The petty expenses in the interior have been provided for by 150 rupees worth of cloth and 100 rupees in cash, already included under the heading of expenses in Berbera. A common native engaged for a day’s work will usually get 8 annas or the equivalent in cloth. Presents for game bagged may be given according to taste, from 30 rupees for a good bull elephant to 20 rupees for a lion, or 4 rupees for a bull oryx. The present for one animal should be distributed among those who aided in bringing it to bag, however slight their services; in fact, for a good trophy it has been my custom to reward slightly every member of my caravan. A sheep costs from 3 to 4 rupees; a heifer about 15 rupees; a camel, 20 to 40 rupees (either for the butcher or transport); a pony, 60 rupees and upwards; a goat for the butcher, 1½ to 2 rupees; a milk goat, 5 to 8 rupees; a donkey, 12 rupees. The latter animal is a long way the best for tying up at night as a bait for lions, as the lion likes no flesh better, and the loud bray attracts any that may be near. A white goat, which is young enough to bleat, is the best bait for a leopard.
The pay for the men of the caravan for six weeks will be approximately as follows:[60]—
| Rate per month. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Rupees. | Rupees. | |
| 35 | 1 caravan leader or headman | 52½ |
| 25 | 1 butler | 37½ |
| 25 | 1 cook | 37½ |
| 30 | 1 hunter | 45 |
| 20 | 1 assistant hunter | 30 |
| 17 | 1 groom, or personal camelman | 25½ |
| 15 | 4 baggage camelmen | 90 |
| 18 | 1 makadam, or head camelman | 27 |
| 15 | 2 guides (engaged temporarily) | 45 |
| 12 | 1 sheep-boy (engaged temporarily) | 18 |
| Shooting presents may be paid for from the cash and cloth taken to the interior. | ||
| At the close of the trip a parting present will be expected by each man. Add 15 per cent | 62 | |
| Add pay of headman, butler, and cook, for a week before and a week after the trip, to help in organising and breaking up the expedition | 43 | |
| Total | 513 |
Thus, the money spent in Somáliland itself for a six weeks’ trip should be in round numbers as follows:—
| Rupees. | |
|---|---|
| Purchase and sale of necessaries at coast, and expenses on trip | 450 |
| Purchase and sale of camels | 330 |
| Pay of men of the caravan | 520 |
| Total | 1300 |
Of this expenditure, part will occur when starting and part when breaking up the caravan at the close of the trip. The whole of this money should be placed in the charge of a native merchant or banker at Berbera, and any Somáli follower may then be paid off either at the coast or in the interior by an order for the necessary sum, written on a scrap of paper.
Example II
We will assume that one European is going to travel for two months, purely for sport, in the Haud and the most accessible parts of Ogádén. The distance across the Haud by the usual road from Hargeisa to Milmil is covered in five and a half days, going two marches a day, and for all journeys going far into the Haud, or crossing to Ogádén, arrangements should be made for carrying at least seven days’ water. To the east of Milmil the Haud becomes much wider. From the experience of eight journeys across the Haud, I have found that a gallon per man per diem for all purposes is the proper allowance for a Somáli who is on ordinary rations, a gallon and a half for a native of India, and two gallons for an European. Half of the water is used by the Somáli for boiling with his rice, the other half for drinking; and it is a thing worth knowing that if his ration is of camel meat instead of rice, he will be perfectly satisfied with half a gallon per diem for all purposes. For the purposes of our calculation, however, we will allow a gallon per diem, because an eating camel is not always to be had, and a full day’s halt is necessary to enable the men to cut up and sun-dry the meat, causing vexatious delay. The Somáli, although he bathes at every pool where water is to be had, does not try to wash in the Haud. It is comforting, however, for an European or native of India to keep up the appearance of cleanliness so far as a damp sponge and a little water in a saucer will permit.
Somáli camels require no water for any march under ten days, and can do longer at a pinch. If water is plentiful they would be watered every five days or so. Donkeys, sheep, and goats should have a few pints every second day, and Somáli ponies should have about two gallons per diem, or four gallons every second day, though at a pinch they can go, according to the natives, from three to four days without water. Of course with an ordinary caravan this cruelty is unnecessary.