AFRICAN CAMP FIRES 



for the slight swaying necessary to preserve his 

 equilibrium, his voluminous white draperies flutter- 

 ing in the wind, his dark face just distinguishable 

 under his burnouse. Most of the men were Somalis, 

 however. Their keen small faces, slender but 

 graceful necks, slim, well-formed torsos bending to 

 every movement of the boat, and the white or 

 gaudy draped nether garments were as decorative 

 as the figures on an Egyptian tomb. One or two 

 of the more barbaric had made neat headdresses of 

 white clay plastered in the form of a skullcap. 



After an interval a small and fussy tugboat 

 steamed around our stern and drew alongside the 

 gangway. Three passengers disembarked from her 

 and made their way aboard. The main deck of the 

 craft under an awning was heavily encumbered with 

 trunks, tin boxes, hand baggage, tin bathtubs, gun 

 cases and all sorts of impedimenta. The tugboat 

 moored itself to us fore and aft, and proceeded 

 to think about discharging. Perhaps twenty men 

 in accurate replica of those in the small boats had 

 charge of the job. They had their own methods. 

 After a long interval devoted strictly to nothing, 

 some unfathomable impulse would incite one or two 

 or three of the natives to tackle a trunk. At it 

 they tugged and heaved and pushed in the manner 

 of ants making off with a particularly large fly or 



44 



