ARRIVAL AT MASSOWAH 



439 



After lunch a little ^roup of my friends saw me oft" 

 by the post-cart, which startetl just before three o'clock. 

 There was only one other passenger in the little 

 waggonette drawn by three mules. We drove at a 

 gentle' pace down a well-made road, with easy gradients 

 curving down the hill-sides, till the low country was 

 reached. The road compared very favourably with 

 those leading to our Indian hill-j)osts, but the slow 

 pace and dawdling at the changing-stations made one 

 wish for the native driver and cantering ponies of the 

 Indian mail tonga. We reached Sabargouma, at the 

 foot of the hills, at 8.30 ; here the only available dining- 

 place was a very indifferent restaurant, whose most 

 striking features were heat and flies. Within an hour 

 we were ofif again with two additional passengers, 

 whose room we should, lit(;rall\-, have much preferred 

 to their company. 



At 2.30 .\..M. we reached Sahati, having been eleven 

 and a half hours doing the 53 miles ! The railway station 

 was some distance from where we stopped, and when 

 I got a coolie to carry my things across, I found the 

 place in utter darkness. By the light of some matches 

 I found a carriage and piled my things in it, but 

 discovered later that a cape had been abstracted. The 

 train left at 4.15, and took an hour and a half to 

 JNIassowah, where I went to Messrs. Benetfink's office, 

 to whose care my baggage had been forwarded. From 

 here I was directed to the steamboat agents, where 

 I found that a i)ass was required for my Somalis to 

 leave the colony. This necessitated a further long walk 

 in the sun ; but at last all was arranged, and, sending 



