26 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 



and three times if possible. Clarence's demands were 

 reasonable enough, and he fell in with our wishes most 

 graciously. 



I gave instructions for the purchase of camels, fifty 

 at least, for the caravan was a large one. There were 

 not so many animals in the place for sale at once, and 

 of course our soldier friends were on the look out for 

 likely animals also. 



During the next few days we busied ourselves in en- 

 gaging the necessary servants. My uncle had impressed 

 on me the necessity of seeing that the caravan was 

 peopled with men from many tribes, as friction is better 

 than a sort of trust among themselves. Clarence 

 appeared to have no wish to take his own relatives 

 along, as is so often the case, and we had no bother in 

 the matter. But we were dreadfully ' had ' over six 

 rough ponies we bought. We gave one hundred and 

 fifty rupees each for them and they were dear at forty. 

 However, much wiser people than Cecily and myself 

 go wrong in buying horses ! Later in the trip we 

 acquired a better pony apiece and so pulled through 

 all right. 



My cousin has a very excellent appetite, and is rather 

 fond of the flesh-pots generally, and gave as much 

 attention to the engaging of a suitable cook as I did 

 to the purchase of the camels. No lady ever emerged 

 more triumphantly from the local Servants' Registry 

 Office after securing the latest thing in cooks than did 

 Cecily on rushing out of the bungalow at express speed 

 to tell me she had engaged a regular Monsieur Escofner 

 to accompany us. 



