14 A SPORTING TRIP THROUGH ABYSSINIA chap. 



and scoop the liquid up in a han (a grass-woven, ghee- 

 plastered vessel), and throw the vessel up to a man 

 standing above him, who catches it and passes it on 

 to the next, who finally empties it into a skin trough 

 supported on a few sticks. Sometimes, if the well be 

 deep, this living ladder would be composed of three or 

 four men, besides the " scooper " and "emptier," and, as 

 may be imagined, a good deal of water is spilt on the 

 way. As a rule the Somali is most particular not to 

 be seen naked, but at the wells it is customary to work 

 without any clothing. It is a curious sight to see the 

 flocks of sheep and goats and herds of catde and 

 camels, all drawn up in regular order waiting for water, 

 herded up and kept separate by small boys armed with 

 long sticks. Each well is the property of a family, and 

 throughout the day their flocks and herds file past the 

 skin troughs until all have had their fill. Cattle and 

 horses must be watered every day, sheep and goats 

 will go two or three days without hurt, while camels 

 do all right with a weekly or fortnightly drink, accord- 

 ing to the state of the grass. In a waterless country 

 it is therefore possible to roughly estimate the distance 

 of the wells, by noticing the kind of beasts being grazed. 

 At mid-day we were all weighed ; our heaviest white 

 man was W., who turned the scale at 172 lbs., our 

 lightest H., at 140 lbs. My skinning-man, at 131 lbs., 

 was the heaviest black weight, and Ali Burali, my first 

 shikari, at 114 lbs., the lightest. In the afternoon we 

 tried walking up dik-dik and hare, but bagged none of 

 the former and only five of the latter. At this point it 

 was decided that Daniel should return to the coast, as 



