X 
JOURNEY TO WEB BE SHABELEH RIVER 
255 
The next day we arrived at the ford at Karanleh, called 
Maaruf, where we first crossed the river. The stream was now 
in flood, the bollards which we had driven into the mud had 
been carried away, and it took all the evening to stretch the 
rope across. I had not a fathom of rope to spare, and I feared 
that unless we could cross next day we might be kept a week 
or two on the southern bank through the further rising of 
the river. We crossed, however, with great difficulty on the 
following day. During the passage a freshet came down, 
drowning one camel and overturning a raft, with a good deal 
of valuable kit and a Snider rifle : several documents, amongst 
which were maps, going down in thirty feet of water. The loss 
I felt most was that of my botanical collection. Although 
my men spent the whole evening diving, the things were 
never recovered. I did not care to halt on the northern bank 
and order another day’s diving, because of the danger from 
crocodiles. 
On the following day we journeyed down the river along 
the northern bank, and made two marches to the neighbourhood 
of Sen Morettu, halting opposite the forest at Shendil, where 
I unsuccessfully hunted buffalo a few days before. I sent men 
across on an Adone raft towed down from Karanleh, but they 
returned and reported that the buffalo had not come back from 
the hills. On the short march to Sen Morettu I shot a water- 
buck and a Soemmerring’s gazelle, and the next day a waterbuck 
and a lesser koodoo. I was anxious to get a good specimen of 
the dol , with a view to having it identified, so we had all the 
pitfalls in the neighbouring forest repaired by the Adone ; but 
none of the bushbucks fell in wffiile I was at Sen Morettu. 
On the 21st I organised a beat for dol. I saw nothing, 
but one of the men in the line of beaters shot a buck with his 
Snider. It was in company with a doe, which broke back 
through the line, hopping over one of the men, hitting his fore- 
head with her hoofs, and knocking him down ! She succeeded 
in making good her escape, as the other men were too astonished 
to fire. At sunset I shot another waterbuck. 
I now marched for the coast. The return journey was 
over ground most of which I have previously described. We 
passed through several Somali tribes, all of which were friendly. 
On the way the natives told me that the Abyssinians had 
suffered a great defeat from the Danakil tribes near Obok, and 
that my Abyssinian friend Basha-Basha had been killed ; also 
