TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 29 
get very fine and well-developed generally. Camel- 
meat is to the Somali what we are given to understand 
turtle soup is to the London alderman. Next in favour 
comes mutton, but no flesh comes up to camel. The 
Somali camel-man is exceedingly attentive to his 
charges, giving them names, and rarely, if ever, ill 
treating them. As a result the animals are fairly even- 
tempered, for camels, and one may go amongst them 
with more or less assurance of emerging unbitten. 
When loading up the man sings away, and the camel 
must get familiar with the song. It seems to be in- 
terminably the same, and goes on and on in dreary 
monotone until the job is over. I would I knew what 
it was all about. 
Of course it is a fact that a camel can take in a 
month’s supply of water, but it very much depends on 
the nature of the month how the animal gets on. If 
he is on pasture, green and succulent, he can go on 
much longer than a month, but if working hard, con- 
tinuously, and much loaded, once a week is none too 
often to water him. They are not strong animals; 
far from it, and they have a great many complaints 
and annoyances to contend with in a strenuous life. 
The most awful, to my mind, is sore back and its con- 
sequences. This trouble comes from bad and uneven 
lading, damp mats, &c., and more often than not the 
sore is scratched until it gets into a shocking condition. 
Flies come next, and maggots follow, and then a 
ghastly Nemesis in the form of the rhinoceros bird 
which comes for a meal, and with its sharp pointed 
beak picks up maggots and flesh together. When out 
