TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 21 



earned the right to a passage at all. The men engaged 

 by us to do the transporting of our goods were twins 

 to the porters engaged by our friends, the opposition 

 shoot. They did not appear to reason out that as the 

 mountain of packages had to be got aboard before we 

 could sail, it did not matter whose porter carried which 

 box or kit. No, each porter must stick to the belong- 

 ings of the individual who hired him to do the job. 

 Naturally, this caused the wildest confusion, and I sat 

 down on a packing case that nobody seemed to care 

 much about and laughed and laughed at the idiocy of 

 it. To see the leader of the opposition shoot gravely 

 detach from my porter a bale of goods to which their 

 label was attached, substituting for it a parcel from our 

 special heap, was to see man at the zenith in the way of 

 management. 



It was very early, indeed, when we began operations, 

 but not so early by the time we sailed, accompanied by 

 a rabble of Somalis bent on negotiating the voyage at 

 our expense. It was useless to say they could not come 

 aboard, because come they would, and the villainous- 

 looking skipper seemed to think the more the merrier. 

 Our warrior friends were all for turning off the unpay- 

 ing guests, but I begged that there should be no more 

 delay, and so, when we were loaded up, like a cheap 

 tripping steamer to Hampton Court, we sailed. It was 

 a truly odious voyage. The wretched little craft rolled 

 and tossed to such an extent I thought she really must 

 founder. I remember devoutly wishing she would. 



The leader brought out sketching materials, and 

 proceeded to make a water-colour sketch of the sea. 



