V 
RECONNAISSANCE OF ABYSSINIAN BORDER 135 
can stand. Inside the enclosure were some good circular huts, 
with perpendicular sides and conical thatched roofs. 
A small watercourse, about eight feet deep, which would 
give cover for men running along the bottom, goes half-way 
round the stockade on the east side, at about fifty yards 5 distance, 
so that men could collect there at night, and with the help of 
straw and kerosene oil the place might be burnt down and the 
inmates stabbed while trying to put out the fire. The work 
stands on the southern side of the Jig-Jiga Valley within three 
hundred yards of the usual wells, the Jig-Jiga Valley here being 
merely a depression in the open grass plains of the Marar Prairie. 
The Abyssinian garrison varies in strength ; sometimes the 
work is left deserted, as on the occasion of our visit, when the 
garrison had gone to the Harrawa Valley for a few days, leaving 
the wells to the Bertiri and their cattle. 
We were glad to have hit off our visit to this post so 
fortunately, and without having come into collision with the 
Abyssinians. Our men w^ere disinclined to come, but we had 
been cautiously feeling our way since leaving Milmil to avoid 
any chance of a hostile attack. The Bertiri were very civil to 
us, bringing us more milk than our men, with all their great 
capacity, could drink. Crowds of the people came to our camp 
and begged us not to go away, but to stay with them, as they 
said the Abyssinians would never return while we were camped 
here. Having satisfied our curiosity, in the evening we marched 
to Eil Bhai wells, arriving there as night closed in during a 
rain-storm. Hartebeests abounded everywhere, and between 
Jig-Jiga and Eil Bhai I shot a beautiful wild goose, which I 
afterwards found common in Og^den. 
On the 3rd September, having halted for two hours to let 
things dry a little, we marched at 8.30 to Makanis Hill, arriving 
there at mid-day, the whole march being over the open grass 
plains. Vast squadrons of hartebeests and of Scemmerring’s 
gazelles, and some herds of beisa, were passed by us. We also 
saw thirteen ostriches. It rained as night fell, and on the 4th 
of September a high wind blew, with rain and sleet, keeping us 
in camp all day. On 5th September we descended into the 
Harrawa Valley in the Gadabursi country, and back on to the 
high ban again at Sarfr, four days later. We then marched 
along the base of the Harar Highlands, reaching Sala Asseleh 
on 13th , September. We experienced heavy thunderstorms 
with deluges of rain daily, and found the country deserted. 
