MY SOMALI BOOK 165 



Then we climbed up and down the Asa hills, which 

 the caravan made a detour to avoid. Two of these 

 hills were covered with huge boulders, among which 

 dodged in and out the quaint little " rock-rabbits " — 

 a feeble but a wise folk who make their houses in the 

 rocks, and thereby attracted the notice of the wise 

 man of old, for these are the African representatives 

 of the " coney " of Scripture. An anomalous little 

 creature is the hyrax {Procavia), called in South Africa 

 the dassie. Superficially resembling a marmot more 

 than anything else, it nevertheless, far from being a 

 rodent, is a member of the ungulaia, its nearest rela- 



tions structurally being the elephant and rhinoceros ! 

 But when Moses placed upon the hyrax the stigma 

 of " uncleanness," he did so under a misapprehension, 

 including it with the camel and hare in the list of 

 animals that chew the cud, but do not divide the hoof. 

 x4s a matter of fact, it does not chew the cud at all, the 

 idea having arisen from a habit it has of champing its 

 teeth, the hare, though no relation, being in the same 

 predicament. 



I had hoped to find klipspringer among these hills, 

 and did indeed see one, but it was apparently a doe, 

 and kept its distance. From the summit of one hill 

 I had a magnificent view of a wide green valley 



