TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 139 
be. The Somalis do not neglect their teeth, far from 
it, but they use for cleaning purposes a soft stick, 
rubbing and polishing away at all sorts of odd moments. 
The result is of dazzling whiteness. 
It was unnecessary also for them to help themselves 
as we were more than generous, and in response to 
their unblushing demands for presents we gave them 
at least four tobes, a turban or two, and an umbrella 
without a handle, which the proud proprietor unfurled 
and at once subsided beneath. 
When Cecily in the warmth of her heart began to 
bestow things we really had need of ourselves I begged 
her to curb her Santa Claus-like ideas, and let us try 
and get to the leopard subject. But they were not to 
be switched off so easily. The head-man yearned for 
a rifle, and seemed to think we were the very people to 
satisfy him, and I don’t wonder, when we had been 
playing universal provider to them for half an hour. 
There is nothing on earth a black man longs for so 
earnestly as a rifle of his own. It does not matter if it 
is a mere piece of gas piping with sights set on it, so 
that he may call it rifle. A vast amount of rubbish is 
palmed off by rascally traders, who get the arms 
through in spite of regulations and precautions. The 
maker is nothing, the skill of the user nothing, the 
mere name rifle is everything ; and the fact that a 
native was not — it may still be so, I don’t know — al- 
lowed to own such a treasure made the prospect more 
enchanting than ever. I refused the head-man’s request, 
so trifling as it was too, as firmly and politely as possible, 
and offered him a pen-knife instead. He took one 
