TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 149 



by sight, and which have been on terms of friendship 

 with their slaughterers. The Ogaden country, in parts, 

 like the curate's egg, still possesses potentialities not to 

 be sneered at, and if one is willing to penetrate the 

 interior, getting clear away from the beaten track, the 

 possibilities become certainties. 



To go onwards through the Mijertain meant striking 

 into, or crossing the " Mary Ann Desert," as Cecily 

 persisted in styling the Marehan. This was a some- 

 what daunting enterprise, but to put against any draw- 

 backs there was the attraction and magnet of unlimited 

 sport at the other side. We consulted our maps, and 

 understood them sufficiently to plan a route and leave 

 the rest to Providence, which useful commodity or 

 personage we confidently hoped would be good enough 

 to see us through. 



We told Clarence and the caravan generally in an 

 off-hand manner, very confidently, that we proposed 

 trekking eventually to Joh in the Haweea country, but 

 I cannot say they received the news in the same spirit 

 of easy^confidence. Clarence was and looked taken 

 aback. He murmured something about its being a 

 great journey, days and days, that he had never pene- 

 trated so far before. Even our shikari uncle had 

 stopped at the Bun Arnwein. This rather settled 

 the matter. Oh, to go one better than our relative ! 



We mapped our homeward route so that it permitted 

 of a day or more on the Bun Toyo with the new grass 

 all a-blowing and a-growing to tempt out buck in 

 dozens, even though it all meant going over much of 

 our old shooting ground. We had not yet got a "sig," 



