6 
SOMALILAND 
Owing to bad steering and other miscalculations, we 
arrived at the Somali Coast fifteen miles out of our course, 
and so did not get to the excellent harbour at Berbera 
until after sunset, when it was too late and dark to find our 
tents and pitch them. However, the Political Resident very 
kindly gave me an excellent dinner, and the Resident 
Engineer allowed me to sleep under the veranda of his 
bungalow, close by a cage containing a fine lioness fifteen 
months old. This handsome animal played with one just 
like a huge dog, but I discovered that her claws were 
getting a bit too long and sharp to be comfortable. She 
would lie on her back and embrace my legs with her huge 
paws. Her strength was wonderful. She would come up 
to me, purring like the great cat that she was, and rub 
against me. I generally collapsed on the floor. When 
you wanted her to stand up, you lifted her up on her legs 
by her long tail, with its black tufted end. She was 
beautifully spotted on her belly, like the skin of a giraffe. 
Poor Kitty ! I wonder what has become of her. Her por- 
trait adorned the pages of the Graphic one day. Kitty 
kept wonderfully quiet all night, but the mosquitoes did 
not, and I got up when the sun rose with a splitting head- 
ache, and spots all over my body caused by the noxious 
little pests. In the large camping square I found my tent 
pitched, together with several others, for there were no less 
than four separate shooting-parties just then in Berbera. 
The scene was most animated. Dozens of stalwart Somalis 
were walking about in their white tohes^ and talking in 
excited tones, as they busied themselves over their master s 
kit. Several camels stood complacently chewing the cud, 
and ponies were being cantered about to show them off. 
Then began a long day’s work : opening all the cases, sort- 
ing out all my effects, putting bedding in orde’r, opening 
cartridge-boxes, and cleaning guns and rifles. Suddenly 
up comes a Customs officer to know the value of my 
imports. 
' I make you bill, I make you bill !' he said, as he glared 
