current that would drift them back.

In the body of the boats crouched, sat, or lay a picturesque mob. Some
pulled spasmodically on the very long limber oars; others squatted doing
nothing; some, huddled shapelessly underneath white cloths that
completely covered them, slept soundly in the bottom. We took these for
merchandise until one of them suddenly threw aside his covering and sat
up. Others, again, poised in proud and graceful attitudes on the
extreme prows of their bobbing craft. Especially decorative were two,
clad only in immense white turbans and white cloths about the waist. An
old Arab with a white beard stood midships in one boat, quite
motionless, except for the slight swaying necessary to preserve his
equilibrium, his voluminous white draperies fluttering in the wind, his
dark face just distinguishable under his burnouse. Most of the men were
Somalis, however. Their keen small faces, slender but graceful necks,
slim, well-formed torsos bending to every movement of the boat, and the
white or gaudy draped nether garments were as decorative as the figures
on an Egyptian tomb. One or two of the more barbaric had made neat
headdresses of white clay plastered in the form of a skull-cap.

After an interval a small and fussy tugboat steamed around our stern and
drew alongside the gangway. Three passengers disembarked from her and
made their way aboard. The main deck of the craft under an awning was
heavily encumbered with trunks, tin boxes, hand baggage, tin bath-tubs,
gun cases, and all sorts of impedimenta. The tugboat moored itself to us
fore and aft, and proceeded to think about discharging. Perhaps twenty
men in accurate replica of those in the small boats had charge of the
job. They had their own methods. After a long interval devoted strictly
to nothing, some unfathomable impulse would incite one or two or three
of the natives to tackle a trunk. At it they tugged and heaved and