42 
SOMALILAND 
Next day I moved my camp two miles eastwards, passing 
a zareba filled with camels belonging to people of Hargaisa. 
The grass here was good. The natives gave me a harn full 
of excellent camefs milk, warm and covered with froth. 
In the morning I saw a lot of owl and oryx, all very wild, 
and I refused to shoot at 300 yards. This made my shikari 
angry, for he remarked : 
‘ Every officer shoot dar lion, dar owl, dar aliphint all 
same distance.’ 
To which I replied : 
‘ But in the first place I am not an officer — I am a humble 
civilian only ; and in the second place I don't believe a 
word you say.’ 
And so we went on (|uarrelling the whole day. I got 
perfectly sick of hearing of the deeds of daring, and above 
all the extravagances, of ‘ other officers,’ and could easily see 
that these men had been utterly spoilt by ‘ other officers ’ 
giving them exactly what they asked for. 
The wages in Somaliland are far too high, a camelman 
receiving 15 rupees a month, and three times as much 
food as any native posho in East Africa. However, I must 
add that one or two civilians have done more to spoil the 
Somalis and ruin shooting-parties than all the garrison of 
Aden put together for the last ten years. 
The country now was more open, and the game being so 
wild, the result was long shots and plenty of misses. 
When I got back to camp there was a row going on. A 
man turned up, and said : 
^ Give me back my boney ; my brozer sold him, and he 
belong me.’ 
To which I answered : 
^ Off you go and quarrel with your “brozer”; don’t quarrel 
with me. I’ve bought the boney, I’ve paid for the boney, 
and I mean to stick to the boney.’ 
He went away, and brought half a village with him, all 
armed with spears. I blew my whistle, and instantly every 
man put on his cartridge-belt, seized his rifle, and stood in 
