ALONG THE TRAIL 125 
had given himself away, he jumped before I could 
shoot and I tracked him for an hour before I again 
came upon him. Then I saw him first. There is 
no finer sight in Africa than a lesser koodoo bull 
bounding over the spiny aloes with all of the grace of 
a porpoise in the water. 
One of the most interesting antelope of Somaliland 
is the dibitag or Clark’s gazelle. The dibitag live 
in the waterless bush country of the Haud and are 
shy and difficult to stalk. With their long legs and 
long necks they resemble and are closely related to 
the gerenuks (Waller’s gazelle), but are less well 
known as they are confined to a limited range. In 
following an old male who had been travelling at full 
speed I found that its stride averaged twenty-eight 
feet, but at the same time he kept so close to the 
ground that midway of the stride, when one foot was 
carried forward, it scraped the sand. The animal 
weighs no more than seventy-five pounds. It is the 
most beautifully developed antelope I have ever 
handled, with muscles and loins rounded out like those 
ofa prize fighter. These gazelle never have any fat 
and never drink any water. In fact, there is no water to 
be had except that in the vegetation, which is very little 
in a country where it has not rained for two years. 
Unlike these sporting animals, the gazelle of the 
plains remind one of great herds of sheep, so gentle 
where they have not been hunted that one may come 
close enough to throw stones at them. On the other 
hand, where they have been shot, they grow wild and 
very difficult to approach. Here again is evidence 
