Tug (river) below. He bad never felt indisposed towards
me; but one Galed Ali, an Akil superior to
himself, was averse to my proceeding further. Unfortunately
for the Somali, their lies are very transparent,
and they were too fond of uttering falsehoods ever
to be trusted. I neither believed in the existence of
Galed Ali, nor in his own kind intentions towards me,
and therefore begged him to prove it by allowing me
to pass. This began a long discussion. The wars
were raging. The Dulbahantas would not let me see
their country, as they could not see why an Englishman
should wish to travel where even beggars were
afraid to go; and then followed a hundred other excuses,
all of which I rejected as freely as he advanced
them.
Then at length, Somali fashion, the true meaning of
his unwelcome visit transpired. He then said—“Well,
if you have no fear of anything, and will join us in
our fight, to represent your nation’s disposition in our
favour, I will give you as many horses as you may
wish to have, and a free passage to Berbera, as soon as
it is concluded.” This was certainly a tempting offer,
as I told him; but I said, Although, as far as I was
individually concerned, there was nothing which would
please me better, still, being a servant of the Government,
I could not represent anything they had not
sanctioned; and, moreover, I was bound to be at Berbera
by a certain date, which I could not if I went
southwards with them. They argued, There would be
no delay in finishing the battles, if I merely showed
myself as a representative of the English, for the enemy
would retire before a shot was fired, concluding that
the opinion of the world was against them. They all
declared the war had lasted so long, and had been so
harassing, they wished ardently to put an end to it.
I told them, in my opinion, it was all their own fault;
that they ought never to have commenced the war, for
the chief they now recognised was a mere usurper—a
traitor, in fact, who ought to be punished.
The Abban’s mother, Mrs Awado, of whom I knew
nothing until now, and who was living at Birhamir,
in a hut close by, then hastened towards us, joined
our party, and interrupted the conversation by clapping
her hands and beating her knees, exclaiming,
in wild dismay and terrifying words, “ Oh! why
have you come to this land, where there are no laws,
or any respect for life ? You don’t know what these
people are you’ve come amongst! Come with me now
to my place; rest the night, and refresh yourself: tomorrow
morning your Abban will come and conduct
you safely on your way.” This was a climax to the
day’s journey; the men smelt grub in an instant, and
hurried off with the old lady to some empty stone enclosures
(sheepfolds), and at once unburdened and
“ lay-to ” for the night. As before, I had many conferences
about the T h e W a d i N o g a l , which Lieutenant
Burton had desired me to investigate, but could
obtain no satisfactory information. They said there
were many wadis in Nogal, but the largest one was in
the Mijjertaine country, where its waters were deep
F