The Whip Is A
Hard Hide Handle, Plated With Zinc, And Armed With A Single Short Broad
Thong.
With the two sons of White Ali and the End of Time, at 8 A.M., on the 12th
December, I rode forward, leaving the jaded camels in charge of my
companions and the women.
We crossed the plain in a south-westerly
direction, and after traversing rolling ground, we came to a ridge, which
commanded an extensive view. Behind lay the Wanauli Hills, already purple
in the distance. On our left was a mass of cones, each dignified by its
own name; no one, it is said, can ascend them, which probably means that
it would be a fatiguing walk. Here are the visitation-places of three
celebrated saints, Amud, Sau and Shaykh Sharlagamadi, or the "Hidden from
Evil," To the north-west I was shown some blue peaks tenanted by the Eesa
Somal. In front, backed by the dark hills of Harar, lay the Harawwah
valley. The breadth is about fifteen miles: it runs from south-west to
north-east, between the Highlands of the Girhi and the rolling ground of
the Gudabirsi Somal, as far, it is said, as the Dankali country. Of old
this luxuriant waste belonged to the former tribe; about twelve years ago
it was taken from them by the Gudabirsi, who carried off at the same time
thirty cows, forty camels, and between three and four hundred sheep and
goats.
Large herds tended by spearmen and grazing about the bush, warned us that
we were approaching the kraal in which the sons of White Ali were camped;
at half-past 10 A.M., after riding eight miles, we reached the place which
occupies the lower slope of the Northern Hills that enclose the Harawwah
valley.
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