`````All is uneven,
```And everything left at six and seven
`````Richard II=
|By this time the weekly steamer had sailed to Berbera, across the
Gulf, but we arranged to paddle our own canoes, so to speak, and the
two sportsmen, still, I suppose, in fear and trembling lest we should
clamour to form a part of their caravan, went shares with us in hiring
at an altogether ridiculous sum, almost enough to have purchased a ship
of our own, a small steamer to transport us and our numerous belongings
across the Gulf.
Here I may as well say that it is possible for two women to successfully
carry out a big shoot, for we proved it ourselves, but I do not believe
it possible for them to do it _cheaply_. I never felt the entire truth
of the well-known axiom, “The woman pays,” so completely as on this
trip. The women paid with a vengeance--twice as much as a man would have
done.
The getting of our things aboard was a scene of panic I shall never
forget. It was, of anything I have ever had to do with, the quaintest
and most amusing of sights. Each distinct package seemed to fall to the
ground at least twice before it was considered to have earned the right
to a passage at all. The men engaged by us to do the transporting of our
goods were twins to the porters engaged by our friends, the opposition
shoot. They did not appear to reason out that as the mountain of
packages had to be got aboard before we could sail, it did not matter
whose porter carried which box or kit. No, each porter must stick to
the belongings of the individual who hired him to do the job. Naturally,
this caused the wildest confusion, and I sat down on a packing case that
nobody seemed to care much about and laughed and laughed at the idiocy
of it. To see the leader of the opposition shoot gravely detach from my
porter a bale of goods to which their label was attached, substituting
for it a parcel from our special heap, was to see man at the zenith in
the way of management.
It was very early, indeed, when we began operations, but not so early
by the time we sailed, accompanied by a rabble of Somalis bent on
negotiating the voyage at our expense. It was useless to say they could
not come aboard, because come they would, and the villainous-looking
skipper seemed to think the more the merrier. Our warrior friends were
all for turning off the unpaying guests, but I begged that there should
be no more delay, and so, when we were loaded up, like a cheap tripping
steamer to Hampton Court, we sailed. It was a truly odious voyage. The
wretched little craft rolled and tossed to such an extent I thought she
really must founder. I remember devoutly wishing she would.
The leader brought out sketching materials, and proceeded to make a
water-colour sketch of the sea.
It was just the same as any other sea, only nastier and more bumpy. We
imagined--Cecily and myself--that the boat would do the trip in about
sixteen hours. She floundered during twenty-four, and I spent most of
the time on a deck-chair, “the world forgetting.” At intervals Somalis
would come up from the depths somewhere, cross their hands and pray. I
joined them every time in spirit. Cecily told me that the little cabin
was too smelly for words, but in an evil minute I consented to be
escorted thither for a meal.
“She’s not exactly a Cunarder,” sang out the younger officer, my
kinsman, from the bottom of the companion, “but anyway they’ve got us
something to eat.”
They had. Half-a-dozen different smells pervaded the horrid little
cabin, green cabbage in the ascendant. The place was full of our kit,
which seemed to have been fired in anyhow from the fo’castle end. With
a silly desire to suppress the evidence of my obvious discomfort, I
attacked an overloaded plate of underdone mutton and cabbage. I tried to
keep my eyes off it as far as possible; sometimes it seemed multiplied
by two, but the greasy gravy had a fatal fascination for me, and at last
proved my undoing. The elder warrior supplied a so-called comfort, in
the shape of a preventative against sea-sickness, concocted, he said, by
his mother, which accelerated matters; and they all kindly dragged me on
deck again and left me to myself in my misery. All through the night I
stayed on my seat on deck, not daring to face the cabin and that awful
smell, which Cecily told me was bilge water.
It was intensely cold, but, fortunately, I had a lot of wraps. The
others lent me theirs too, telling me I should come below, as it was
going to be “a dirty night,” whatever that might mean. It seemed a
never-ending one, and my thankfulness cannot be described when, as
the dawn broke, I saw land--Somaliland. We made the coast miles below
Berbera, which is really what one might have expected. However, it was
a matter of such moment to me that we made it at last that I was not
disposed to quibble we had not arrived somewhere else.
I managed to pull myself together sufficiently to see the Golis Range.
