MY SOMALI BOOK 3 



Between Berbera and Hargeisa, however, there was 

 practically no shooting to be had, and H., who had 

 already talked it over with Elmi, said I had much 

 better, as my leave was so short, make a bee-line due 

 south to the Hand, the great waterless plateau which 

 extends across the centre of Somaliland, commencing 

 a hundred miles from the coast. I should thus sooner 

 have an opportunity of letting off my rifle, have a 

 greater chance of getting a lion, and probably do 

 better all round than would be possible, with my short 

 leave, by following the more beaten track. 



Had anything more been needed to quicken my 

 decision, there lay on the floor of H.'s room the skin 

 of one of the biggest lions ever killed in Somaliland. 

 He had bagged it the previous month in Elmi's com- 

 pan}^, on a flying trek of a fortnight only, to the very 

 place where he now wanted to send me. So that w^as 

 settled. 



The next thing was to decide that, for a month, it 

 was better to hire camels than to buy ; and after 

 going over ni}^ kit, to calculate that I must take eight 

 camels from Berbera. On nearing the waterless 

 Haud, it would be necessary to hire four or five more 

 to carry water only. There were other things to be 

 considered ; but as I propose, in a subsequent chapter, 

 to go in some detail into the question of transport 

 and general requirements for a trip such as mine, I 

 need only say now that, thanks to H., everything was 

 ready and the caravan started on its southward way 

 by 1 p.m. on the following day — less than 48 hours 

 after leaving Aden. 



The human element in the caravan was composed 



