62 MY SOMALI BOOK 



hairs loosely put in ; the hairs dark green banded with 

 white, so that the general effect is a pretty greyish- 

 green. The buck's horns are something like a 

 bigger edition of the dik-dik's, some four inches in 

 length. 



At midday we reached Mandera, where I was sur- 

 prised to find H. encamped. He had been suffering 

 from fever and had taken two or three weeks' leave 

 for a change in the hills. I decided to spend the 

 night with him, and have a last try for lesser kudu in 

 the morning, sending the caravan, however, on ahead. 

 Elmi and I being mounted could do the journey to 

 Berbera in a day less without difficulty, and could 

 carry all we wanted for a couple of days on our 

 animals. 



It was from H. that I learned that the alakut 

 is the klipspringer, so that I had committed a heinous 

 breach of regulations. Of course I should never have 

 dreamt of doing it intentionally, but the klipspringer 

 is not rare, nor as a rule too easy to shoot, so there was 

 no reason why it should be so rigorously protected, on 

 the same footing as the elephant alone. 



As a contrast, my license would have permitted me, 

 if I could and would, to shoot ten dihatag or baira, both 

 decidedly rarer and more worthy of protection than 

 the klipspringer, as I pointed out at the time. These 

 anomalies have since been rectified, the two last-named 

 species having been accorded a greater measure of 

 protection, and the prohibition against shooting the 

 klipspringer removed. Under the circumstances I 

 must confess my repentance for having added another 

 species to my bag was but half-hearted. 



