184 MY SOMALI BOOK 



The last incident of our wanderings came soon after 

 sunset. We were stepping out along the main caravan 

 road to Berbera, a wide sandy track, when suddenly 

 Ehni, two or three yards behind me, gave a cr}^, and 

 I looked round to see him hopping on one leg, nursing 

 his foot, and then making a vicious cut at the ground 

 with the stick he carried. He said he had been bitten 

 by a snake in the toe, that he had caught a glimpse of 

 it just after it struck him, and that it was a small one. 

 We could not find the reptile in spite of the bright 

 moonlight, although there was no cover quite near. 



There was no use trying to do anything then, but 

 to get the victim into camp as quickly as possible ; 

 he was not sure of the exact spot where he w^as bitten, 

 and the light was not good enough for investigation. 

 I put him on the pony, Henduleh leading it, and 

 hastened on ahead. Of course, as I wanted to get 

 into camp in a hurry, it turned out that Abdilleh, so 

 as to have a short march for the morning, had taken 

 the caravan a good deal farther than I had expected, 

 so that it was after eight o'clock before I got in and 

 routed out m}^ medicine case. 



After a quarter of an hour Elmi turned up, and on 

 examination I discovered a small discoloured patch on 

 the under side of his second toe. I could not make 

 out any puncture, but there seemed to be a local 

 extravasation like that produced on my own thumb 

 by the bite of an English viper years before. As the 

 only thing to do, though somewhat late, I cut across 

 the spot until it bled freely, and then rubbed in 

 permanganate of potash, at the same time applying 

 a makeshift ligature to the leg. 



