CHAPTER XVI 



Bandobast — Shooting licences — Kit and equipment — Stores, etc. — Transport : 

 camels — Rations — -Mounts— Presents — Personnel of caravan : rates of 

 pay — Head man — -Details of actual expenses — Shikaris : importance of 

 having a good man — Staunchness — Danger in big game shooting : the 

 lion — Seventeen Trips in Somaliland — Present conditions in Somaliland : 

 unsettled state of Interior — Government distribution of rifles — ^Thc 

 policy of concentration on the coast : two sides to the question — -The 

 arms traffic and the Mullah — Reasons for change of policy — A mistaken 

 idea— Broken pledges ? — -Position of the European community in Ber- 

 bera — As things are — The future. 



It may be of use to a few of my readers and of interest 

 to some others if I set down here some notes on the cost 

 and bandobast ''^ of a shooting trip in SomaHland. The 

 first thing for the would-be hunter to do is to obtain 

 a shooting-hcence from H.M.'s Commissioner in SomaH- 

 land, which is usually to be had for the asking on pay- 

 ment of Es.500 (£33 Qs. Sd.), as compared with £50 

 in East Africa. The number of animals that may be 

 shot under this licence (available for one year) is of 

 course limited, varying at the present time from one 

 specimen in the case of greater or lesser kudu, to ten 

 of a common antelope like the aoul or Speke's gazelle, 

 or fifteen dik-dik. The shooting of elephants is for 

 the time being entirely prohibited, while the numbers 

 of destructive animals, lions, leopards, etc., that may 

 be killed is unlimited. 



* Anglicc : " general arrangements, etc." I should apologise for making 

 use of an Indian term, but there is no English word half as comprehensive. 



