22 THROUGH UNKNOWN AFRICAN COUNTRIES. 
when you hear it at such close quarters as I was at this 
time. The beast made one mighty bound for the zareba, 
evidently maddened by pain. He apparently did not know 
that we were inside, as he did not try to break through the 
enclosure; but as his body touched it, the fore part of the 
zareba collapsed. He lay for some moments against the 
outside, roaring, and you can imagine my feelings, as I 
dared scarcely breathe for fear he should find us out. At 
Jast he picked himself up, and walked a little way to some 
bushes. The roars continued for at least ten minutes, and 
then the sounds gradually died away in low moans. I 
waited some time, until I heard the barking of a fox, and 
knew my beast was dead, and that I must save him from 
being eaten by the foxes; whereupon I crawled out with 
my gun-bearer, and built a large fire. 
During the night I kept continually firing to frighten 
away the hyenas, killing one that approached too near, 
and at the first break of dawn I walked over to where the 
lion had last been heard. Sure enough, there was the 
great man-eater stretched at full length on the grass, dead. 
He had a fine black mane, which is a rare thing for lions 
in Northeastern Africa to possess, and measured, from 
tip to tip, nine feet eight inches, before he was skinned. 
There was great rejoicing in the villages, and crowds of 
natives stooped over him, clapping their hands and dan- 
cing to show the relief they felt at being rid of him. 
After leaving Milmil, it was my desire to keep as nearly 
west as possible; but I was obliged to go a little south at 
first, to Sessabane, to avoid natural obstacles. 
I managed to catch, in this country, one of the extraor- 
dinary hairless moles, named Heterocephalus, which are 
distributed throughout Somaliland wherever there are long 
stretches of soft, loamy soil. Their runs are a foot under- 
ground, and at frequent intervals they make holes to the 
