TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 29 



get very fine and well-developed generally. Camel- 

 meat is to the Somali what we are given to understand 

 turtle soup is to the London alderman. Next in favour 

 comes mutton, but no flesh comes up to camel. The 

 Somali camel-man is exceedingly attentive to his 

 charges, giving them names, and rarely, if ever, ill 

 treating them. As a result the animals are fairly even 

 tempered, for camels, and one may go amongst them 

 with more or less assurance of emerging unbitten. 

 When loading up the man sings away, and the camel 

 must get familiar with the song. It seems to be in- 

 terminably the same, and goes on and on in dreary 

 monotone until the job is over. I would I knew what 

 it was all about. 



Of course it is a fact that a camel can take in a 

 month's supply of water, but it very much depends on 

 the nature of the month how the animal gets on. If 

 he is on pasture, green and succulent, he can go on 

 much longer than a month, but if working hard, con- 

 tinuously, and much loaded, once a week is none too 

 often to water him. They are not strong animals ; 

 far from it, and they have a great many complaints 

 and annoyances to contend with in a strenuous life. 

 The most awful, to my mind, is sore back and its con- 

 sequences. This trouble comes from bad and uneven 

 lading, damp mats, &c, and more often than not the 

 sore is scratched until it gets into a shocking condition. 

 Flies come next, and maggots follow, and then a 

 ghastly Nemesis in the form of the rhinoceros bird 

 which comes for a meal, and with its sharp pointed 

 beak picks up maggots and flesh together. When out 



