MY SOMALI BOOK 189 



want of success is due to bad bandohast, ignorance, or 

 carelessness, if not to losing their heads at the critical 

 moment or to poor shooting. 



Certainly I had luck, but the foundation of my 

 success lay in the fact that I made a point of getting 

 hold of Abdilleh Ashur, the best man available. I am 

 quite certain that I should never have done so well if 

 I had been content to take instead the two Midgan 

 shikaris who first presented themselves. And there 

 were other factors with which luck had little to do. 

 On the other hand, if, for instance, I did have some 

 bad luck with leopard and lesser kudu, the main reason 

 why I did not bag a couple more of the former, and a 

 o-ood head of the latter, is that for one reason or another 

 I failed to make the most of my opportunities ; when 

 the chance was given me did the wrong thing. That 

 is not " bad luck." 



Dame Fortune is as fickle in the bestow^al of her 

 favours upon the hunter as upon other men, and 

 surely it is its uncertainty that makes half the fascina- 

 tion of his sport. But if Fortune is to have all the 

 credit or all the blame, what is there to induce a man 

 to do his best ? If his wall needs a shikar trophy for 

 its adornment it were easier — and cheaper — to write 

 a cheque for one, and stay at home. I have an idea 

 that some of this has been said before, but it seemed 

 worth while to say it again. 



A word of my personal followers. Abdi, apart 

 from his cooking, which improved vastly, turned out 

 a reliable servant, and one of the best Somalis I have 

 known ; I gave him a camel, with which he was 

 immensely pleased. Iddu Khan, too, deserves his 



