78 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 



me, a group of some twenty Somali horsemen rode up 

 to us, and every one of them closed tight around us 

 until all the ponies were wedged like sardines. The 

 whole crowd wished to shake hands and welcome us. 

 The Somali handshake is not a shake strictly speaking. 

 It is a mere pressing of hands and is prefaced usually 

 by the salutation " Aleikum salaam," which you reply 

 to by reversing the order of it, " Salaam aleikum." 

 Then generally the interview, if lagging a little, is 

 materially assisted by " Mot ! Mot ! io Mot !" (Hail ! 

 Hail ! Again Hail !) This is a great feature of the 

 conversation, and, shouted as only a Somali can shout 

 it, is a rousing welcome indeed. 



These friends of ours were the outposts of a vast 

 horde of Somalis, for at some wells we saw multitudes 

 of camels standing in a sort of lake, quite a good-sized 

 piece of water, in a grilling sun. The water was turgid 

 and foul, or I should have schemed for a bath out of it. 

 Every one came to call, and to inquire what we were 

 doing. They crowded round the trophies drying, 

 putting their fingers on the skins and then tasting the 

 fingers to see what the result was like. They were a 

 great nuisance, and we had to trek on again to get 

 away from their unwelcome attentions. One of our 

 camels fought another as we loaded up. Never did I 

 see such viciousness. The fur flew, and bites were 

 many, and at last the victor drove the vanquished 

 roaring before it. The camel-man who valeted the 

 conquering hero seemed quite charmed, but as the 

 beaten animal had some nasty bites in the neck, the 

 performance did not seem to us so meritorious. In a 



