APPENDIX I 
331 
I think from eight to fifteen rifles should be distributed among the 
followers ; and on the Abyssinian border, or in the Gadabursi and 
Dolbahanta countries, fifteen to thirty rifles. In distant Ogaden, on 
the Webbe Shabeleh, and on the western Galla border, I recommend 
from twenty to thirty rifles, and the same in the unexplored country 
along the coast east of Karam. For the nearer Galla tribes south of the 
Webbe, and for the Aulihan Somalis, I should take from thirty to fifty 
rifles. For a distant exploration into the far interior of Gallaland, likely 
to be inhabited by hostile natives, were I going on such an expedition, 
I would not take less than from fifty to one hundred and fifty rifles. 
These estimates are necessarily very rough, for so much depends on the 
number of camels to be protected and the number of white men ; and in 
the last case I have given my opinion on evidence obtained from the 
Somalis, and not with any personal experience of the Galla country itself. 
The strongest escort I have had at any time in my Somali trips has been 
a >ut thirty rifles . 1 
The object of these escorts in all but the last case is to guard against 
a possible raid by some robber band. Once, to my knowledge, in the 
Jibril Abokr country, an English sportsman’s camp was, during his 
absence, sacked by some of these rascals. At night, too, the caravan of 
a European might easily be mistaken for that of Somali traders, and in 
case of an attack it would be awkward, not to say undignified, for the 
caravan to be incapable of defence. It is very unlikely that the authorities 
at Aden would allow any traveller to go into the interior without his 
having made some provision of this sort. 
Hostility from any Somali tribes, as a whole, has not entered into my 
calculations, because only a large escort, such as I have advised for distant 
Galla explorations, could stay in the country in the face of a combined 
movement of the natives. Even with a large escort the country would 
soon be rendered uninhabitable by tampering with wells and other 
expedients which Somalis thoroughly understand, and the traveller would 
be forced to retreat, or advance so rapidly to a more friendly tribe that 
enemies would have no time to collect. It is with the consent of the 
natives that we travel, because the English are popular, and no hostility 
need be feared except the unlikely chance of an attack by robbers, made 
probably by mistake. No robbers armed only with spears would, as a 
general rule, knowingly attack the well-armed caravan of a European. 
There have, however, been one or two exceptions. The country is only 
really dangerous to a native traveller, and that it is so the daily police 
records at Berbera show. 
Example 1 2 
We will first suppose that a single European proposes to spend six 
weeks travelling, purely for sport, in the explored parts of the British 
Protectorate, political conditions being favourable. We will assume that 
he does not wish to extend his wanderings far into the Haud. The above 
trip would be suitable for a sportsman from Aden having very limited 
1 Since the above was written, by the treaty with Abyssinia in 1S97, sportsmen are 
not allowed to cross the border with armed escorts. 
2 These examples were written before the prohibition to take armed parties across 
the Abyssinian border came into force. 
