TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 293 
wives were well. The Mullah tersely said he had 
none, and relapsed into silence again. This was a 
set-back that took some getting over, but I gathered 
myself together sufficiently to say I trusted the 
forlorn condition of things was temporary only, and 
that when he had some wives they would keep well. 
Cecily pulled my sleeve, and whispered I was getting 
on very badly. “You try then,” I said huffily. 
She asked him how many cattle he owned. Oh, 
hundreds. Would we like some milk ? 
“ I hope he didn’t think I was hinting ! ” murmured 
Cecily abashed. But we did look forward to a good 
drink of cow’s milk. When it came we could not 
manage it, for the milk tasted so horribly. I think 
the milking vessels must have been dirty. 
In this settlement they made large quantities of 
ghee for sending down to Berbera, and the whole 
atmosphere seemed more businesslike and agricul- 
tural than most Somali karias. Quite a crop of 
jowdri cultivation brightened the plateau ground 
around, and farming seemed to be thoroughly under- 
stood. Many herds of sheep, watched over by women 
and children, whitened the hills. A goat of acumen 
and intelligence led each band, and they were not 
driven from the rear, with the consequent going in 
the wrong direction every time that attends the 
moving of a flock of sheep with us. The shepherdess 
walked in front, the tame goat followed, and the sheep 
came wandering after. They were exceedingly fat sheep, 
and our men revelled in the grease that ensued after the 
cooking of two presented to usjby our friend the Mullah, 