The others negotiated breakfast. They brought me some tea, made of some
of the bilge water I think, and I did not fancy it. Then came Berbera
Harbour, with a lighthouse to mark the entrance; next Berbera itself,
which was a place I was as intensely glad to be in as I afterwards was
to leave it. I should never have believed there were so many flies in
the whole world had I not seen them with mine own eyes. In fact, my
first impression of Berbera may be summed up in the word “flies.” The
town seemed to be in two sections, native and European, the former
composed of typical Arab houses and numerous huts of primitive and
poverty-stricken appearance. The European quarter has large well-built
one-storied houses, flat-roofed; and the harbour looked imposing, and
accommodates quite large ships.
Submerged in the shimmering ether we could discern, through the
parting of the ways of the Maritime Range, the magnificent Golis, about
thirty-five miles inland from Berbera as the crow flies.
The same pandemonium attended our disembarking. All our fellow voyagers
seemed to have accompanied the trip for no other reason than to act
as porters. There were now more porters than packages, and so the men
fought for the mastery to the imminent danger of our goods and chattels.
Order was restored by our soldier friends, who at last displayed a
little talent for administration; and sorting out the porters into some
sort of system, soon had them running away, like loaded-up ants, with
our packages and kit to the travellers’ bungalow in the European square,
whither we speedily followed them, and established ourselves. It
was quite a comfortable _auberge_, and seemed like heaven after that
abominable toy steamer, and we christened it the “Cecil” at once.
Cecily began to sort our things into some degree of sequence. I could
not help her. I was all at sea still, and felt every toss of the voyage
over. These sort of battles fought o’er again are, to say the least, not
pleasant.
We had not arrived so very long before our master of the ceremonies
came to discover us, with my uncle’s letter clasped in his brown hand.
I shall never forget the amazement on the man’s face as we introduced
ourselves. I could not at first make out what on earth could be the
matter, but at last the truth dawned on me. He had not expected to find
us of the feminine persuasion.
Our would-be henchman’s name was unpronounceable, and sounded more like
“Clarence” than anything, so Clarence he remained to the end--a really
fine, handsome fellow, not very dark, about the Arab colour, with a mop
of dark hair turning slightly grey. His features were of the Arab type,
and I should say a strong Arab strain ran in his family, stronger even
than in most Somali tribes. I think the Arab tinge exists more or less
in every one of them. Anyhow, they are not of negritic descent.
[Illustration: 0043]
Our man used the Somali “Nabad” as a salutation, instead of the “Salaam
aleikum” of the Arabs. The last is the most generally used. We heard
it almost invariably in the Ogaden and Marehan countries. Clarence had
donned resplendent garb in which to give us greeting, and discarding the
ordinary everyday white tobe had dressed himself in the khaili, a tobe
dyed in shades of the tricolour, fringed with orange. We never saw
him again tricked out like this; evidently the get-up must have been
borrowed for the occasion. He wore a _tusba_, or prayer chaplet, round
his neck, and the beads were made from some wood that had a pleasant
aroma. A business-like dagger was at the waist; Peace and War were
united.
I noticed what long tapering fingers the Somali had, and quite
aristocratic hands, though so brown. He had a very graceful way of
standing too. In fact all his movements were lithe and lissome, telling
us he was a jungle man. I liked him the instant I set eyes on him, and
we were friends from the day we met to the day we parted. Had we been
unable to secure his services I do not know where we should have ended,
or what the trip might have cost. Everyone in Berbera seemed bent
on making us pay for things twice over, and three times if possible.
Clarence’s demands were reasonable enough, and he fell in with our
wishes most graciously.
I gave instructions for the purchase of camels, fifty at least, for the
caravan was a large one. There were not so many animals in the place for
sale at once, and of course our soldier friends were on the look out for
likely animals also.
During the next few days we busied ourselves in engaging the necessary
servants. My uncle had impressed on me the necessity of seeing that the
caravan was peopled with men from many tribes, as friction is better
than a sort of trust among themselves. Clarence appeared to have no wish
to take his own relatives along, as is so often the case, and we had no
bother in the matter. But we were dreadfully ‘had’ over six rough ponies
we bought. We gave one hundred and fifty rupees each for them and they
were dear at forty. However, much wiser people than Cecily and myself
go wrong in buying horses! Later in the trip we acquired a better pony
apiece and so pulled through all right.
My cousin has a very excellent appetite, and is rather fond of the
flesh-pots generally, and gave as much attention to the engaging of
a suitable cook as I did to the purchase of the camels. No lady ever
emerged more triumphantly from the local Servants’ Registry Office after
securing the latest thing in cooks than did Cecily on rushing out of the
bungalow at express speed to tell me she had engaged a regular Monsieur
Escoffier to accompany us.
