Our camp we found most inconveniently windy. A strong gale blew night and day, and made things very uncomfortable. The tents had to be fastened down very firmly and additional guy-ropes rigged, and even then they thrashed and shook in a most alarming manner, threatening every moment to blow bodily away. It was when we sat down to meals, however, that the real fun began. The aluminium plates were now and again whirled right off the table by a sudden fierce gust, and disappeared in the grass many yards away. The cups were kept down by the weight of the liquid in them, but one would sometimes forget the saucer for a moment when lifting the cup to one’s lips. Away would go the saucer on the wings of the wind, upsetting a bottle or something, in its hasty flight. In the confusion which ensued, the half-poised cup would be tilted a trifle and some of the contents spilt, which would be instantly dissipated in a fine spray, drenching the unfortunate person who happened to be to leeward. We were annoyed until the humour of the situation struck us; but even then we got tired of it however, and put the table inside El Hakim’s tent, and there the thrashing of the tent prevented conversation except we shouted at the very top of our voices. We decided to stay at M’thara for some days, as we wished to purchase an adequate supply of food for the safari before going into the inhospitable uninhabited wastes northward. There was also the Embe affair to be settled one way or another. We were sadly inconvenienced by this trouble in Embe, as we had intended going through that country on our way to the Waso Nyiro. It is very rich in food, and we should have been able to get a much greater quantity there than we could hope for in M’thara; and again, the Embe route would have shortened our journey over the desert to the Waso Nyiro by at least two days. However, the Wa’Embe, always a sullen and treacherous people, were now actively hostile; their hostility towards the Somalis would be extended to us, as natives do not discriminate between one safari and another in matters of this kind. Another factor which influenced our deliberations was, that if no steps were taken to punish the brutal and unprovoked attack on Noor Adam’s safari, we should be in a position of some personal danger. With these natives, as with all others, and sometimes even among civilized peoples, a policy of “masterly inactivity” is an acknowledgment of weakness. These savages are civil to a safari only in direct proportion to their idea of its power of reprisal. Once it enters their heads that they are the stronger, that safari is in imminent danger of attack, and would need a very resolute defence, backed with a large quantity of ammunition, to prevent its extirpation.