108 MY SOMALI BOOK 



the strength required to lift a good-sized calf with him 

 as he leaps. The leopard, like the lion, always drags 

 his prey along the ground, but in Somaliland the 

 leopard (not on the average a large specimen of his 

 kind) habitualty jumps the zariba fences and jumps 

 out again carrying a sheep or goat. It is surel}^ im- 

 possible to den}^ to the lion the ability to treat a 

 considerabty heavier prey in similar fashion. 



It may be urged that the animal hanging from the 

 lion's jaws Avould be in the way and interfere with his 

 leap. But the leopard is in the same quandary with 

 his sheep : he gets out of the difficulty by seizing his 

 prey by the back of the neck and holding it more or 

 less over his shoulder to one side, out of the way of the 

 fore-legs as these shoot forward. It may be awkward 

 but he does it time and again. And the lion's method 

 is precisely similar. 



So much by way of argument as to the lion's powers. 

 With regard to his actual practice, Colonel Swayne's 

 statement is authoritative, that the outer fence of a 

 Somali zariba is " often twelve feet high to keep out 

 lions." If the height of an ordinary thorn fence of 

 four or five feet is doubled, the labour involved is 

 considerably more than doubled. No one who knows 

 the Somali will credit him with doing a stroke more of 

 manual labour than he believes to be actually called 

 for. And it is not as if the Somalis went in mortal 

 fear of the lion. As a race they do not lack courage, 

 while familiarity, as elsewhere, breeds contempt. 

 Hence their attitude to the lion is often one of casual 

 indifference, and so long as the toll he takes from their 

 flocks is a moderate one they don't worry. 



