CHRISTMAS WITH PRINCE BORIS. 115 
festive season together in a civilized way, Prince Boris 
quartering his caravan of sixty men by a little pool of water 
not far away, so that we could visit each other continually. 
Not only were the three Europeans of our party rejoiced 
at this rencontre, but our Somali boys were in ecstasies of 
delight in meeting their friends and relatives among Prince 
Boris’s followers. Our camp was in a continual state of 
merriment. 
Prince Boris and the three white men of our party 
went out in different directions every morning hunting. In 
the afternoon we would return to camp loaded down with 
large game of all sorts, besides bags of quail, guinea-fowl, 
and sand-grouse; and then, after a bath and a glass or two 
of brandy and soda, the feast of the day would be prepared. 
Christmas day our boys arranged a beautiful centre-piece 
of flowers for the table, and gayly decorated our tents with 
greens and flowering plants, while the whole enclosure in 
front of our tents was spread with zebra-skins, so as to 
produce a striking effect. Our cooks, Aden Arralla and 
Mireh, prepared at the same time a most excellent dinner, 
the menu consisting of oryx soup, fillets of beef, sand- 
grouse, brain croquettes, strawberry tart, and tinned 
peaches. Plenty of champagne helped us through our 
courses, and brandy and soda and cigarettes made con- 
versation lively until late in the night. When we finally 
g 
repaired to our different tents, we said truthfully that we 
had never had a more merry Christmas, and only hoped 
our good people at home were equally fortunate. 
Our heads were clear, however, in the morning, and we 
started out as usual hunting. I had not gone far before I 
perceived two oryx grazing near aclump of bushes some 
distance off. Stalking them to within forty yards, and 
then aiming behind the shoulder, I brought one of them 
down with the first shot. The other darted off, but I struck 
