66 
THROUGH SOMALILAND AND ABVSSINLA CHAP. 
and occasional tufts of very green feathery grass. Finding fresh 
beisa tracks I began to cross the plateau, but the tracking was 
rendered difficult by the number of stones. All at once I caught 
sight of a large animal moving slowly among some bushes, 
evidently grazing and unsuspicious of danger ; and thinking 
that it might be a beisa, I began to stalk up to it. This was 
not easy because of the transparent nature of the bush ; how- 
ever, I got up to three hundred yards, and imagine my surprise 
to find that the animal was a Som&li pony alone in this bleak 
spot. This plateau had a bad reputation — the nearest tribe to 
the north-west, seventy miles away, being famous for raiding 
and lifting the cattle of the Abdul Ish&k. 
By the side of the horse there was something on the ground, 
which might be a man or a small ant-hill. Having on a former 
trip had my caravan dogged by scouts from a tribe, I thought I 
would cautiously investigate. So I crept up and found that 
there was no man, while the horse, left to run wild without 
bridle or rope, gave a whinny and trotted round me in a circle 
with arching neck, nodding his head up and down. He had 
evidently been abandoned by his rider, and I determined to 
catch him, use him for work with elephants, and then take him 
to the coast to be claimed. Returning to camp I brought up 
my people, and using the mule as a decoy, we at last got a rope 
over the horse’s head and led him quietly to camp. The day 
after the capture of the horse two men rode in to give me news 
that Shire Shirmaki, one of the Habr Gerhajis wise men, was on 
his way from his karia, fifteen miles distant, to visit me, bringing 
thirty horsemen with him, who, my informants said, were his 
children. Then 1 witnessed the dibdltig , or equestrian display, 
given in my honour, as the first English visitor to their country. 
In the distance, over the plain, arose a thin wreath of dust, 
and from beneath it appeared first one or two horsemen, and 
then about thirty, following each other in single file, and coming 
on at a trot. Presently, as they approached the camp, they 
formed line and broke into a canter, the spears flashing vividly 
in the sun, and the bright red trappings of the horses flaring out 
against the green thorn- jungle. Each horseman wore a hhaili 
— a tobe of scarlet dashed with blue in two shades, the colours 
being arranged tartan -wise. They approached to within a 
hundred yards of the camp, and then halted. Accompanied by 
my nine men, I left the zerfba and advanced to meet them. 
Sitting on his pony in the centre of the group was Shire Shir- 
