MY SOMALI BOOK 



39 



wide, bare of anything but grass, which at this season 

 of the year was short and scanty. It seemed, however, 

 to provide sustenance for several herds of aoul, one of 

 which I shot. We wanted to get across the Plain 

 before dark, which meant a long march, so our midday 

 halt lasted only 2 J hours. Soon after starting again 

 we came across an animal which looked rather like a 

 big jackal and ran to ground in a fox-like earth, I 

 could not then imagine what it might be. Elmi 

 called it Somajesti. 



At length, at sunset, having covered about 30 

 miles, we reached the fringe of open bush that marked 

 the commencement of the Hand, and encamped in a 

 zariba that lay handy. On the edge of the Plain I 

 wounded and, I am sorry to say, lost an aoul, Brian 

 was too fagged for the burst of speed needed to ride 

 the buck down before he reached the cover of the bush. 

 A search next morning showed that the hysenas had 

 got him. 



