CAMEL SICKNESS 



whistling and singing in a most cheerful manner. 

 Here I decided to camp and, when light broke, to 

 send on two men to find the road which led westwards 

 towards the Lak Dera. We had marched since 

 leaving Jeldez for ten and a half hours and had 

 covered twenty miles, which was not bad considering 

 the character of the country we had traversed. My 

 tent was soon pitched and a hot bath was prepared 

 for me, which I thoroughly enjoyed before turning in. 

 The camel which was so ill at Jeldez, had been 

 gradually growing worse, and on reaching this water- 

 hole, which is known to the natives by the name of 

 Robleh ("containing rain-water"), he lay down and 

 refused to move, although he had carried no load 

 during the night. As he was obviously dying and in 

 agony, I had him killed. Shortly afterwards I saw 

 the Somali lining up before my tent, and on asking 

 what they wanted they asked me if I would let them 

 eat the camel ! I was so disousted at first that I 

 refused, but when they said that they would accept 

 it instead of four days' rations (120 lb. of rice), I 

 could say no more, especially as I had lost a quarter 

 of a load of rice through one of the sacks giving way 

 during the night. They immediately set about cutting 

 the camel up and smoking the flesh, and boiling down 

 the fat into a kind of lard, which they use in their 

 cooking in the same way as ghee. An absolute orgy 

 ensued ; the men stuffed themselves with half-cooked 

 meat, gnawed the bones till they were clean, and then 

 chopping them open, sucked the marrow out. It was 

 a most revolting sight, but I had no choice but to let 

 it go on. Only the Swahili refused to touch it, which 

 was rather a surprise after the filth I have seen 

 them eat. 



M 177 