What he could not cook was not worth cooking. Altogether we seemed in
for a good time as far as meals were concerned.
Meanwhile Clarence had produced from somewhere about forty-five camels,
and I judged it about time to launch a little of the knowledge I was
supposed to have gathered from my shikâri uncle. I told Clarence I would
personally see and pass every camel we bought for the trip, and
prepared for an inspection in the Square. I suffered the most frightful
discomfort, in the most appalling heat, but I did not regret it, as I
really do think my action prevented our having any amount of useless
camels being thrust upon us.
Assume a virtue if you have it not. The pretence at knowledge took in
the Somalis, and I went up some miles in their estimation.
As I say, some of the camels offered were palpably useless, and were
very antediluvian indeed. I refused any camel with a sore back, or with
any tendency that way, and I watched with what looked like the most
critical and knowing interest the manner of kneeling. The animal must
kneel with fore and hind legs together, or there is something wrong.
I can’t tell you what. My uncle merely said, darkly, “something.” Of
course I found out age by the teeth, an operation attended with much
snapping and Somali cuss-words. The directions about teeth had grown
very confused in my mind, and all I stuck to was the pith of the
narrative, namely, that a camel at eight years old has molars and
canines. I forget the earlier ages with attendant incisors. Then another
condition plain to be seen was the hump. Even a tyro like myself could
see the immense difference between the round, full hump of a camel in
fine condition and that of the poor over-worked creature. As I knew we
were paying far too much for the beasts anyway I saw no reason why we
should be content to take the lowest for the highest.
Finally I stood possessed of forty-nine camels, try as I would I could
not find a fiftieth. I was told this number was amply sufficient to
carry our entire outfit, but how they were to do so I really could not
conceive. Viewed casually, our possessions now assumed the dimensions
of a mountain, and we had to pitch tents in the Square in order to store
the goods safely. This necessitated a constant guard.
Everything we brought with us was in apple-pie order owing to the lists
so carefully placed in the lid of each box, and gave us no trouble in
the dividing up into the usual camel loads. It was our myriad purchases
in Berbera that caused the chaos. They were here, there and everywhere,
and all concerning them was at six and seven. I detailed some camels to
carry our personal kit, food supplies, &c., exclusively; the same men
to be always responsible for their safety, and that there should be
no mistake about it I took down the branding marks on apiece of paper.
Camels seem to be branded on the neck, and most of the marks are
different, for I suppose every tribe has its own hallmark.
Some of the camels brought into Berbera for sale are not intended to be
draught animals, being merely for food, and with so much care and extra
attention 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 interminably 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, continuously, 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 consequences. 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 at pasture these birds never leave
the browsing camels alone, clinging on to shoulders, haunch, and side,
in threes and fours.
We had now in our caravan, not counting Clarence and the cook, two boys
(men of at least forty, who always referred to themselves as “boys”)
to assist the cook, one “makadam,” or head camel-man, twenty-four camel
men, four syces, and six hunters, to say nothing of a couple of men of
all work, who appeared to be going with us for reasons only known to
themselves.
In most caravans the head-man and head shikari are separate individuals,
but in our show Clarence was to double the parts. It seemed to us the
wisest arrangement. He was so excellent a manager, and we knew him to be
a mighty hunter.
The chaos of purchases included rice, _harns_ or native water-casks,
ordinary water barrels calculated to hold about twelve gallons apiece,
blankets for the men, _herios_, or camel mats, potatoes, _ghee_, leather
loading ropes, numerous native axes, onions, many white tobes for gifts
up country, and some _Merikani_ tobes (American made cloth) also for
presents, or exchange. Tent-pegs, cooking utensils, and crowds of little
things which added to the confusion. A big day’s work, however, set
things right, and meanwhile Cecily had discovered a treasure in the way
of a butler. He had lived in the service of a white family at Aden, and
so would know our ways.
We had taken out a saddle apiece, as the double-peaked affair used by the
Somalis is a very uncomfortable thing indeed.
[Illustration: 0051]
Rice for the men’s rations we bought in sacks of some 160 pounds, and
two bags could be carried by one camel. Dates, also an indispensable
article of diet, are put up in native baskets of sorts, and bought by
the _gosra_, about 130 pounds, and two _gosra_ can be apportioned to a
camel. _Ghee_, the native butter, is a compound of cow’s milk, largely
used by the Somalis to mix with the rice portion, a large quantity of
fat being needful ere the wheels go round smoothly. It is bought in a
bag made of a whole goat skin, with an ingenious cork of wood and clay.
