48 MY SOMALI BOOK 



from a mere " eye for country," which unciviUsed man 

 so often, though not always, seems to possess — m 

 common with the domestic cat — has always been a 

 marvel to me, but I have never seen it so developed 

 as among these Somalis. The Haud, for instance, is 

 absolutely flat and only varies according as long grass 

 or thorn bushes predominate, stretching for miles 

 and miles in every direction without any sort of dis- 

 tinguishing landmark whatever. Yet on this occasion 

 when we had tramped more than twenty miles, in any- 

 thing but a straight line, after that tireless brute of a 

 lion, and I asked where our camp was, Elmi pointed 

 without hesitation ; he was not quite sure about the 

 distance, guessing sixteen miles (it proved to be 

 about thirteen), but he had no doubt whatever as to 

 the direction and led straight back on to our zariba, 

 which was perhaps thirty or forty yards in diameter. 

 When I say he guessed sixteen miles, I mean that he 

 said five hours ; they reckon distance, like the Arabs, 

 by time, the calculation I found being based on a 

 marching pace of about three miles an hour, or a shade 

 more. When, however, as sometimes occurs, a Somali's 

 estimate has no apparent basis whatever, this method 

 is apt to be exasperating to our ridiculous European 

 desire for comparative accuracy. 



The following night I lost one of my two donkeys 

 in an unexpected fashion. One was tethered as usual 

 just outside the zariba, the other and a sheep were tied 

 up at likely spots a couple of miles away ; in the case 

 of the latter animal, with a man in a tree above to 

 scare off hyaenas. This precaution did not seem to 

 be necessary in the case of the donkey, not knowing 



