194 MY SOMALI BOOK 



tied a little further off, about five feet. At tliat dis- 

 tance it is still possible to reach a hysena with a spear, 

 while further away you are likely to miss or only 

 wound. It must be remembered that the leopard 

 invariably lies down on killing, so that close as he is, 

 and even when you have some device on your rifle for 

 making the sights visible, it is extraordinary how easy 

 it is to miss in the dark. 



However, though the uncertainty and the darkness 

 lend it a measure of fascination, this is not a method 

 of shooting in which one would care to indulge very 

 often, except from the point of view that leopards are 

 vermin. Exterminated they will never be, and the}^ 

 do an immense amount of mischief, while a leopard's 

 skin is always one of the most beautiful of trophies. 

 And if you chance to meet him by day, he is likely to 

 yield you sport second to none. 



In Rome do as the Romans do. That is why I 

 have used throughout the name of " leopard," being 

 the one commonly used for this beast in Africa. It is 

 undoubtedly more correct to call him the " panther " as 

 we do in India, the original leopardus having been the 

 animal now known as the hunting-leopard or chita. 

 But it is too late in the day for any endeavour to give 

 the latter his due to have a chance of success, the 

 modern use of the term leopard being far too general. 

 Ho that while I sympathise, I fear I cannot quite agree 

 with a recent writer and mighty hunter, who considers 

 that to call a panther a leopard is a sign of hopeless 

 ignorance, and even savours of the immoral ! 



Another animal that effectually defeated me was 

 the lesser kudu. Opinions as to the difficulty of 



