'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎191] (300/496)

and a half inches, and of the elephant, after several measurements, twen
ty-two inches, which would give a height of upwards of ten feet at the
shoulder. This water-course passes round the western flank of the
Dunanjir range, and can be traced down to the sea close to the town of
Berbera. After heavy rains, it discharges a large body of water into
the bay.
e From this valley, my course lay over a rough and stony tract of
country, in many places well wooded and watered, but, so far as re
gards its formation, exhibiting, if possible, a still stranger appearance than
the valley above mentioned. Thousands of ant hills, rising like slender
sandstone pillars, and in many cases fourteen feet high, were scattered
in every direction, giving the country the appearance of an immense
Turkish cemetery: many were hollowed out entirely, others were pierced
with smaller channels longitudinally, and a current of hot air could be
detected rushing through.
On first seeing these columns, I fancied that I had reached some an
cient ruins, so numerous were they. In one instance, I observed a huge
block of marble, weighing many tons, having three or four of these sand
pillars round it, and bearing the exact appearance of a tomb. On the
brink of a cliff close by, an enormous rock, of perhaps eighteen to twenty
feet in diameter, and diamond-shaped, stood exactly balanced on its point,
and to all appearance required but a push to send it down into the
ravine below. The number of graves found in every direction, excited
my surprise. They were well built, and bore marks of great antiquity,
but no inscriptions were found on them. Night closed in before we
reached the plain of Shimberali, and we were glad to find an empty sheep-
fold to shelter us for the night, after a march of seventeen hours on
foot, of which three only could be spared for a halt during the greatest
heat of the day.
Shimberali is part of an extensive plain, reaching from a solitary hill,
called Deimoli, to the southern mountain range of Koobis, and Woghur,
the frontier of the Haber Grerhajis tribe. It is inhabited by the Esa Moosa
branch of the Haber Awul, who are looked upon by the elder branches
of the tiibe as a treacherous race, with whom it is advisable to keep on
good terms, and who in their turn are at deadly feud with a branch of
the Haber Grerhajis, residing on the mountains above them, and known as
the Sulhehgiddib.
The plain is tolerably well wooded in some parts. Several varieties of