124 
THROUGH SOMALILAND AND ABYSSINIA chap. 
his lair, and the half- eaten carcase of a young camel, about as 
large as a donkey, which the lion had dragged to the top of the 
hill, afterwards going to sleep by its side. It was within a few 
yards of the sleeping lion that I had been unconsciously sitting 
for ten minutes. He went down the stony, bush-covered hill, 
and eventually escaped us. 
It was during the early part of the afternoon that some 
five hundred horse and foot came to our camp for the promised 
ceremonies. Au Mahomed Sufi attended, and we gave him a 
place beside us. On a signal being given, the horsemen drew 
up in line in front of us, and the chief tribal minstrel of the 
Rer Ali, while sitting in the saddle, sang a refrain in honour of 
the English, and of myself and my brother, who had “deigned 
to visit their poor oppressed country.” A splendid array they 
made, well mounted and warlike, the biceps standing out on 
some of the men’s arms in a way that is seldom seen on these 
sparely-built Somalis. 
On the conclusion of the song the horsemen gave a series 
of shrill yells, and with arms and legs flying, started off at 
full gallop in pursuit of an imaginary enemy up the river-bed ; 
and the pounding of the hoofs could be heard long after they 
had been lost to sight in clouds of red dust. Presently they 
came back again, the glinting of the sun on their spears being 
first fitfully seen in the pall of dust ; and darting up furiously, 
they brought their ponies on to their haunches with the cruel 
bit, forming a dense semicircle of horses’ heads within a foot 
of me, the riders crying, “ Mot /” and being answered by “ Kul 
leban ” and a hand-shake. 
Au Mahomed Sufi began a long speech, which was heard 
in dead silence by the crowd, saying that now the white men 
had come it was time to attack the Abyssinians, and that if we 
would lead them with our thirty rifles, they could soon collect 
a large force and march on the Abyssinian chief, Basha-Basha. 
We interrupted him, broke up the meeting, and retired to 
our tents, saying we had come to survey caravan routes and 
not to be mixed up in their quarrels. 
In the evening we gave a performance in return, parading 
the thirty camp-followers in line, armed with their Snider 
carbines, advancing and retiring in skirmishing order, and 
forming rallying groups ; and we fired off blank cartridge, each 
volley being echoed by an answering yell from the delighted 
tribesmen. 
