A PICTURESQUE SCENE 



her shrivelled breast. Then others came, some 

 young, some old, with their little babies tied in bags 

 upon their back or clinging to their skirts (such as 

 they had !), and soon I had bought all the ghee I 

 needed. 



It was a scene of bustle and activity. Trading 

 went on briskly and I bought amongst other things 

 wooden pillows, ghee spoons, hair combs and other 

 small objects that are commonly used by the Somali. 

 Everyone was in the best of tempers, jokes were 

 bandied about, and peals of laughter rang out 

 continuously. Old men and women were moving 

 slowly through the crowd, the traces left by the 

 hardships and poverty of their daily lives showing 

 clearly in their bent forms and wrinkled faces ; young 

 girls, with curiously dressed hair, clothed in the loose 

 white robes which emphasised rather than concealed 

 the lithe beauty of their graceful forms, held by the 

 hand tiny little boys with shaven heads, whose small 

 brown bodies were innocent of clothes ; they wandered 

 round together, gazing with awe and wonder at my 

 tent and my belongings within. Having satisfied 

 their curiosity, they began to return to their village, 

 and when the sun was sinking and the time for prayer 

 was at hand, they were all gone, and my camp 

 resumed its normal aspect. 



Mahommed Ali visited me after supper on the 

 evening previous to my departure and said he would 

 accompany me himself to Jeldez, so that no one might 

 say afterwards that he had not done his best to help 

 the first white man who had been willing to visit his 

 country. I took this opportunity of giving him my 

 present, consisting of cloths, silks, perfumes and 

 buni, with which he seemed very pleased. When 



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