Dabada Jidleh, ending at a single jia thorn- 
tree ; it is a spot which has till a few years ago been used by 
Esa Musa marauders as a watching-place when on the look-out 
for Ayyal Ahmed or Ayyal Yunis caravans passing along the 
track. There are similar spots all over the country, known as 
watching-places, sometimes a sandy hillock, sometimes a “ boss ” 
of rock (dag ah, the South African kopje ) ; and many have de- 
