TO 
SOMALILAND 
there. I was shown here a disgustiDg photograph of a 
poor boy who, dying of starvation, was making his way to 
the hospital, and had in fact got within about 100 yards 
of it, when from sheer exhaustion he fell, and was 
eaten, probably alive, by a hungry hyaena. He was photo- 
graphed early next morning just as the hyaena had left 
him. 
In a week I had bought fourteen camels. One buys a 
camel in dollars, but the extraordinary part of the transac- 
tion is that one pays for it in rupees. The thermometer 
averaged 110^ in the sun and 93° in the shade at noon 
during my stay at the coast, so you can imagine I was 
pretty thankful to get out of the heat. I had now secured 
fourteen camels, so determined to start for the jungle on 
the morrow, and leave half my baggage behind with my 
headman and some of the camelmen to buy the remaining 
‘ ships of the desert.’ I paid all my men a month’s wages 
in advance, according to their custom. As I expected, 
there was a great deal of squabbling, one man refusing to 
be a camelman, another saying he must be a gunbearer, 
and all wanted extra pay because I said I wished to reach 
the Shebeyli River, and they dreaded fever. There was 
such a row that I could with difficulty hear myself speak. 
When at length silence was restored, the men requested I 
should buy them a sheep to kill for good luck. I consented 
on condition they should not make it a rule to ask for 
mutton whenever there was no game to be had. I deposited 
my leather portmanteaus and empty packing-cases in the 
church until my return. 
