THE CAMEL 



The stern faces of the men, upon which the hard- 

 ships and poverty of their daily Hfe and the ever- 

 present dangers to which they are exposed have im- 

 printed an indeUble mark, the real gratitude to Allah, 

 the All Powerful, Who Alone knows what is best for 

 His children, expressed in their voices, and the circum- 

 stances in which it is sung, all combine to form a 

 picture that is at once solemn and impressive. 



Somewhat cruel by nature, the Somali is lavish 

 of kindness and affection to his camel ; it forms the 

 subject of innumerable songs, in which one man 

 addresses the camel, while the rest answer for him, 

 thus carrying on a kind of running conversation. 

 As soon as I would give the order to halt and 

 unload, the syces would begin singing, " Aurki 

 dalai ! " (" My camel is tired ! "), to which the men who 

 were helping would cry out in answer for the camel, 

 " Dika so dig!" ("Then place it {i.e. the load) on 

 the ground ! "). And this would be repeated in end- 

 less iteration until the camels were unloaded. In the 

 same way in the mornings I have often eaten my 

 breakfast to the sound of my head syce singing, 

 " Wa fa liligo ! " (" Pick up the load ! "), to which the 

 men would roar out in chorus a line, which I never quite 

 caught, meaning, " Then tie it on tight ! " And there 

 are a number of variations on the same theme. It 

 was always pleasant to listen, as I knew my men 

 were happy and contented. I never forbade them 

 to sing, unless circumstances demanded it, as, for 

 instance, when we were in the Aulehan country, and 

 were expecting an attack. And I tried to allow 

 them as much liberty and freedom as when travelling 

 by themselves, so long as this was compatible with 

 obedience and discipline, for there must be much 



154 



