FIRE-WORSHIP 25 



after daybreak, lighted the smudge-fires, and drove the camels 

 through the smoke. The Somali could not quite understand 

 this proceeding ; they regarded it as a religious rite, and told 

 me afterwards that they did not know that Christians worshipped 

 fire. When I explained that it was to keep off the flies, they 

 were delighted and said we English were " herribleh " (wise). 

 We reached Witu early in the afternoon, but did not stay there, 

 for as it is surrounded by forest we feared the dreaded tsetse-fly 

 might occur there. So the camels were driven a mile to the 

 south, and camp was pitched beside a deserted Galla village, on 

 the hill from which the English guns shelled the town in 1890. 

 The Somali were told to be ready to start at daybreak, and from 

 the manner in which some of them received the order, we all 

 went to bed expecting another row in the morning. 



