CHAPTER IV 



A SHORT EXPEDITION ACROSS THE 

 DIBAYU PLAINS 



There was but little life in the streets of Kismayu 

 as I mounted my mule and started off. I had 

 already sent ahead the five camels I had hired from 

 the Arab with instructions to camp at a rainpool on 

 the other side of the sandhills, and with them had 

 gone the few porters I needed for collecting wood and 

 pitching my tent. So it was but a small cavalcade 

 that made its way down the broad sandy street that 

 led southwards through the native quarter. I caught 

 now and again a glimpse of a shadowy form sleeping 

 in the cool darkness of the huts, a few diminutive 

 hens were moving restlessly about in search of food, 

 and occasionally camels would be seen, solemnly 

 chewing the cud in the thin shade of a palm tree. 

 All else slept or was at rest, for the hour of the 

 siesta was not yet over. 



The little town was soon left behind, and we 

 followed a narrow trail that led at first over some 

 rolling sanddunes, which soon gave place to a series 

 of sandy hillocks covered with dense thorn scrub. 

 The ground gradually rose till a moderately high 

 ridge was reached, from which an extensive view 

 was obtained over the country which lay to the 

 south-west. It seemed to be a vast expanse of 

 green scrub stretching away to the horizon, in 

 D 49 



