xxxvii ARRIVAL AT MASSOWAH 439 



After lunch a little group of my friends saw me off 

 by the post- cart, which started just before three o'clock. 

 There was only one other passenger in the little 

 waggonette drawn by three mules. W^e drove at a 

 gentle pace down a well-made road, with easy gradients 

 curving down the hill-sides, till the low country was 

 reached. The road compared very favourably with 

 those leading to our Indian hill -posts, but the slow 

 pace and dawdling at the changing-stations made one 

 wish for the native driver and cantering ponies of the 

 Indian mail tonga. We reached Sabargouma, at the 

 foot of the hills, at 8.30; here the only available dining- 

 place was a very indifferent restaurant, whose most 

 striking features were heat and flies. Within an hour 

 we were off again with two additional passengers, 

 whose room we should, literally, have much preferred 

 to their company. 



At 2.30 a.jM. we reached Sahati, having been eleven 

 and a half hours doing the 53 miles ! The railway station 

 was some distance from where we stopped, and when 

 I got a coolie to carry my things across, I found the 

 place in utter darkness. By the light of some matches 

 I found a carriage and piled my things in it, but 

 discovered later that a cape had been abstracted. The 

 train left at 4.15, and took an hour and a half to 

 Massowah, where I went to Messrs. Benetfink's office, 

 to whose care mv baa^aao^e had been forwarded. From 

 here I was directed to the steamboat agents, where 

 I found that a pass was required for my Somalis to 

 leave the colony. This necessitated a further long walk 

 in the sun ; but at last all was arranged, and, sending 



