TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 195 



dawn. I saw the ponies watered myself before turning 

 in, and I slept eight hours straight on end. 



Going out late in the evening with the object of 

 securing something for the pot, I came on a regular 

 aviary of birds. Sand grouse and pigeons, guinea-fowl 

 and wild geese, and small birds too in thousands. I 

 lay down for a little and watched the small ones 

 preparing for the night. I love the tiny birds of 

 Somaliland, and never wearied of studying their pretty 

 ways. It seems to me that they are most beautiful in 

 proportion to their size of any bird life. The protec- 

 tions, the pleadings, the dances, the love-making, the 

 little furies, the make-believes, cannot be excelled in 

 charm. 



I was too wearied out to bother much, even though 

 food in plenty was there to my hand, and I don't like 

 killing anything so tame, even when I ought to. When 

 I got back to camp I sent Clarence out with instruc- 

 tions to shoot some guinea-fowl and geese. 



A vast caravan of some hundreds arrived at the 

 wells in the middle of that night, and things hummed 

 for an hour or so. I was not disturbed, except by the 

 wrangling that went on all the hours until dawn. It 

 was very cold, and my " carpet " ended on the top of 

 me ! 



