tain dignity, and his head is usually
bare except in towns or the partially civilised _entourage_ of a white
man, where he will wear anything on his head from a tarboosh to a topi
as a mark of distinction, but seems to avoid a turban, which he has not
the knack of tying properly.

To meet him and his family on trek is to glimpse an epitome of his life.
First comes the able-bodied though elderly sire carrying a few light
throwing-spears and a knobkerry or a gim-crack stabbing-spear, and close
behind him are the adult males of his house similarly armed or with a
rifle or two supplied by a benevolent Government for protection against
the Mullah, to whom these children of nature frequently offer them for
sale at very reasonable prices. After these come the women-folk in
order of precedence, carrying loads in inverse ratio thereto. The young,
favourite wife walks first, carrying her latest addition to the family
in a cotton shawl at her hip; she is followed by other wives of less
social standing, carrying household utensils, with the smaller children
at foot, and at the tail of the procession stagger the old crones under
heavy burdens of pots, pans, pitchers and unsavoury goat-hair rugs. A
camel or two bring up the rear with the conglomeration of sticks and
hides and matting which makes the home and looks like an untidy bird's
nest. On the flanks and in the rear skirmish the elder children, girls
and boys, with flocks and herds which graze as they go. The big piebald
sheep with their black heads and indecently fat tails are not allowed to
range far afield, where lynx or leopard might stalk them under covert,
as they are valuable, succulent and very foolish. They carry no
wool--their coat feels just like a fox-terrier's--but they have more
meat on them than three average goats, and the huge pendulous flap of
fat which does duty as a tail is a delicacy to make a Somali mouth water
or a European gorge rise.

The only serious occupation a buck Somali will permit himself is to sit
under a tree and watch his grazing flocks. He is fond of conversation,
chiefly of a recriminative character, and gives vent to his _joie de
vivre_ by prancing and singing on two or three simple notes to the
accompaniment of his clapping hands and the thud of his horny heels. His
chief woe is drought and lack of grazing, because he then has to get up
off his butt-end and take long treks to pastures new. His ideas of
earthly Paradise centre round the _ca