TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 
5 
unmindful of the rampant domesticity of the sparrows. 
The fourteenth of February had long passed, and the 
fourteenth is to the birds what Easter Monday is to 
the lower orders, a general day for getting married. 
A few days in town amid the gilty splendour of one 
of the caravan-serais in Northumberland Avenue were 
mostly spent in imbibing knowledge. My uncle never 
wearied of his subject, and it was to our interest to 
listen carefully. Occasionally he would wax pessimist, 
and express his doubts of our ability to see the trip 
through ; but he was kind enough to say he knows no 
safer shot than myself. “ Praise from Caesar.” Though 
I draw attention to it that shouldn’t ! The fragility 
of my physique bothered him no end. I assured him 
over and over that my appearance is nothing to go 
by, and that I am, as a matter of fact, a most wiry 
person. 
This shoot of ours was no hurried affair. We had 
been meditating it for months, and had, to some 
extent, arranged all the difficult parts a long time 
before we got to the actual purchases of stores, and 
simple things of the kind. We had to obtain special 
permits to penetrate the Ogaden country and beyond 
to the Marehan and the Haweea, if we desired to go 
so far. Since the Treaty with King Menelik in 1897 
the Ogaden and onwards is out of the British sphere 
of influence. 
How our permits were obtained I am not at liberty 
to say ; but without them we should have been forced 
to prance about on the outskirts of every part where 
game is abundant. By the fairy aid of these open 
