TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 151 



ground cut through, which is in most parts of red 

 earth. There are always steps cut all the way down, 

 on which the Somalis balance themselves with the 

 greatest sang-froid, doing the necessary conjuring trick 

 with*the buckets from hand to hand the while. They 

 are made from the ubiquitous leather— in no country, 

 I imagine, can leather be more pressed into service — 

 and a number of Somalis often descend a deep well at 

 one time, passing up the full buckets in continuous 

 chain, receiving back the returning empty ones as the 

 other leaves the hand. All the time the ever helpful 

 songs are sung. 



When a large number of camels have to be watered 

 it means spending the best part of a day down the 

 wells, which are often very foul, and full of noxious 

 gases. Troughs for the cattle are made by the wells as 

 a rule, again of the ever helpful leather, or hollowed 

 by hand, and lined with some sort of clay. We used 

 the ordinary English method, much simpler, of pro- 

 curing water, and a bucket and rope seemed to be as 

 effectual and as expeditious, with certainly less waste 

 than the Somali system. 



We had hoped to have a splendid bath at Galadi, 

 and a real good drink, but on trying well after well we 

 found the water absolutely poisonous, and highly 

 dangerous. The liquid was putrid. The birds of the 

 air in their thousands made the place their own, and 

 the smell when we disturbed the surface of the wells 

 was simply abominable. Our men drank freely, but 

 Cecily and I worried along on the short commons of 

 our last water barrel. All the animals were watered, 



