352 IN AFRICA 



tives treated his daily religious devotions. He was 

 the only one in camp who prayed at least openly 

 and as he knelt and bowed and went through the 

 customary form of a Mohammedan prayer there 

 was never the slightest disposition to make fun of 

 him. In a camp of one hundred white men I feel 

 sure that one of them who prayed aloud three times 

 a day would hardly have escaped a good deal of ir- 

 reverent ridicule from those about him. The natives 

 in our camp never dreamed of questioning Hassan's 

 right to worship in any way he pleased and the life 

 and activities of the camp flowed along smoothly as 

 if unconscious of the white-robed figure whose voice 

 sang out his praises of Allah. The whole camp 

 seemed to have a deep respect for Hassan. 



Abdi, our head-man, was also a Somali, but of a 

 different tribe. He was from Jubaland and had 

 lived many years with white men. In all save color 

 he was more white than black. He was handsome, 

 good-tempered, efficient, and so kind to his men that 

 sometimes the discipline of the camp suffered be- 

 cause of it. It was Abdi's duty to direct the por- 

 ters in their work of moving camp, distributing 

 loads, pitching camp, getting wood for the big 

 camp-fires, punishing delinquents and, in fact, to 

 see that the work of the safari was done. 



One night after we had been most successful in 

 a big lion hunt during the day Abdi came to the 

 mess tent, where we were lingering over a particu- 

 larly good dinner. Abdi asked for his orders for the 

 following day and then, seeing that we were in a 



