Somals are past masters in the art of packing. It is wonderful to behold the natty way in which a family on the move has stowed away its household goods and utensils. A Somal woman packs her effects on the camels back as daintily as her more civilised sisters do theirs in wardrobes and chests of drawers. The wear and tear of hard travel, apart from the difficulty in procuring manufactured utensils suitable for the purposes required, has called into play the ingenuity of the aboriginal man and woman. Water vessels made from closely woven grass, and practically unbreakable, could not be bettered, for the work they are used for, by anything made in Europe. The thick mats, used as camel pads, when spread over the tent canes, packed away so neatly on the camel's loads, keep out the hot sun better than any canvas or cotton that has ever been produced by the looms of Europe. Everything the Somal carries is made for utility's sake, but man's nature, be he civilised or savage, ever craves for a little comfort over and above the bare necessities of life. God knows these people meet with little enough of the former. Good shade from the hot sun should be properly classed as a necessity. In any case, Somal mats are the last word for the purpose. Turn a European loose here, with his wife: give him a few head of cattle; spare him the children--they would only make his lot the more impossible; cut him off from civilisation, and, in two months' time, he and his wife would either be dead or on the point of suicide. But here a Somal may thrive and be happy. His wife will plait mats and do practically all the work, besides bearing his children. The man will do all the praying to God--it is his pastime--but for it the woman has no time--and all the fighting, should there be any. He and his wife will wrest more than a living from this barren country I look across, provided always that he has the cattle. He can find everything else needed, from the means to make fire--two sticks--to medicine for his tummy--the leaves from a wild plant--where the European could find nothing but the acme of desolation and despair. The Somal's life consists of one continual move from spot to spot in search of grazing and water. If good rains come they bring better grazing, more water, more milk, and less work--for the wife at least.