MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 209 



Wart Hog relics in the middle of our small camp, and there he remained 

 disconsolately eating the bread of affliction (in this case his allowance of 

 dates and now sodden rice), devoutly wishing, I am sure, that he had even 

 braved the dangers of a solitary tramp back to the Coast rather than let him- 

 self in for this fore-taste of purgatory. When he had disposed of his portion 

 he slunk about from one hut to another trying to get squatting room and 

 shelter, but no one would let him come within striking distance and, after 

 trying to insinuate himself into the several huts without success, he at last 

 came to us in despair and we gave him sanctuary under the outer fly of our 

 tent. There he curled himself among our gun cases and provision boxes and 

 slumber soon came to his relief ; not to ours, however, for his terrific snores 

 kept waking us on and off the whole night through, but we had not the heart 

 to turn him out and contented ourselves with heaving an occasional " brickbat " 

 in his direction. For about a week he led a perfect dog's life and was a 

 Pariah in very truth, but after the boar's skull and mask had dried and been 

 sewn up iu sack cloth and thus removed from sight the incident was grad- 

 ually forgotten, and the Midgan was in due course received back into the 

 fold, but I am afraid only partially so, for to the end of the chapter he 

 seemed to come in for more kicks than halfpence when I or my companion 

 were not looking. 



Though he has no further connection with the heading to my note, I can- 

 not quit this incident without a short account of the boy Yusuf above men- 

 tioned, and trust I may be forgiven for the digression. He was such an 

 extraordinary character and had such a curious history, that it seems 

 worth recording. 



In 1893 I was in pohtical charge at Zaila, and one day towards the end of 

 the hot weather an old Turk who eked out a precarious existence at a coffee 

 stall in the native town brought to my office a smal! fair skinned boy apparently 

 about 10 years old, accompanied by the headman of a coffee caravan which 

 had just come in from the Abyssinian outpost town of Harrar. The latter 

 reported that the boy was the orphan son of a Turk who had migrated to 

 Harrar during the Egyptian occupation and had married an Abyssinian 

 woman, of whom Yusuf was the offspring. Both the father and mother had 

 died of cholera 3 or 4 years back, since when the boy had had to shift for 

 himself, and as he had become a confirmed thief (having iu fact no other 

 means of livelihood) he had been expelled from Harrar by the Abyssinian 

 authorities aud my informant had been asked, when returning to the Coast 

 with his caravan, to take Yusuf with him and hand him over on arrival at 

 Zaila to the old Turk novv^ present, who was said to be a relative of the boy's 

 deceased father. This the latter admitted, but pleaded, and I knew with 

 truth, that he barely earned enough to keep himself and his wife in the 

 bare necessaries of life, and could not possibly maintain and look after 

 thia boy as well, especially as he appeared to be very ill and would not be 



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