TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 5 



unmindful of the rampant domesticity of the sparrows. 

 The fourteenth of February had long passed, and the 

 fourteenth is to the birds what Easter Monday is to 

 the lower orders, a general day for getting married. 



A few days in town amid the gilty splendour of one 

 of the caravan-serais in Northumberland Avenue were 

 mostly spent in imbibing knowledge. My uncle never 

 wearied of his subject, and it was to our interest to 

 listen carefully. Occasionally he would wax pessimist, 

 and express his doubts of our ability to see the trip 

 through ; but he was kind enough to say he knows no 

 safer shot than myself. " Praise from Caesar." Though 

 I draw attention to it that shouldn't ! The fragility 

 of my physique bothered him no end. I assured him 

 over and over that my appearance is nothing to go 

 by, and that I am, as a matter of fact, a most wiry 

 person. 



This shoot of ours was no hurried affair. We had 

 been meditating it for months, and had, to some ex- 

 tent, arranged all the difficult parts a long time before 

 we got to the actual purchases of stores, and simple 

 things of the kind. We had to obtain special permits 

 to penetrate the Ogaden country and beyond to the 

 Marehan and the Haweea, if we desired to go so far. 

 Since the Treaty with King Menelik in 1897 ^ e 

 Ogaden and onwards is out of the British sphere of 

 influence. 



How our permits were obtained I am not at liberty 

 to say ; but without them we should have been forced to 

 prance about on the outskirts of every part where game 

 is abundant. By the fairy aid of these open sesames 



