VI II 
JOURNEY TO WEB BE SHABELEH RIVER 
215 
to him, for they said, “ If you give that dreadful old man a 
pistol there will be no staying in the country ; he will go and 
murder Abdul K&der and his sons, and will then go and make 
war on the Karanleh people. 5 ’ On my shaking him off next 
morning, as I did after he had ridden by my side for four miles, 
always begging the coveted plaid and revolver, he finally shook 
hands with evident regret, saying he hoped I should come back 
and bring plenty of English with me, they would all be welcome ; 
and I was to mind and let him know beforehand by a mounted 
messenger, so that he might have time to come and welcome 
us before his enemy, Sheikh Abdul Kader, could forestall 
him. A crowd followed us for quite a mile from the karias, 
saying they w T ere sorry we were going ; the English were 
their friends, and the Amh&ra would be afraid to do anything 
now. 
I may here mention that Eds Makunan of Harar is the only 
Abyssinian whose name carries with it any respect in Ogdden. 
He has the reputation of trying to be just ; and Somdlis say 
that if they could gain access to him the tyrannies of frontier 
Abyssinians would be stopped. 
On the evening of the 12th May, the day I parted from 
Jdma Deria, we went on to a place in the uninhabited thorn- 
bush called Anamaleh. It having been a very hot day and 
the camels being tired, at an hour before sunset we halted. 
While the men were engaged in pitching the camp, taking my 
•577 Express rifle, I strolled off alone into the bush to the east 
to look for gazelles. Getting on to a slight rise, I found 
myself on the top of a plateau, and here I tried to stalk two 
Waller’s gazelles; but, hearing the noise made by my men 
pitching camp four hundred yards away, they made off. I then 
walked through open thorn-jungle till I suddenly came on two 
beisa, which galloped away, but by a rapid shot as they were 
disappearing among the trees I brought one to the ground. 
Firing three more shots as signals, I brought up Geli and 
Hassan, and we carried the skull and haunches to camp, 
leaving the rest of the meat on the ground. 
I always gave orders to my sentries to wake me if they 
heard a lion roar, because it is a sound not often heard, even 
in Somaliland, where lions are so plentiful, and it is always 
interesting to hear. This night the sentry called me at 1 a.m., 
and at first I heard the low moans of a lion a mile or two 
away ; then, after half an hour of silence, just as I was 
