MY SOMALI BOOK 79 



Somali. Somalis stealing the A. P. O.'s eggs ! was 

 ever such a crime ! Result, the immediate issue of 

 strict regulations requiring {a) the registration of all 

 fowls in Hargeisa, and (6) the marking of all eggs with 

 the District Office stamp, without which they might 

 not be sold ; any person not a registered owner of 

 fowls, and found in possession of non-stamped eggs, 

 becoming liable to be tried as a thief. 



It is true that B. denied the correctness of the 

 breakfast story, but there is no doubt that J. believed 

 his eggs were being stolen and issued regulations 

 to the above effect. Very sound regulations too, as 

 I can vouch, having had the pleasure of breakfast- 

 ing with the A. P. O., Western District, off those 

 same eggs which might otherwise have attained 

 a less worthy end. If irreverent persons who had 

 not had that honour did make the egg regulations a 

 target for their gibes, the cause can only have been 

 jealousy. 



But masters are responsible for their servants, so 

 my anxiety can be imagined when I remembered 

 that I had neglected to give Abdi a solemn warning 

 as to the danger of buying unstamped eggs in 

 Hargeisa ! 



J.'s other pets were a couple of lion cubs about a 

 year old, the bigger one, a fine little beast, when 

 introduced to me with a view to a photograph, em- 

 braced me round the legs with its powerful forearms 

 in a manner decidedly more embarrassing than 

 pleasant. 



Hargeisa is not a bad place in some ways ; on 

 the bank of a river-bed, elevation about 4000 feet. 



