AN INTERESTING OLD MAN 



a long and eloquent speech. He referred to his 

 feelings, when he first saw me that morning, in terms 

 of true Oriental exaggeration. "We felt," he said, 

 " like little children who with wondering gladness 

 behold the return home of their long-lost father, and 

 shame fell upon us that we had nothing to offer him 

 worthy of his acceptance. We have brought you 

 this calf, and if it find favour in your sight, we shall 

 be more than glad, more than recompensed." 



He proceeded to say that they were intending to 

 march to Nairobi, where they expected to sell their 

 cattle, but as they had never been there before, he 

 hoped I would give them letters to help them, I 

 thanked him as well as I could, through the inter- 

 preter, and gave orders for " buni " to be prepared and 

 served to them. This was a lengthy proceeding, as 

 there were some thirty Somali present, but in the mean- 

 time I had a long conversation with their leader, who 

 proved to be a delightful old man, as interesting as 

 he was friendly. He made me realise most vividly 

 the hardships and discomforts of travelling with 

 cattle ; his simple narrative of their march from 

 Gulola, by a more northerly route than I had taken, 

 abounded in quaint phrases and picturesque similes, 

 and many of the essential features of their journey 

 recalled to my mind the days when I had herded 

 cattle on the Arizona plains. 



Most of his followers were quite young men ; 

 the majority had never seen a town before, and some 

 had not previously met a European. It was amusing 

 to watch them examining my things and peering into 

 my tent, but their curiosity had no trace of vulgarity 

 in it, and their interest was wholly genuine. Although 

 the greater number of these young warriors wore the 

 N 193 



