Page:First Footsteps in East Africa, 1894 - Volume 2.djvu/162

 is confined to the hills, whereas the Gugi or monsoon is general over the plateau. About noon the caravan marched, late, because the Abban's two horses had strayed. These animals belonged to a relation of the "Protector," who called them his own, and wished as a civility to sell the garrons at the highest possible price to his client. The caravan marched down a tortuous and difficult road, descending about four miles. It unloaded as evening drew near, and the travellers found at Gambagahh a good dormitory, a cave which kept out the rain. Water was standing close by in a pool. The whole way was a thick jungle of bush and thorn. _26th January_.--The Somal insisted upon halting to eat, and the caravan did not start before noon. The road was tolerable and the descent oblique. The jungle was thick and the clouds thicker; rain fell heavily as usual in the afternoon. Five cloths were given to the Habr Gerhajis as a bribe for passage. After a march of six miles the caravan halted at a place called Minan. Here they again found a cave which protected them from the rain. Water was abundant in the hollows of the rock. _27th January_.--Early in the morning the caravan set out, and descended the hill obliquely by a tolerable road. They passed a number of thorn trees, bearing a gum called Falafala or Luban Meyti, a kind of frankincense: it is thrown upon the fire, and the women are in the habit of standing over it. After travelling six miles the travellers unloaded at Hundurgal, on the bank of a watercourse leading to Las Galwayta: some pools of rain-water were observed in the rocky hollows of the bed. _28th January_.--At about 9 A.M. the caravan crossed one of the lower ridges of the mountains by a tolerable road. Lieutenant Speke had preceded his camels, and