cated to recover them. Shortly after we finished building
our zeriba, we heard wild shouts, and at once I
called my men to arms. The shouts drew nearer,
and presently we saw a band of forty Rendile warriors
leading five camels which they had tied together.
These they had recovered after a bloodless battle with
thq dthombon. Upon nearing our camp, they left the
camels in the shade of the trees, the leader of the
war party drew his men into line, and they indulged
in a war dance. He then gave them a long address;
but as he harangued them in the Rendile tongue, we
were unable to understand it. However, our Somali
said that many of the words used were of their language
; so we were able to gather the general import
of the address. He began his address by shouting
“ Oromo” several times. I heard this word with interest,
for it is a word in use among all the Galla to
describe their race. The Galla invariably call themselves
Oromo. The word “ galla” in their language,
as well as in that of the Somali, means camel. As the
Galla at one time possessed many camels, the Somali
gave them that name.
After shouting the word “ Oromo” several times in
a sing-song fashion, they proceeded to recount the
deeds of daring they had performed in the rescue of
the five camels. The scene was apparently for our
benefit, and in order to impress us with the warlike
disposition of the Rendile. When the speech was
concluded, the warriors broke ranks, ran forward, and
eagerly shook hands with my men, using the word
“ Nageyr” as a sign of welcome: this is a Galla word
of greeting.