Each bag, if my memory serves me rightly, holds somewhere about 20
pounds, and every man expects two ounces daily unless he is on a meat
diet, when it is possible to economise the rice and dates and _ghee_.
The camel mats, or _herios_, are plaited by the women of Somaliland, and
are made from the chewed bark of a tree called Galol. The _harns_ for
water are also made from plaited bark, in different sizes, and when
near a _karia_, it is quite usual to see old women and small children
carrying on their backs the heaviest filled _harns_, whilst the men sit
about and watch operations. The _harns_, which hold about six gallons
of water, are--from the camels’ point of view anyway--the best for
transport purposes. Six can be carried at once, but a tremendous amount
of leakage goes on, and this is very irritating, upsetting calculations
so. The water-casks were really better, because they were padlocked, and
could also be cleaned out at intervals. But of these only two can go on
a camel at one time.
Our own kit was mostly in tin uniform cases, these being better than
wooden boxes on account of damp and rainy weather. Leather, besides
being heavy, is so attractive to ants. Our rifles, in flat cases,
specially made, were compact and not cumbersome, at least not untowardly
cumbersome. Our food stores were in the usual cases, padlocked, and a
little of everything was in each box, so that we did not need to raid
another before the last opened was half emptied. The ammunition was
carried in specially made haversacks, each haversack being marked for
its particular rifle, and more spare ammunition was packed away in a
convenient box, along with cleaning materials, &c. We made our coats
into small pantechnicons, and the pockets held no end of useful small
articles and useful contraptions. My two coats, one warm khaki serge,
one thin drill, were both made with recoil pads as fixtures, and this
was an excellent idea, as they saved my shoulder many hard knocks.
We heard of a man who was anxious to go out as skinner, but the
Opposition, for we had by now christened the rival camp so, snapped
him up before we had an opportunity to engage him. On learning of our
disappointment they nobly volunteered to waive their claim, but when I
saw the trophy in discussion I would not take him into our little lot at
any price. A more crafty, murderous-looking individual it would be hard
to find.
The Opposition watched us do some of the packing, and were green with
envy as they handled our rifles. The elder tried to induce me to sell
him my double-barrelled hammerless ejecting .500 Express. I don’t know
how I was meant to be able to get along without it, but I suppose he
didn’t think that mattered.
It was then that Clarence, who had, I believe, been yearning to ask
all along, wanted to know if I was any good with a rifle, and the other
Mem-sahib could she shoot, and if so how had we learned, for the
Somalis are nothing if not direct. They rather remind me of English
North-country people with their outspoken inquisitiveness, which is at
home always regarded as such charming straightforwardness of character.
I was as modest as I could be under the circumstances, but I had to
allay any fears the man might be harbouring. Besides, it is not well to
under-estimate oneself, especially to a Somali. Nowadays everywhere it
is the thing to remove the bushel from one’s light and to make it
glare in all men’s eyes. My advice to any one who wants to be heard
of is--Advertise, advertise, advertise. If you begin by having a great
opinion of yourself and talk about it long enough, you generally end by
being great in the opinion of everyone else. I told our shikari I had
the use of my uncle’s fine range at home, and the advantage of what
sport there was to be had in England and Scotland. Also that this was
not our first expedition. The knowledge of all this and my unbounded
confidence, not to say cheek, set all doubts at rest.
Every night I was rendered desperate by the scratching in my room of
some little rodent which thundered about the floor as though his feet
were shod with iron.
Hurrah! At last I had him! He stole my biscuits set for my “chota
hazari,” and sometimes left me stranded. They resided in a tin by my
bedside. Kismet overtook him, and his nose was in the jaws of a gin. He
was killed _instanter_, and the cat dropped in to breakfast.
I helped her to him.
She commenced on his head, and finished with his tail, a sort of cheese
straw. This is curious, because a lion, which is also a cat, begins at
the other end. Domesticity reverses the order of a good many things.
He left no trace behind him. Unknown (except to me) he lived, and
uncoffined (unless a cat may be called a coffin) he died. By the way,
_he_ was a rat.
One afternoon Cecily and I walked along the sea coast at Berbera, and
came on the most remarkable fish, jumping into the sea from the sandy
shore. I asked a resident about this, and he said the fish is called
“mud-skipper”--a name that seems to have more point about it than most.
So, at last, we reached the day fixed for the starting of the great
trek.