134 
SOMALILAND 
handsome man and very tall, as was also his interpreter, 
but I cannot say the same of his followers, who presented 
a ridiculous appearance, dressed half after the manner of 
the East and half European. They carried rifles and 
scimitars, cartridge-belts full of long, steel-bulleted car- 
tridges, dirty white trousers which reached a little below 
the knees, large rings in their ears. Oriental tohes, and white 
sun-helmets. They reminded me somewhat of the ridicu- 
lous figures cut by the J apanese of to-day, who walk about 
in long flowing dressing-gowns and sandals, with crushed -in 
billycock hats upon their heads. After a long conversa- 
tion, spoken in a mixture of Abyssinian, Somali, French, 
English, and Italian, about where we were each going, 
and from whence we had each come, the Abyssinians 
informed me that they were going to fight all those 
Somalis who refused to pay taxes, and annex their 
country ! They departed at length after a great deal 
of salaaming, bowing and scraping, shaking of hands, and 
saluting. 
In the afternoon we marched from the village. I was 
about to mount my best pony, when my syce said : ‘ No, 
dar honey got bit smarshed !’ On examining him, I found 
he had contracted a dreadful sore back. After several false 
starts we were obliged to take a guide, and pitched for the 
night at the Webbi Jerrar. Here we found that the lioness 
reported with ‘ four little boys ’ (cubs) was, as usual, a Somali 
fairy-tale, but a lion had been heard of a month ago, or a year 
ago — it was not quite clear which ! Early next morning 
(about 3 o’clock) we marched in the moonlight, accom- 
panied by a pack of howling hyaenas. 
When the sun at length rose, I found we were still in 
fairly open country, covered with long grass and a thin 
sprinkling of trees. During the morning we saw several 
herds of gerenook, mostly females, and one herd of oryx, 
which were very shy. After the mid-day rest the heat 
became terrific, and I walked along, panting and perspiring 
out of every pore. Thick clouds appeared to the north of 
