152 DAHLAK 



willing response which carried with it the right to the return 

 of the courtesy. Finally, still in pain and smelling of a 

 chemist's shop, they would retire to rest and experiment for 

 half the night to find the best position on the rubber mattress. 

 But once asleep not even a typhoon would have shaken them 

 from their well-earned rest. 



Every member of the expedition suffered the consequences of 

 his or her exertions in that unpropitious climate and environ- 

 ment. Gigi lost almost two stones, Cecco eight pounds; I 

 lost twelve pounds and the others reduced in similar propor- 

 tions. But perhaps the ones that suffered most of all in every 

 respect were our feathered and four-legged friends. 



There were many of them on the Formica. The *co- 

 nationals' were a licentious cat (Cita) who was given child 

 by a repulsive, hairless, native cat as soon as we reached 

 Massawa; an odd dog (Eros) belonging to Silverio who 

 classed it in all good faith a 'shooting dog'; a second dog 

 (Brick), a highly active white terrier, property of the Buchers; 

 and a seagull (Gregory) which Cecco had caught in its 

 infancy at the Argentario and which had become domesti- 

 cated and appreciative. The 'natives' were the vulture Kil, 

 already praised; a little osprey (Coso) which I had taken 

 from its nest on top of a tree ; a sturdy young kite (named 

 Gandhi, because at first it would not hear of eating) given 

 to us by Nasi; a pelican (Sehil) caught treasonably by Gigi 

 from underwater with a harmless shot in the wing; and a 

 monkey (Cuni, short for Cunegonda) given to Cecco by 

 Arab fishermen. 



Gigi and I were to blame for Coso's death. We did not 

 know that the young of some birds of prey (even though Coso 

 was as big as a cockerel) should not drink. In Cecco's 



