MY SOMALI BOOK 31 



three hours he got on to harder ground where tracking 

 was very difficult, and I regretfully gave it up as a bad 

 job, with the hope that, being a vegetarian, he would 

 soon recover from the effects of a wound which 1 

 imagine was not a very serious one. I made an error 

 in the first instance in following him up at once instead 

 of giving him half an hour's law. 



The beisa oryx (Somali ha' id) is an animal of 

 striking appearance with the contrasted black and 

 white of its face markings and its long, slender, slightly 

 curving horns which are annulated half way up from 

 the base, but — pace the fair authoress of Two Dianas 

 in Somaliland — not spirally. It stands comparatively 

 low for its size (12 J hands at the shoulder), for it is a 

 heavy antelope ; when alarmed it goes off at a lumber- 

 ing bovine gallop, which is far from graceful, but would 

 tax the paces of a good horse to keep up with : I 

 believe, however, that its staying power is not great, 

 and that in open country it can be ridden to a stand- 

 still. 



At first sight the slenderness of the beisa's horns 

 does not appear to be in keeping with its powerful 

 build, but the combination grows upon one until it 

 becomes difficult to imagine anything more suitable. 

 Effective weapons these horns are too, and the owner 

 does not lack the courage to use them to good purpose 

 when cornered ; a wounded individual therefore needs 

 to be approached with care. This protection, however, 

 does not avail to save the oryx from being the favourite 

 prey of the lion in the Haud, though when the latter is 

 discovered in time I believe a herd of oryx with young 

 not infrequently succeed in beating him off. 



