142 DRESSING THE HAIR 



wound upon the neck he had recently received in 

 tight, it being a popular idea among the Dankalli 

 tribes, that nothing will cure a flesh wound so 

 quickly, as gunpowder sprinkled upon the divided 

 parts. 



I was very much amused, when the sheep was 

 slaughtered, by the contest which took place for the 

 intestines and fat. It was of the usual Adal kind, 

 covered with short hair, entirely white, except the 

 small black head. The tail was large and heavy, 

 consisting principally of a huge deposit of suet 

 overhanging from the rump. Two or three appli- 

 cants were almost fighting about the possession of 

 this, which I at length settled by dividing between 

 Garahmee and Moosa, who retired with it, bor- 

 rowing my copper cooking-pot and a large wooden 

 bowl from Zaido, for some purpose or other I 

 could not make out, but which determined me to 

 watch their proceedings to satisfy my curiosity. 

 Having melted the fat over a low fire they soon 

 prepared with camels' dung and dry sticks, they 

 poured the oily liquid into the bowl ; Moosa then 

 took his seat upon the ground, sitting between 

 Garahmee's legs, who commenced, with a long 

 skewer-like comb of one prong, to comb out and 

 arrange the rather tangled mass of long stiff curly 

 hair, which was the pride and chiefest care of 

 Moosa. Having tastefully adjusted the ends of the 

 hair, behind and over the ears, in one regular line, 

 and brought it to a level surface all over the head, 



